21–26 of 26 posts
PG even gives a list of things he'd like to see built, take one of those if you don't have your own, but not having anything to me seems like a bit of a cop-out.
Am I the only one that's tired of the absolutist arguments without any substantive evidence that seem to plague social news sites? We have no idea if Y Combinator's "No Idea" thing is good or bad. I suspect YC doesn't know either and once they do, unless they let us know how it worked out, we still won't know. No amount of prognostication will answer the question. It's a real pet peeve of mine when people who don't k…
From what I've heard, ad hoc teams already happen in the YC program for various reasons. This is not a completely untested hypothesis.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps the best way to look at it is that YC is trying to hire good engineers to help with ideas they have themself (YC) or to join other YC teams which they find promising.
That's an interesting way to look at it, although at that point using the words "startup" and "entrepreneur" are more marketing than anything else. I think what people object to about this "no idea" idea is the feeling that this is just more control being shifted from founders to the same small group of rich and powerful tech kingmakers. I don't know how valid that objection is, I guess we'll have to see, but it's li…
1. Get groups without an idea or product to cultivate and implement their own ideas. I think this is their primary goal, but to be honest, I have absolutely no clue whether it will work. I would wager, however, that this idea would work, especially with a good group that can deal with the pressure well.
2. Match these kickass development groups with another YC pitched idea. This is less clear how it would work, because it turns YC into a consulting/temp agency. I'm also not sure what the groups would be working for. Would it be for pay through YC, or for equity in the new startup? This, I think, is the worry for a lot of people, because it would result(like freshhawk mentioned) control being shifted away from the founders.
Oh! I think I get it now! I know why people write about YC when they aren't in YC, aren't affiliated with YC, and run businesses that are orthogonal to YC. They want to get to the top of hacker news and maybe get their job advert read by the selective crowd of hacker news: "We're currently looking for a lead interaction designer. If you think you're up for it, email jobs@yipit.com" -sidebar of author's website
1.) This strategy that has a high likelihood of working. 2.) I don't see anything wrong with it. Is there an unwritten rule that one must be affiliated with YC to have an opinion about the program?
I wasn't writing with a sarcastic intent. It's hard to be genuinely surprised about realizing something on the internet without coming across that way it seems. I honestly just figured out why he might have considering writing about YC at all given his background.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If ideas were worth so little, wouldn't firms tend to become more monolithic? I feel that ideas are worth more than execution now. It is cheaper and cheaper to execute, but problem solving and creativity, the things that tend to break down atomically into groups of 0-3 founders, are holding their value, or becoming relatively more valuable. I think, personally, that people like to parrot this "ideas are worthless" li…
I actually think the conventional wisdom is that ideas are valuable. After all, how often have you told someone an idea and had them tell you to patent it, with the understood implication that you'll somehow be made wealthy just from the idea. I don't think any of your points really hold water. Even a world in which ideas are worth equally as much as execution would make no sense. I can't fly to work in a picture of…
It has nothing to do with geography, despite the efforts of propaganda emanating from the Valley to convince you otherwise.
By all means don't take my word for it, but by the same token don't fly off the handle talking about flying cars. Just think quietly about how impossible many businesses that currently exist would be a decade ago. I never said anything about the Valley in my previous post. I don't have anything to do with the Valley, but your remoteness from it doesn't help your post gain any clarity.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If ideas were worth so little, wouldn't firms tend to become more monolithic? I feel that ideas are worth more than execution now. It is cheaper and cheaper to execute, but problem solving and creativity, the things that tend to break down atomically into groups of 0-3 founders, are holding their value, or becoming relatively more valuable. I think, personally, that people like to parrot this "ideas are worthless" li…
Maybe YC should pivot and give founders 7% as a royalty for their idea?
Payments are made in the form of equity or convertible debt - no need for nasty perpetual licenses in the form of royalty payments. If many startup web businesses are not taking in much cash, but are rather meant to be sold on to larger business as interlocking pieces in the advertising money deployment machine, why commit to a stream of cash payments in the future?
No-idea recruiting is a way to shake out people who may be valuable to plug into startups but for some reason are not coming up with the right ideas themselves. Or at least that is my opinion.