Do you have advice for people running agency-style businesses?
What do you hate the most when working with such entities?
I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
121–130 of 768 posts
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#122What did you think was the most interesting feedback or update on OpenAI since announcing in Dec?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#123When doing a hard tech startup, how can you show traction/product-market-fit to investors before your product is being sold? The cost of going from crude prototype to sellable product can easily be in the 6-figure range, so how do you break this Catch 22?
You can usually find some intermediate milestone to prove to investors you're more than just a talker.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#124Hardware startup question / both yc programs: How many "devices" would you expect an applicant to have in the field w users falling in love for you to feel they had sufficiently demonstrated "customer love traction". Just asking in light of the complexities with small batch hardware. Thanks!
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#125What did you think was the most interesting feedback or update on OpenAI since announcing in Dec?
It will still be months at least until we've made research breakthroughs, but we've had incredible success on the recruiting side. I think we're building one of the strongest teams in the field.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#126Re: Hard Tech is Back
>So, if you’re thinking about starting one, we’d like to talk. And we think we can help
What's the preferred method of contact? I have connections to a "hard tech" startup in Austin and pointed the founders at your blog post.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#127How do you evaluate companies that are more technically ( hardware, computing) challenging? If two founders have been working on a hard problem for ~6 months, what are the things you look for since there isn't any revenue or growth?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#128What should we (smart, technical people) be doing to stop Trump if he makes it to the general election? While it might not be the best fit for YC, have you thought about adding this to your RFS page?
Tech needs to run a candidate in the next election. I still am hopeful Trump will not win the general.
#EricSchmidt2020
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#129What would you be doing if you weren't running YC?
Maybe working on AI or energy? I'm not sure.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#130When doing a hard tech startup, how can you show traction/product-market-fit to investors before your product is being sold? The cost of going from crude prototype to sellable product can easily be in the 6-figure range, so how do you break this Catch 22?
There is a real gap in the market and it is not limited to just hard tech. There are an enormous number of great businesses out there that can’t raise funds until they have a product and they can’t make a product without funds.
The solution is actually pretty obvious - investors have to start investing in businesses that are nothing more than a good concept, especially those of outsiders or non-serial founders. This is hard work though.