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My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

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Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#21

Post by mlichtenstern »

vitalus wrote: post #12

"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC. I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code,…

I know a self-made millionaire and mother of four who didn't go through YC, but has gone through rigorous travel meeting with retailers, getting press, trade shows, etc. to build her company. She has a nanny, granny-nanny, and supportive husband.

One day a week to seize an opportunity is rational and part of biz dev in this case. There are women who deploy in the military leaving children to be raised by relatives (I know a few). It is not always the preferable option, but certainly something women are capable of if the circumstances require.

Also, with technology, a lot can be done in that commute time ("rolling calls" are typical in LA traffic) - not to mention the value of "think time" and "alone time" for someone who is probably "on" 24-7.

It seems that Susan has a great background for YC. Her work experience (Facebook - hello) and the fact she applied with a cofounder (just heard on #StartupSchool that half of applicants don't have one) signifies "archetype" to me, albeit the female, mom version. Sounds like a perfect cultural fit.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#22

Post by mlichtenstern »

mrkurt wrote: post #14
vitalus wrote: post #12

"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC. I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code,…

I did the opposite: moved for the summer, leaving my wife + 4 kids in Chicago. It wasn't easy. Others I knew moved their whole families for ~4 months. That also wasn't easy. If I did it again, and budget permitting, I probably would split time — weekends in Chicago, Monday through Thurs or Friday in Mountain View. What was interesting was how shocked family members and friends were that we'd work something out like t…

"If it had been a military deployment, though, no one would have batted an eye." Right!

However, as a man, I think it is deemed more common / acceptable to travel on business. My project manager is former military and now contracts with FEMA, deploying weeks to months at a time, leaving wife and two kids behind.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#24

Post by mlichtenstern »

Asparagirl wrote: post #16
untilHellbanned wrote: post #11

Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?

And she conveniently left out the cost of childcare for all the days she was gone. Oh, you know, those little $18-20 per hour* minor details. If her partner works fulltime, that could be round-the-clock care. But yeah, of course a mom can do YC! (If she's rich and has a very, very supportive partner.) And yeah, I do remember that tweet from Sam she highlighted. And the thing I tweeted back to him, unacknowledged, sti…

Interesting you should make that comment. Earlier today (while I was on hold with server tech support for those who might question my work ethic - lol), I was commenting on the whole egg freezing perk that hit the news. My suggestion was that providing on-site daycare and other work-life integration perks was preferable to the dream deferred mentality with a 25% success rate (for which the implication is deferred career suicide).

That said, to have children as an entrepreneur, a support system of some kind is critical.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#25

Post by [deleted] »

atomical wrote: post #19
aresant wrote: post #13

There's an interesting back story on the Women.com domain. NBC owned women.com and women.net from the takeover of iVillage. A domain broker - Benjamin Padnos - won the domains at auction at SEDO for $1m in 2010, but the CEO of NBC - Jeff Zucker - blocked the domain name sale personally. Padnos wound up suing NBC and SEDO and settling, taking the domain names(1). Then he sold them to Susan in 2012 who purchased them w…

>I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction Why?

[deleted]

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#27

Post by twelve40 »

atomical wrote: post #19
aresant wrote: post #13

There's an interesting back story on the Women.com domain. NBC owned women.com and women.net from the takeover of iVillage. A domain broker - Benjamin Padnos - won the domains at auction at SEDO for $1m in 2010, but the CEO of NBC - Jeff Zucker - blocked the domain name sale personally. Padnos wound up suing NBC and SEDO and settling, taking the domain names(1). Then he sold them to Susan in 2012 who purchased them w…

>I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction Why?

cause it was a lot of money for a gamble that turned out nicely, and also she probably does something more inspiring with that domain than a broker?

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#28

Post by 001sky »

prawn wrote: post #4
was_hellbanned wrote: post #2

I'm not saying this to be negative, necessarily, but something struck me in this essay, so I grep'd it. There are 47 instances of "I", by my count.

So, are you saying it to be negative, unnecessarily?

Yep its stereotype / baiting but always possible an ounce of truth[1]. the worst mistakes to make are ones that let other people typecast you. so maybe its semi-constructive.

eg, how many instances of "team"?

cmd+f=(team)=1

_______________

Here’s my story:

I left my role at Facebook 2 years ago to build women.com. With wide eyes and beginners confidence, I struck out on my own. I crafted my vision, wore a hoodie, and tried to raise a seed round on a dream and a deck. After 3 months of fund raising, I received term sheets (pre-product and pre-tech team), but success was fleeting. My partner and I hit the skids, split up, and ended our partnership.

However, this was my dream and a couple of speed bumps weren’t going to crush it. I decided to bootstrap and get a working MVP into the hands of users.

--------------------------

Although this contextual snippet may also explain a bit more regarding both observations. The word 'team' only appears within a parenthetical--and even then only within a vignette of previuous failure.

perhaps, even if nothing but for PR purposes, this type of presentation may be improved by being more even handed going forward?.

This just seems like a leadership coaching pont. If she were in another similar/leadership role (non CEO) it would still be relevant.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/27/are-modern-p...

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#30

Post by [deleted] »

Asparagirl wrote: post #16
untilHellbanned wrote: post #11

Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?

And she conveniently left out the cost of childcare for all the days she was gone. Oh, you know, those little $18-20 per hour* minor details. If her partner works fulltime, that could be round-the-clock care. But yeah, of course a mom can do YC! (If she's rich and has a very, very supportive partner.) And yeah, I do remember that tweet from Sam she highlighted. And the thing I tweeted back to him, unacknowledged, sti…

[deleted]
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