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Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

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Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#161

Post by ethbr1 »

Qworg wrote: post #136
nordsieck wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The only thing YC has to do is produce a portfolio of companies that looks good enough that other VCs invest into that. This is completely disconnected to building viable businesses, as they just don't have to be the ones that are left holding the bag, and as an accelerator they are in the best position to do that. That's really short term thinking. It might work for a class or two, but eventually VCs will realize…

A question that has probably been answered, but... In a hits business, does quality picking matter? You want to avoid adverse selection, but beyond that - isn't it just about scale?

There are probably a few levels.

Originally, at small scale, you need to pick hits better than others (or get lucky).

Next, you want to scale large enough that you can make enough bets to amortize individual bet risk across a large portfolio.

Then, once you're over that scale, you need to be back in the business of picking hits more reliably than the next VC.

Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#162

Post by bko »

jedberg wrote: post #121
bko wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the bigger issue is that the main signal to YC (and other elite institutions) is the acceptance rate ( The main criticism I have of YC is their constants chants of "everyone should apply!". Here is what you commonly hear: YC: You should apply to YC! Person: But I don’t have a product YC: You should still apply, we let in a lot of people with just an idea! Person: But I don’t have a co-founder YC: You should s…

The reason they want you to apply is twofold -- the application itself is a good exercise in getting you to think about things you should be thinking about. Honestly even if you have no intention at all of applying to YC you should still fill out the application for yourself, it makes you think about important things. And the second reason is that they get to see as many options as possible, because that's obviously…

I'm convinced those that say "I think its a good exercise filling out an application" have never actually read the application

Here are a few questions:

"How far along are you?"

"What tech stack are you using, or planning to use, to build this product?"

"Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?"

"Who are your competitors? What do you understand about your business that they don't?"

"How do or will you make money? How much could you make?"

It's really not that deep or thought provoking. Its fine, you should have answers for these questions, but its hardly worth a founders time going over this as closely as many do.

> And the second reason is that they get to see as many options as possible, because that's obviously better for them

Yes, that's the infinite optionality for them. If I was running YC, I would obv promote the same strategy. As a founder, I think their incentives don't necessarily align with mine.

Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#163

Post by petesergeant »

tempusalaria wrote: post #145
buggeryorkshire wrote: post #19

Surprised this doesn't mention meticulous.ai, who seem to spam HN with "we're hiring!" each month but i've never heard of anybody using them, nor do LI show any new employees. Hey Gabriel, what's going on?

What about Imbue which has raised like 300mln, spams fake hiring ads all the time, and doesn’t have a product…

I briefly worked for Imbue, and got paid for it, and as far as I know they are still legitimately hiring -- their current team page shows a good number of people who have been hired since I was there -- so I don't think "spams fake hiring ads" is a fair thing to say; they are legitimately hiring people, and paying good money. My impression is that they make the top of the hiring funnel as wide as possible but end up hiring a tiny fraction of the people who start the process.

Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#165

Post by kashkhan »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #156
dgreensp wrote: post #106

Full disclosure, I'm a YC alum whose last start-up was acquired by Google, who applied to this batch and didn't get an interview. YC is not the stamp of quality it once was, to be sure, though it still works as social proof, because investors (especially VCs) want to invest in companies other investors like (or failing that, companies they imagine other investors would like). YC would say that they aren't trying to b…

> … yield a big company … I assume that this sort of says it all. Everyone wants “big.” The article talks about brand curation, really. That seems to be a lost art, these days. I worked for a corporation that had one of the most powerful brands in the world (but has taken some real hits). I watched them dilute that brand, and make lots of money, but really get clobbered. They are now regrouping, and, I hope, re-estab…

the whole mythology is nobody knows what will be a big company in general.

The known big company spaces are heavily oversubscribed so nothing can be predicted.

The unknown big company spaces are unknown by definition.

Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#166

Post by petesergeant »

buggeryorkshire wrote: post #19

Surprised this doesn't mention meticulous.ai, who seem to spam HN with "we're hiring!" each month but i've never heard of anybody using them, nor do LI show any new employees. Hey Gabriel, what's going on?

I interviewed for Meticulous a few years ago, and I'm pretty sure I was almost hired, but it didn't go through because they decided they wanted to go fully in-person in London, and I didn't want that. Gabriel seemed like a good guy, I was given a very believable project demo, Quentin also seems legit, my understanding is the product is difficult currently to roll-out to smaller customers but they have a good number of larger paying customers.

I don't think the continuous hiring posts are anything other than a sign that it doesn't cost them anything and they get good leads every time they do it.

Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#167

Post by codingwagie »

dgreensp wrote: post #106

Full disclosure, I'm a YC alum whose last start-up was acquired by Google, who applied to this batch and didn't get an interview. YC is not the stamp of quality it once was, to be sure, though it still works as social proof, because investors (especially VCs) want to invest in companies other investors like (or failing that, companies they imagine other investors would like). YC would say that they aren't trying to b…

What I am seeing is that among Harvard/Stanford grads, being the CEO of a venture backed startup is the highest status. Some of them hate technology and view programming as "low class". But they still go into it, so when they see their peers its something to brag about. They may even stretch the runway as far as possible to maintain the status.

YC is just another brand they can add. It was so odd for me when I first realized this is how it works. And the investors are often just investing based on where they went to school. Real metrics dont come into play until later, during which they have the capital to hire people that actually know what theyre doing.

Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#169

Post by fuzzfactor »

cal85 wrote: post #119
paulgb wrote: post #8

IMHO this post misses the fact that YC becoming a prestige institution is itself a sort of failure mode. You don't want to attract founders who figure YC is a low-risk alternative to grad school that will look good on their resume. It's tough to avoid that outcome while still conferring positive signal to VCs/potential employees, though. I'm sure YC/Garry see something in the PearAI founders' ability to market themse…

Just looked up the etymology of prestige and it’s interesting. It comes from Latin praestigium ("delusion, illusion"), then 1500s French prestige meaning “deceit, imposture, illusion”. In the 1800s it started to mean “an illusion as to one's personal merit or importance, a flattering illusion”. I would have wrongly guessed it originally meant “good reputation” (same as the article author meant it, I assume) and that…

That is enlightening.

Without being aware of the etymology I've still had a lifetime feeling since childhood that it is very fragile for some reason that is hard to pinpoint or bring into focus very easily.

Really is about the same feeling as when you know something is hype or BS and for that reason more subject to collapse like a house of cards.

Re: Y Combinator Traded Prestige for Growth

#170

Post by mlhpdx »

dgreensp wrote: post #106

Full disclosure, I'm a YC alum whose last start-up was acquired by Google, who applied to this batch and didn't get an interview. YC is not the stamp of quality it once was, to be sure, though it still works as social proof, because investors (especially VCs) want to invest in companies other investors like (or failing that, companies they imagine other investors would like). YC would say that they aren't trying to b…

If you ever go after 3) sign me up.

The most inexplicable miss by VCs (YC included)is the lack of interest in funding climate change remediation. Billions of people to help and billions of dollars to be made. E.g.: Could funding protection of Tuvalu’s dry land and status as a nation pay dividends through licensing/leasing fishing rights?

Such things are an area for innovation, and tech could be a part of it, but isn’t.

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