Why Y Combinator is a waste of time • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#21

Post by ClintonKarr » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:12 PM UTC

voiceofreason wrote: post #16

ClintonKarr wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He does make one valid point - if you're spending all day contributing to this news section you're probably not working hard enough on your project. Also, I don't believe he was comparing Paul to a 15-year-old musician, but rather screwed up and switched the name of his cousin from Steve to Paul. A freudian comparison perhaps, but not intentional. He failed to communicate his point effectively.

He said, "I read that thing that Paul wrote saying that anybody who contributes regularly is going to fare better. That's shit from a bull." Of course he was insulting Paul, and us later on.

Can you stop editing your posts every 30 seconds? It makes it impossible to discuss anything with you.

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#22

Post by budu3 » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:14 PM UTC

Well, if he can point to his success then I might be inclined to take his advise, otherwise ...

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#23

Post by timg » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:16 PM UTC

There is some meaning within this rambling.

Here's a startup idea Mr PG: I will pay $50 for basic feedback on a very early startup idea and give you 1% equity.

What are the alternatives? Is there any way to get feedback on startup plans from half competent people without broadcasting your ideas all over forums?

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#24

Post by voiceofreason » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:20 PM UTC

ClintonKarr wrote: post #21

voiceofreason wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He said, "I read that thing that Paul wrote saying that anybody who contributes regularly is going to fare better. That's shit from a bull." Of course he was insulting Paul, and us later on.

Can you stop editing your posts every 30 seconds? It makes it impossible to discuss anything with you.

I know he didn't compare Paul to the musician. I was talking about the quote above.

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#25

Post by ClintonKarr » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:25 PM UTC

voiceofreason wrote: post #24

ClintonKarr wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you stop editing your posts every 30 seconds? It makes it impossible to discuss anything with you.

I know he didn't compare Paul to the musician. I was talking about the quote above.

Dude, you're a liar. You've edited or deleted half of your posts after I replied to them. Maybe you'll pull the wool over the eyes of someone that stumbles into the thread now, but your initial comment said that the author should apologize for comparing Paul to the musician.

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#26

Post by zkinion » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:28 PM UTC

Some of the stuff he says isn't so bad. It's good to just go out and create something. Too many people do seem to rely on YC.

However, the money YC gives is really insignificant. I doubt many people even applied for the money at all. Its really more about the network and mesh of people you get with it. Anybody can work and save up 6k, its not that hard.

I didn't apply because I want to be in the San Fran. network isntead of the cambridge area. If this round was in the bay area, then I would have applied, and been accepted :).

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#27

Post by dfranke » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:33 PM UTC

zkinion wrote: post #26

Some of the stuff he says isn't so bad. It's good to just go out and create something. Too many people do seem to rely on YC. However, the money YC gives is really insignificant. I doubt many people even applied for the money at all. Its really more about the network and mesh of people you get with it. Anybody can work and save up 6k, its not that hard. I didn't apply because I want to be in the San Fran. network isn…

YC's money isn't the most important thing they offer, but in my case (I'm finishing undergrad this month) it probably does make the difference between being able to go full-time right away versus needing to either spend a year saving or moonlight it.

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#28

Post by pg » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:40 PM UTC

If YC is for losers, then Robert and Trevor and I are losers ourselves, because we modelled it on how we started Viaweb. We took $10k in seed funding from our friend Julian, who (since he was a lawyer) also set us up as a company.

For us, Julian's help was both a necessary and sufficient condition of getting launched. Nothing has changed since then about life in the seed stage. Sure, maybe you can get to the next stage on $200k instead of a $2m series A round like in the Bubble, but initially you still need at least a few months' living expenses.

I only skimmed that [what should I call it? article?], but I did notice one other thing that's mistaken. We don't judge people by their karma on news.yc, but by the quality of their comments and submissions. Surely that is a reasonable test.

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#29

Post by nostrademons » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:48 PM UTC

ClintonKarr wrote: post #15

voiceofreason wrote: post #11

(Back to where it was) The author unfairly compared Paul to a young musician's experience, said Paul speaks Bull, and that the YC is a waste of time. He also insults the reader. The author should apologize.

He does make one valid point - if you're spending all day contributing to this news section you're probably not working hard enough on your project. Also, I don't believe he was comparing Paul to a 15-year-old musician, but rather screwed up and switched the name of his cousin from Steve to Paul. A freudian comparison perhaps, but not intentional. He failed to communicate his point effectively.

Some of us contribute to yCombinator because we have day jobs and can't work on our startup while on company time. And yet we have bosses that tell us to hold up because they aren't done with the requirements yet. Time is fungible; might as well use our bored-time at work on something semi-productive and free up the time at home for working on the startup.

Of course, you could argue that if one really wants their startup to succeed, they shouldn't have a day job. I'd probably even agree with you. But "when to quit" is a complicated question, particularly if you're gaining (or hopefully soon will be getting - damn boss!) valuable experience in addition to cash.

Re: Why Y Combinator is a waste of time

#30

Post by mattjaynes » Thu, Apr 05, 2007, 9:49 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #5

Premise is right, headline is wrong. If you look at the businesses that made people billionaires, the other point they have in common is that the owners aggressively pursued opportunities. So yes, Bill Gates slaved away for 6 years, with a variety of other products, before IBM came knocking. However, if he had turned them away, or been out of the office flying his plane like Gary Kildall, we'd be talking about the "D…

Same here. I already left my job a few months ago to work on my project, but my cofounder is still employed at his. We were moving along great and decided to apply for YC the day before the app was due. Why? Well, seriously because it just sounded like fun. We are doing our project regardless, but to be involved in a fun team like what we imagine the YC SFP will be, just sounds like a blast. Sure we'll be working our tails off, but we're doing that now anyways. If we get accepted we'll have the network of the other SFP founders which is priceless. Really, it can be challenging to find other hackers that are fun, not jaded, smart, and humble enough to actively seek feedback and correction. Not that all the SFP founders will necessarily fall into that category, but probably most of them will if Paul and Jessica are vetting them.

For more on the money aspect of the decision - see my post on 'Outside Money and Irritable Bowel Syndrome' at http://blog.nanobeepers.com