What does it mean to be inactive? I see Pigeonly (W15) on the list, but they are still active as far as their website is concerned.
YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
181–190 of 238 posts
Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#182What’s the method used here? “Finary” website still looks pretty good
Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would imagine so. a) Almost all of the other incubators are just awful. Either they are predatory, ineptly managed or simply not well capitalised enough to offer a competitive product. b) YC is able to rest on its laurels i.e. they can/do market how well AirBnb, Stripe etc have done. And so their funnel of talent is by far the best. c) That said, YC is the worst I've ever seen it. And Garry Tan is mostly to blame a…
Worst based on what, exactly?
If you look at the batch data [1] it is very clear that there is either an investment thesis or some inherent bias in how they choose startups. Since Garry Tan took over it is now heavily favoured towards (a) SF based, (b) young, (c) AI centric.
And if you look at the partner YouTube videos you see why. There is a concerning lack of diversity in how they see the world i.e. they are all very much the e/acc types.
[1] https://www.walturn.com/insights/in-depth-analysis-trends-in...
Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
They pay themselves 200k/y in a pre-market fit startup? That's insane and I guess on the investors for going over the traditional preseed amounts. Or do you mean that they're zombie startups that make enough to pay the founder 200k/year?
I think a lot of gen z founders see nothing wrong with paying themselves a FAANG salary. My generation, not so much (I’m 45).
I wonder if it's related to the social phenomenon of Gen X and the older half of Millennials having a sharply negative view of "selling out", whereas many younger folks don't appear to even be familiar with that concept.
Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#185Since you probably already have this information, it would be interesting to have the "death date", with a link to the announcement or however you gathered the information.
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Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s not what a lifestyle business is. Unless your lifestyle is eating ramen
Sure it is. If your business nets 3 million a year, it takes 5 people to run it, and your customer base is steady, that's lifestyle. Sucks for investors, pretty nice for you if you can keep it running.
Any startup investment that doesn't return, I don't know, like 5-10x "sucks" in the sense that it's not making the portfolio successful, but that's most investments in the portfolio. Beyond that: what sucks about this outcome? If your business has just 5 employees, chances are your investor doesn't have a board seat; it's not costing them much, they can just hang around on the off chance that you turn the knobs right and find a breakout success down the line.
It's true that investors aren't going to invest in your startup if you tell them that your likely outcome is a healthy, stable 3MM/year. And it would be unethical to tell an investor you were swinging for the fences when your true intention was to bank the money and bunt. But if you really do take a big swing, and end up settling in a comfortable spot, how pissed do you think investors are really? You swung, you missed, that's life in the National Football League.
Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure it is. If your business nets 3 million a year, it takes 5 people to run it, and your customer base is steady, that's lifestyle. Sucks for investors, pretty nice for you if you can keep it running.
In other sectors that's just called a "small business" and celebrated as the fullest expression of the American dream. I've always found it funny that tech treats the idea of a going concern with such distaste.
I think people are overly fixated on the fact that a successful small business isn't a workable VC investment target (the winners have to pay for the losers, and even with a conservative portfolio of startups, most are going to lose) and they're working everything back from that.
Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#188There are not just startups that become unicorns and startups that fold. Investors' worst nightmare is if you just make enough money to keep going, but you don't grow ("lifestyle business" as they use it is a derogatory term). That's because they prefer a sudden death where they can write down the investment and deduct their loss from taxes than an investment where they never see any money again. And then there are "…
Nothing stops them from selling you back their share at close to zero if they really want to right it off.
That does happen, but not for taxes. They do it to close out the fund which has (usually) a ten year life.
Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not if the fair market value can be proven otherwise. It’s just fraud
It's not inherently fraudulent to sell something for below market value. If I sell something I bought for $1 million for $1 in an arm's length transaction, I'm realizing a loss of $999,999 even if the asset was worth $500,000. And it'd be a rational decision if it cost me $5 million in opportunity costs to do that $500k sale.
That's not how US capital gains tax law works. It's legal to sell something at below market value, but you have to use the fair market value when calculating a loss for tax purposes. Of course some people cheat.