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Welcome Peter

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Welcome Peter

#151

Post by higherpurpose »

davidw wrote: post #139
staunch wrote: post #52

The world would benefit much more from him starting a worthy alternative to YC. Few others are in a position to do so. He probably thinks there would be no profit in competing against what he sees as YC's monopoly.

Techstars seems to be quietly doing well by doing their own thing, which includes a surprising amount of geographic diversity. And of course, for some kinds of businesses, one of the real competitors to seed funding is bootstrapping.

I'd like to see an YC competitor that focuses much more on Europe with a focus on Africa as well.

Re: Welcome Peter

#152

Post by forloop »

forloop wrote: post #147
pekk wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is never bullshit to say that something not actually proven is not proven until it is proven.

Thought you may say that. How is something in medicine proven? It's not with deduction, it's with induction! So nothing in medicine is proven with 100% certainty. What's left is probability! Even as an anonymous nobody, I'm able to point to hints of life extension in humans today , or 100% increase in lifespan of mammals! Or the work being done on various vectors; ranging from the slowing of ageing, via metabolism, t…

> So your statement hints at the science of philosophy, and what constitutes proof

That should say 'philosophy of science'... Proofread, ftw!

Re: Welcome Peter

#153

Post by hueving »

pknerd wrote: post #133
hueving wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Focusing on the customer enough does not ensure uniqueness. It is very possible to be in a market where customers needs are satisfied.

Zappos?

Zappos is not unique. They don't have a monopoly on anything and ultimately sold out to Amazon probably because there wasn't a way to grow much beyond their market of people who pay premiums on everything to get easier returns.

Re: Welcome Peter

#155

Post by krschultz »

philwelch wrote: post #128
ub wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking a contrarian viewpoint. Does the convergence of all talent into one team actually reduce the innovation in the startup ecosystem. Similar to your sports analogy, the best games result when multiple talented teams fight it out. If all startups that become big are YC-funded, then we might see just the YC-influenced style of running a company whereas other models may not see the light of the day.

That's because sports are inherently competitive endeavors. This isn't necessarily true of startup investing.

What? From my experience startup investing is ruthlessly competitive. Every VC backed startup I have worked at had competitors funded by other VCs.

Re: Welcome Peter

#156

Post by krschultz »

UmDieWelt wrote: post #111
foobarqux wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's nothing profound about it, it's common sense in business though people use different words like "moats", "barriers to entry" and "pricing power".

For some reason every generation seems to rediscover the same things and think they've invented something new

Well it doesn't help that the startup world thumbs their nose at MBAs and seems to really want 26 year old founders. Inexperience + disdain for the very education that teaches that kind of thinking leads to a pretty obvious conclusion.

Re: Welcome Peter

#157

Post by davidw »

higherpurpose wrote: post #151
davidw wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Techstars seems to be quietly doing well by doing their own thing, which includes a surprising amount of geographic diversity. And of course, for some kinds of businesses, one of the real competitors to seed funding is bootstrapping.

I'd like to see an YC competitor that focuses much more on Europe with a focus on Africa as well.

Europe is tough for a lot of reasons. I think Techstars has at least London, maybe Berlin? Each country tends to have their own stuff.

Re: Welcome Peter

#158

Post by btrautsc »

ryanSrich wrote: post #106
edmack wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't find it a waste of time.

Sorry. That was perhaps a poor choice of words. I mostly just meant that older folks might be more inclined to skip YC based on the existing YC knowledge that's freely available.

The knowledge is freely available, widely shared, and well covered/ commented on by many.

As someone who went through YC at 27, I think the structure, personal input, coaching, and the community (IMO most important) are incredible resources to increase the likelihood of success for your startup.

When you are creating a startup (defined as company hoping to experience hyper-growth/ hyper-impact), it is so hard that you need to accumulate as many resources and success factors as possible.

Knowledge is a huge portion of that - but YC packages significantly more advantages not only into ~3 months but also into the constantly evolving network it has cultivated.

Re: Welcome Peter

#159

Post by philwelch »

krschultz wrote: post #155
philwelch wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's because sports are inherently competitive endeavors. This isn't necessarily true of startup investing.

What? From my experience startup investing is ruthlessly competitive. Every VC backed startup I have worked at had competitors funded by other VCs.

But it's not competitive in the same way sports are. If you're a basketball team, you only succeed by beating other basketball teams. If you're an investor, beating other investors isn't the definition of your job. It might happen incidentally, but not by definition.

Re: Welcome Peter

#160

Post by dredmorbius »

staunch wrote: post #52

The world would benefit much more from him starting a worthy alternative to YC. Few others are in a position to do so. He probably thinks there would be no profit in competing against what he sees as YC's monopoly.

Interesting comment particularly given Thiel's own views on monopolies.
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