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Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

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Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#21

Post by qF »

gibybo wrote: post #13
qF wrote: post #8

'Improving lives' is ambiguous, it centralizes around solving problems that people have. However if you scale these problems from 1st world to 3rd world problems it seems to me that improving lives in this context is aimed more at 1st rather than 3rd world problems. Which makes sense from a business standpoint, but the title somewhat implies that is about making the world a 'better' place. I am not criticizing pg bec…

While making the world a better place may not be sufficient to build a successful business, I don't think it's fair to say only organizations focusing on the third world are improving quality of life. Companies usually don't make money unless they are helping someone, and that help often leads to an improved quality of life, first world or not.

I specifically chose to talk about a scale, because I do agree that it is not black and white.

There is however a difference between: earning money as a goal and improving lives as a means (improved quality of life being a byproduct) and wanting to improve lives (and as such quality of life) and earning money only being a requirement to sustain those activities.

But perhaps startups are not way to go for the latter, which is why I am curious if there are any startups taking this route (or perhaps have tried and failed).

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#22

Post by davidw »

staunch wrote: post #15
ryannielsen wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, that's fairly consistent for pg. As he notes later in the interview, he believes that a startup's founders matter more than the idea as good founders will improve upon or drop a bad idea. I think that was exactly the heuristic pg used in this case. He may not think GroupOn is best company in its current form, but he believes that Andrew Mason's smart and driven and is thus capable of evolving GroupOn into a…

I think betting on the founder breaks down as a company grows to a certain point. Steering a small startup is one thing. Steering a 10k person public company is entirely different. I doubt Steve Jobs at age 26 could have saved Apple from impending doom in 1996. Even at age 41, with all his additional skill/experience, it was far from easy for him.

Yeah, the overlap of people who are good at doing something from nothing and the group of people who are good at managing a large organization is probably pretty small. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs come to mind.

That said, from PG's point of view as an investor, the important thing is to get to an exit, and hope that for the sake of the company, part of what makes the founders 'good' is the ability to recognize when it's time to step aside.

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#24

Post by cantbecool »

First time I've ever heard the word suck on Bloomberg.

I love Graham's demeanor. Emily Chang and Cory Johnson seemed lost on air, check out 7:02 in, when Graham responded with succinct and honest answers. He didn't over-hype Y Combinator and emphasized the human aspect of startups: startups must make peoples lives better and hiring good, intelligent people are the keys to success.

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#25

Post by [deleted] »

ihodes wrote: post #4

I'm reminded every time I watch Bloomberg I'm reminded just how high quality they are, and how intelligent their anchors are relative to any other large media corp. Additionally, Paul, thanks for being frank and great. It makes me so happy to see you as the face of not only YC, but increasingly of tech startups in general. When I get around to implementing a good idea, I've got you to look to not only for interesting…

[deleted]

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#26

Post by cantbecool »

staunch wrote: post #17
yuvadam wrote: post #14

I'd really like to hear about pg's gripes with TechStars.

Backstory as I understand it: David Cohen asked PG's permission to start a YC franchise of some sort in Boulder. He said no. David Cohen cloned YC in virtually every respect (down to copying the application form). Basically what Wimdu is doing to AirBnb. Still, it has been 5 years and YC has certainly not suffered. I'm surprised PG isn't a bit more magnanimous towards them.

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I don't think PG cares too much.

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#27

Post by davidw »

cantbecool wrote: post #26
staunch wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Backstory as I understand it: David Cohen asked PG's permission to start a YC franchise of some sort in Boulder. He said no. David Cohen cloned YC in virtually every respect (down to copying the application form). Basically what Wimdu is doing to AirBnb. Still, it has been 5 years and YC has certainly not suffered. I'm surprised PG isn't a bit more magnanimous towards them.

Imitation is the greatest form of flattery. I don't think PG cares too much.

He didn't give that impression in the video.

It's too bad, because Techstars seems like a pretty cool thing in its own right. To me, Boulder also sounds way more attractive than the Bay Area at this stage in my life.

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#28

Post by patio11 »

qF wrote: post #21
gibybo wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While making the world a better place may not be sufficient to build a successful business, I don't think it's fair to say only organizations focusing on the third world are improving quality of life. Companies usually don't make money unless they are helping someone, and that help often leads to an improved quality of life, first world or not.

I specifically chose to talk about a scale, because I do agree that it is not black and white. There is however a difference between: earning money as a goal and improving lives as a means (improved quality of life being a byproduct) and wanting to improve lives (and as such quality of life) and earning money only being a requirement to sustain those activities. But perhaps startups are not way to go for the latter,…

This is the perennial theological question about charity: do you measure goodness based on charitable intent or on charitable results? Say getting money to poor folks in India is a charitable result with nearly-universal support here. It is doubtful Microsoft scores very high on the intent scale there, but they have probably done more for poor Indians this year than all active charities and all foreign government aid in history. I love Mother Teresa, but aside from the poor's spiritual needs, if moving them into the middle class is a goal worth pursuing than economic growth has been really freaking effective and charity not so much.

This is one of the reasons Twilio excites me so much, incidentally. (Disclaimer: commercial relationship.) Cheap mobile phones have been a huge, huge, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge win for the global poor. Twilio (and companies like it) upgrade every phone in the world to being a smart phone. I think that's going to create wealth on the scale of the Green Revolution or the Internet eventually.

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#29

Post by johnx123 »

staunch wrote: post #17
yuvadam wrote: post #14

I'd really like to hear about pg's gripes with TechStars.

Backstory as I understand it: David Cohen asked PG's permission to start a YC franchise of some sort in Boulder. He said no. David Cohen cloned YC in virtually every respect (down to copying the application form). Basically what Wimdu is doing to AirBnb. Still, it has been 5 years and YC has certainly not suffered. I'm surprised PG isn't a bit more magnanimous towards them.

We need more YC. YC is rejecting every applications. So, TS is good, IMHO. But, his remark "they find people" is more arrogant.

Re: Y Combinator's Graham Says Startups Must Improve Lives

#30

Post by weirdcat »

johnx123 wrote: post #29
staunch wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Backstory as I understand it: David Cohen asked PG's permission to start a YC franchise of some sort in Boulder. He said no. David Cohen cloned YC in virtually every respect (down to copying the application form). Basically what Wimdu is doing to AirBnb. Still, it has been 5 years and YC has certainly not suffered. I'm surprised PG isn't a bit more magnanimous towards them.

We need more YC. YC is rejecting every applications. So, TS is good, IMHO. But, his remark "they find people" is more arrogant.

I believe he said "they're fine people."
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