I want to be a farmer. I want to treat the farm like a startup. At which point in the application process can I try to convince you that you need a farmer in your portfolio? Also, when and where can I go into details to describe how it would be different from today's conventional operations?
Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
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Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#202you stole my name! bastard! ...also I have the same question edit: sort of forgot to abide by community norms here and keep my comments on-topic. apologies
Interestingly, I've been fighting for years over the username "johnhenry" within the tech space. If you're hoping to secure those username, more power to you -- I just hope your name is actually "John Henry".
I...just like the fable, haha. I am happy with close derivations.
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#203Hi Michael, is it a good idea to apply to YC to find quality co-founders? or in other words what is the right way for a single founder to apply? thanks.
Follow up: What would be the fastest, most efficient way for someone highly technically proficient to learn just enough business operations/basic 101 stuff to be functional?
Read a book
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#204[deleted]
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm extremely interested in this, as the current funding model for startups restricts new technology to companies that are fiduciarily compelled to monopolize their market, siphoning user data and (potentially) damaging civic society in the process. Startups are still a very good vehicle for most problems, but for certain classes of problems, sometimes make things worse, and I'm curious if YCombinator is interested i…
To be clear: YC accepts non-profits each round. www.ycombinator.com/nonprofits/ The question of whether open-source producing non-profits fit into YC is still a good one. I couldn't find an info on whether they have already accepted such non-profits, but the incubator Fast Forward has: > Intelehealth built an open-source intelligence engine for assessing primary care conditions https://qz.com/792685/silicon-valley-wa…
Sure, and I'm aware of the non-profit initiatives. I don't think many people have considered producing actual software under a not-for-profit (except for Khan Academy?), probably because it's insanely expensive. Would YCombinator help facilitate funding a fully open Facebook or Twitter clone, for instance? It sounds outlandish to consider, but it seems equally outlandish to consider the 2020 election happening over essentially the same social stack & people will just be okay with that.
(Obviously, a clone itself wouldn't suffice, you'd need to start with federated identity, and....)
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#206I know a lot of VC funds really don't favor Services and Solutions companies really well - and of course prefer SaaS due to obvious reasons. What does YC think about Services related companies? Would it be a waste of time to apply?
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
Follow up: What would be the fastest, most efficient way for someone highly technically proficient to learn just enough business operations/basic 101 stuff to be functional?
Read a book
Perhaps a bit less snark and bit more "here's some books to get you started"?
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#208Hi Michael, has YC considered funding founders not based in (or able to move to) California?
I'm not Michael, but I think I can answer that. Moving to CA for the 3-months of YCombinator has traditionally been non-negotiable. After the 3 months is up, you can move wherever you like, and many do.
The only exception to this I'm aware of is that, in light of recent US immigration policy, YC is optionally holding interviews for S17 international founders in Vancouver, and is reportedly planning to "experiment with allowing founders who can't get visas for the duration of our 3-month program to participate remotely." https://blog.ycombinator.com/us-visas/
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#209Why do you keep banning DHH from the hacker news?
Is DHH really banned?
Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA
#210What kind of furniture are you using? Standing desk, special ergonomic chair?
"For most startups the model should be grad student, not law firm. Aim for cool and cheap, not expensive and impressive. For us the test of whether a startup understood this was whether they had Aeron chairs. The Aeron came out during the Bubble and was very popular with startups. Especially the type, all too common then, that was like a bunch of kids playing house with money supplied by VCs. We had office chairs so cheap that the arms all fell off. This was slightly embarrassing at the time, but in retrospect the grad-studenty atmosphere of our office was another of those things we did right without knowing it." http://paulgraham.com/start.html