Bolt founder on Stripe/YC • Hacker News Board

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#111

Post by r-w » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:46 AM UTC

DarylZero wrote: post #103

aerosmile wrote: post #51

Public fights can occasionally be net positive for one of the participants, but your arguments will be publicly scrutinized and they better be watertight. If the logic you presented is your best work, then I can easily see why you've experienced some trouble in getting people to support you. Let's start with the very first argument you presented: getting rejected by YC is a clear proof of collusion. Getting rejected…

I don't think you're using the word "contrarian" correctly.

Or if we're keeping with the movie references, "I do not think that means what you think it means."

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#112

Post by demux » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:47 AM UTC

nkotov wrote: post #77

To be honest, this feels like a PR stunt since we all know if you add "YC is bad" and share it on HN, people will look and react. I haven't heard of Bolt, I'm not familiar with the space at all. I use Stripe because the product just works and I can trust my business with it. Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product. On a related note - I helped review a little over 100+ Y…

What similarities did you find in good applications that you selected?

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#113

Post by oefrha » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:52 AM UTC

gondo wrote: post #108

dang wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on my phone so can't dig as easily, but you can tell from the item IDs that the Stripe post preceded the Bolt one, and we never change those. Edit: internet archive links are now at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30070287 .

So you change the dates sometimes? :)

Second chance stories have submission time reset IIRC. It’s a routine thing, nothing nefarious.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#114

Post by floatingatoll » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:54 AM UTC

kaycebasques wrote: post #69

> Stripe and YC effectively co-run the most important media asset in Silicon Valley: Hacker News. A few of my articles [1] have made the front page so I can weigh in on this a (tiny) bit. > The readers know: any time Stripe comes out with a new product, it’s #1 on the site I do believe that "the mods" have the ability to boost articles at their discretion so I would not be surprised if YC companies frequently get a b…

> Millions of views sounds like a stretch.

Your suspicion is supported elsethread by this estimate of 100K or less: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30067872

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#115

Post by floatingatoll » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:56 AM UTC

tptacek wrote: post #76

kaycebasques wrote: post #69

> Stripe and YC effectively co-run the most important media asset in Silicon Valley: Hacker News. A few of my articles [1] have made the front page so I can weigh in on this a (tiny) bit. > The readers know: any time Stripe comes out with a new product, it’s #1 on the site I do believe that "the mods" have the ability to boost articles at their discretion so I would not be surprised if YC companies frequently get a b…

Dan has said repeatedly that YC companies do not get artificial boosts. He's said that on this thread, as well. Ranking is definitely not a strict function of votes; HN does a bunch of stuff to groom the front page. But, according to Dan, none of that involves giving preference to YC companies.

> He’s said that on this thread

Permalinks:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30067683

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30067919

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#116

Post by trentgreene » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:56 AM UTC

“ Meetings would go phenomenally well.

VCs would get excited, and many even commit to term sheets.

Then, mysteriously, they’d back away. ”

I am but a lowly code slinging peasant, but my dad raised some serious cash in his day. I’ve heard this exact story more times than I can count.

The inflection however wasn’t conspiratorial; it’s that your idea / meeting / pitch was strong but not strong enough in the end, and a soft unspoken “no” helps maintain relationships (its a small world!)

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#117

Post by log4shelled » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:57 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #56

parhamn wrote: post #10

I think if you get over the drama here and implied "dirtiness", the main result is still a bit interesting. Even if you exclude the implied carteling and take everything he said with a grain of salt, the outcomes of this incentive structure are clear: once SV (i.e. the YC centered VC machine) gets into a space and has a main horse, SV can no longer incubate new innovation/competition in the space. It can also very li…

If that's the main result of the post, then it's a reductio, because YC funds competitors all the time and would never turn down an innovator for anti-competitive reasons—only because they thought it wouldn't be a good investment at that moment. Anything else would both be bad for YC's business and against its principles ( https://www.ycombinator.com/principles/ ). Of course it still happens that YC turns down good c…

Creating a cartel is "bad for business"? Are you sure about that?

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#118

Post by caaqil » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 5:58 AM UTC

sailingparrot wrote: post #86

ergocoder wrote: post #82

I can see why VC avoided Bolt's founder. A lot of his claims seem weak. I wouldn't work with a person like this either. The tweet about the fraud detection seems straight up false. People pointed out that Stripe posted it before Bolt. Can someone confirm? Even if Stripe posted after Bolt, it would be pretty damn strange for Stripe to write a blog within an hour.

> Can someone confirm? Hover over the dates in the links. Stripe's post [1]: 17:41 UTC Bolt's [2]: 20:08 UTC Considering this is the only thing he claimed to have "proof" on, and it turns out not only to be false but to be the actual opposite, this is really damning for the rest of his claims. If that was such a traumatizing event, how can one not think of checking the timestamp once in 4 years to at least know if yo…

> An ~hour later, this showed up

Could it be about who hit the front page first, and not exact timestamps? (i.e., he meant the Stripe post hit the front page an hour after their post did?) That makes sense, since some posts quickly hit the front page and then disappear. Just as an alternative explanation.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#119

Post by ma2rten » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 6:00 AM UTC

nkotov wrote: post #77

To be honest, this feels like a PR stunt since we all know if you add "YC is bad" and share it on HN, people will look and react. I haven't heard of Bolt, I'm not familiar with the space at all. I use Stripe because the product just works and I can trust my business with it. Seeing a CEO who publicly complains turns me away from even wanting to try the product. On a related note - I helped review a little over 100+ Y…

It looks to be more like a heartfelt rant than a PR stunt, the person who posted this to HN doesn't seem to be same as the one who wrote the tweet.

But it does amaze me how often HN seems to fall for this kind of sensationalist story.

Re: Bolt founder on Stripe/YC

#120

Post by sireat » Tue, Jan 25, 2022, 6:00 AM UTC

Bolt is huge in Eastern Europe (taxis, food delivery).

They are not exactly without controversy.

Bolt announced and defended further expansion in Belarus amid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%932021_Belarusian_p...

What is interesting that my Google searches fail to find the offending article from Bolt's founder. All I can find is Russian and Belarus sources and Usain Bolt. Linkedin does show Bolt has an expanion ongoing in Belarus.