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Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

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Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#181

Post by cratermoon »

onion2k wrote: post #13

Literally every time you see a startup release a product that seems trivial it's because that's not the full story. You're judging without complete information. For example, the public face might be a simple Mac calendar widget, but that could be the gateway to calendar sharing, native office apps, meeting booking, event management, ticket sales, corporate flight sales etc. Building an audience with a cheap tool that…

Skeptical me says it's for collecting data about the users. The data and the analytics would be the actual value. Not the users, though, only to the investors.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#182

Post by rbranson »

onion2k wrote: post #13

Literally every time you see a startup release a product that seems trivial it's because that's not the full story. You're judging without complete information. For example, the public face might be a simple Mac calendar widget, but that could be the gateway to calendar sharing, native office apps, meeting booking, event management, ticket sales, corporate flight sales etc. Building an audience with a cheap tool that…

Instagram's initial value prop was an easy way to share your photos across Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#183

Post by [deleted] »

onion2k wrote: post #13

Literally every time you see a startup release a product that seems trivial it's because that's not the full story. You're judging without complete information. For example, the public face might be a simple Mac calendar widget, but that could be the gateway to calendar sharing, native office apps, meeting booking, event management, ticket sales, corporate flight sales etc. Building an audience with a cheap tool that…

[deleted]

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#184

Post by Grustaf »

conradev wrote: post #138
tim333 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed the founder says: >We’ve only solved a small part of a bigger problem. The SaaS platforms we use for work don't work well together. It shouldn’t take cycling through ten different apps and Chrome tabs to stay on top of everything. >We’re now looking to bring Slack and GitHub into a unified notification inbox in the menu bar. We want to better organize everything you use as we’ve done with Google Calendar.

I’ve spent almost a decade in the productivity space (founded Shortcuts at Apple, fka Workflow) and everything is always confusing. Everyone is seeking the holy grail of computing (“the computer does exactly what I want and it’s a seamless experience”) and there are a billion and a half ways to attack the problem. Starting with a “hair on fire” problem and expanding to other hair on fire problems is not a wholly unre…

Sure, but saving a click or two when joining zoom meetings for mac users that don't use the native calendar app doesn't really scream "hair on fire"...

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#185

Post by Grustaf »

MattGaiser wrote: post #39
tim333 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed the founder says: >We’ve only solved a small part of a bigger problem. The SaaS platforms we use for work don't work well together. It shouldn’t take cycling through ten different apps and Chrome tabs to stay on top of everything. >We’re now looking to bring Slack and GitHub into a unified notification inbox in the menu bar. We want to better organize everything you use as we’ve done with Google Calendar.

If they build a unified notification inbox, I will pay for that. I had one of those when I used a Blackberry and I miss it as I now have to check 10 sites periodically to stay on top of things.

What's wrong with the existing notification inbox in macos? It's available quicker, by just swiping in from the right side.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#186

Post by bartread »

evanlivingston wrote: post #170
ryanSrich wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get when people say $X/month is too much. Too much for you maybe. But for me, if I can save 1 hour per month, that's worth $500. That's the top of what I've charged per hour for some consulting gigs. So $10/m is literally nothing for me if I can save time. Time is your most valuable asset. Money is nothing. Focus on time.

erm, isn't that assuming an income of $1,040,000 after tax based on a 40 hour work week?

Well, GP did say that was the top end of their hourly rate, so maybe not that much, but I think it's safe to say they're very solidly into six figures. Under those circumstances the calculus does no doubt change/ I don't think it reflects the reality experienced by the majority of people with less otherworldly remuneration, families, etc.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#187

Post by nkotov »

I went through YC S20 and it's been amazing. It opened up a whole new world to me that I previously didn't have access to. I come from a poor, immigrant family with no fancy college background. I'm located in a non-tech hub city. This was my first startup and getting to partake in YC essentially put me and my company on the map. The internal network itself is also fantastic and the value of having group partners (mine were founders of several companies that you all used) who have experience.

I think a lot of people miss the fact that YC at the end of the day doesn't care about the actual idea / product but if there is a way it could be used by millions and if there is a path from this widget to something bigger. It's just the MVP and seems to be pretty successful considering it has paying users already. At the end of the day, YC funds people, not companies. If they think you have some potential and can prove it with a little bit of traction or some background or having the right team. There were numerous companies in our batch that pivoted once they started the batch.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#188

Post by andreilys »

llaolleh wrote: post #149
antoniuschan99 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not a knock on the product but moreso on ycombinator. It’s questioning why such a product is being funded (at least at this stage when it’s so niche and only available on mac) and if there’s a bigger issue in the ycombinator system funding “trivial” startups The other side of the coin could be they’re getting funded because yc likes the founders :)

If you want a crazy win, then you have to invest in some crazy things. Crazy simple also makes sense. YC is doing what they were created to do. To invest in extremely early stage startups no one is willing to bet on. But maybe their product is questioning a fundamental assumption that is outdated that has not been thrown out yet, given current technological advances. Who knows. You could be right on founders. Founder…

Investing in a calendar widget is not a “crazy idea nobody will bet on”

This is something that’s easily bootstrapped and which can be run as a lifestyle business at best.

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#189

Post by monkey_monkey »

ryanSrich wrote: post #168
vbezhenar wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$10/month is not a cheap tool. I'm paying $90/year for Intellij Idea which is my main development tool. IMO that cost is extremely prohibitive for most users and it's definitely not a way to get plenty of people on board to monetize it later.

I don't get when people say $X/month is too much. Too much for you maybe. But for me, if I can save 1 hour per month, that's worth $500. That's the top of what I've charged per hour for some consulting gigs. So $10/m is literally nothing for me if I can save time. Time is your most valuable asset. Money is nothing. Focus on time.

Great, I'm hoping you'll sign up for my upcoming weather widget which tells you the weather in a single location. It's only $30 a month, and it will save you time as you will no longer have to use any other weather widget.

At some point in the future I plan on offering additional locations (at a compellingly low per location monthly service fee TBD).

Re: Has Y Combinator lost its way when the latest company is a Mac only widget?

#190

Post by wtmt »

ryanSrich wrote: post #168
vbezhenar wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$10/month is not a cheap tool. I'm paying $90/year for Intellij Idea which is my main development tool. IMO that cost is extremely prohibitive for most users and it's definitely not a way to get plenty of people on board to monetize it later.

I don't get when people say $X/month is too much. Too much for you maybe. But for me, if I can save 1 hour per month, that's worth $500. That's the top of what I've charged per hour for some consulting gigs. So $10/m is literally nothing for me if I can save time. Time is your most valuable asset. Money is nothing. Focus on time.

If every comment has to be suffixed with “for me” or “IMO”, it would be quite tedious to read. In most cases it’s clear. In cases like this, it could also be that the writer isn’t earning a six figure USD income or is in a country where even a $10 here and a $10 there add up relative to one’s income.

It’s also very easy to say that X is most valuable and Y is nothing when you have very limited X and have a lot of Y.

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