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Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

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Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#111

Post by nojvek »

huancle wrote: post #53
sillysaurus3 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider these scenarios: 1. A user visits a website, sees a video player, and watches a video. 2. A user visits a website, sees an article, and reads it. There may be some confusion about whether your technology will still force Scenario #2's user into your P2P network, and use their bandwidth. I'd argue that Scenario #1 is legit for your purposes, but not #2. Are there any steps that can be taken to prevent sneaky…

With Peer5, Scenario #2 will never happen. Only users who are watching the same video (from the same broadcaster) will participate in p2p sharing.

Also once you close the tab, it's gone. No background webrtc as far as I'm aware of.

I think people are overreacting here.

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#113

Post by nojvek »

zsalim wrote: post #12
sergiotapia wrote: post #10

Out of all of these the only one that really interests me is Fibo. https://www.fiboapp.com/ I was in line for the Nintendo Switch and I got to talking with a contractor who deals with and hires carpenters, tile guys, plumbers, etc - and you wouldn't believe the shit this guy had to put up with to finish a project. His workflow was all over the place out of necessity and he paid around $500/month on software alone, no…

Thank you for that comment. Means a lot! I'm one of the founders of Fibo and would be happy to chat more about what we're doing anytime. zane @ fiboapp.com

My dad and brother are in construction and plumbing. They talk about this all the time. Tech industry has a lot of bullshit apps because most developers don't know how other industries work.

Kudos for you to find a under-represented industry and make a dent.

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#114

Post by nojvek »

aestetix wrote: post #101
binaryorganic wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ACLU will be part of the winter batch of companies in YC, where it will receive mentorship, a network of powerful connections in tech and a chance to present itself to investors on Demo Day. Y Combinator will also provide some funding, though it won’t take an equity stake in ACLU because it’s a nonprofit. ACLU will not pay to participate." SOURCE: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/31/ycaclu/

I've read as much, but it is dangerously vague to me. Here is why. The ACLU has at least publicly stood for decades for a lot of positions that seem to fundamentally go against what some YC companies do. For example, the ACLU is a clear proponent of the Civil Rights Act, which among other things guarantees that hotels must not discriminate when providing lodging to guests. Meanwhile, in recent years there have been s…

There's one thing about some renter on Airbnb being a boofhead and another when governments are being run by boofheads

ACLU need to choose their wars and if YC can help them hone their skills so they win more meaningful wars for the masses then that's a good thing.

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#115

Post by jkarneges »

chaostheory wrote: post #109
Rainymood wrote: post #70

First off, I absolutely LOVE these write-ups. That being said I chuckled at this one: >Tetra – Automatic notes for business meetings >A lot of meeting notes are taken in Evernote but Tetra takes call notes for you by automatically dialing you to merge into the call and then sending you a fully searchable record of the entire conversation. It comes in auto speech only or human edited using a fast transcription feature…

I'm probably wrong but imo YC funding startups like Tetra fits more in the spirit of YC's original mission of seeding startups, compared to funding more 'mature' startups that seem to be either raising or really close to raising series A.

Totally. I was advising a friend about whether to apply to YC, and there was a concern about whether his app had enough downloads to get accepted. Stepping back, that seems like a really strange thing to be worrying about. It's refreshing to see Tetra in the batch.

I wonder, does YC still fund founders with no ideas? Or take them up on the secondary idea, which may imply abandoning any progress on the primary idea?

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#116

Post by rhizome »

rattray wrote: post #19
usaphp wrote: post #2

> "Tress – A social community for black women’s hairstyles" I wonder what would black women say if there was an app "Social community for white women's hairstyles", would not it be considered racist?

You're clearly being an ass, but... "African hair" is unique relative to the hair from other parts of the globe. "European hair" isn't as meaningfully different from other (non-African) ethnicities.

You've never had an Asian friend? There are more haplotypical variations worldwide than just black hair vs. caucasian hair.

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#117

Post by aestetix »

nojvek wrote: post #114
aestetix wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read as much, but it is dangerously vague to me. Here is why. The ACLU has at least publicly stood for decades for a lot of positions that seem to fundamentally go against what some YC companies do. For example, the ACLU is a clear proponent of the Civil Rights Act, which among other things guarantees that hotels must not discriminate when providing lodging to guests. Meanwhile, in recent years there have been s…

There's one thing about some renter on Airbnb being a boofhead and another when governments are being run by boofheads ACLU need to choose their wars and if YC can help them hone their skills so they win more meaningful wars for the masses then that's a good thing.

I don't understand why YC would be able to help the ACLU "hone their skills."

If it's about access to legal skills, the ACLU has been around for nearly 100 years and has been involved in pivotal court cases.

If it's about money, I've seen articles saying that the ACLU's donation base has gone up quite a lot since Trump.

If it's about reputation, I don't think there's any contest. I suspect that more Americans know about the ACLU than YC, by an order of magnitude. It's also worth noting that the only place I've seen this advertised is in tech blogs, and a few news outlets. I haven't seen anything in legal journals, and the ACLU's website doesn't even seem to mention it.

The one thing I could see as being logical is YC helping the ACLU to work on more technical projects, and using technology to get more people involved in civic duty. But if that's the case, then it's extremely misleading to say the ACLU is a YC "startup", and far more accurate to say they are collaborating on projects of some sort.

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#118

Post by cheriot »

justinzollars wrote: post #47

I will get down voted for this but its how I feel. I have not been excited for an app or a new website in a very long time. I think we are in a rut. None of these ideas sound very interesting or exciting to me.

Most businesses are boring. I'm actually a fan of how so many of these companies are taking proven tech to industries that operate like it's 2005 or even 1995. That's what it will take for tech to make the world more efficient and productive.

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#119

Post by GFischer »

jkarneges wrote: post #115
chaostheory wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm probably wrong but imo YC funding startups like Tetra fits more in the spirit of YC's original mission of seeding startups, compared to funding more 'mature' startups that seem to be either raising or really close to raising series A.

Totally. I was advising a friend about whether to apply to YC, and there was a concern about whether his app had enough downloads to get accepted. Stepping back, that seems like a really strange thing to be worrying about. It's refreshing to see Tetra in the batch. I wonder, does YC still fund founders with no ideas? Or take them up on the secondary idea, which may imply abandoning any progress on the primary idea?

I'm happy to see them too - the last batches had a lot of more mature companies and almost no "seed stage" startups.

I think I read in a comment that they're no longer accepting teams without ideas and that the experimental batch ended up pretty badly.

Re: Startups that debuted at Y Combinator W17 Demo Day 2

#120

Post by [deleted] »

aestetix wrote: post #117
nojvek wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one thing about some renter on Airbnb being a boofhead and another when governments are being run by boofheads ACLU need to choose their wars and if YC can help them hone their skills so they win more meaningful wars for the masses then that's a good thing.

I don't understand why YC would be able to help the ACLU "hone their skills." If it's about access to legal skills, the ACLU has been around for nearly 100 years and has been involved in pivotal court cases. If it's about money, I've seen articles saying that the ACLU's donation base has gone up quite a lot since Trump. If it's about reputation, I don't think there's any contest. I suspect that more Americans know ab…

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