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Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

ycombinator.com

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Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#251

Post by dang »

podgorniy wrote: post #214
dvrp wrote: post #129

Paul Graham Essay and early YC: live your life, don’t start a company in your 20s. You are young only once. Post Paul Graham YC: reserve your YC spot now. There’s no downside!

First time he gave that advise it was not directly affecting his company profit chances. Second time though is different. -- Another good example of expressing and exersiging values, how easy to construct appealing narrative regardless of underlying subject and something else what I can't pinpoint at this stage...

PG never gave that advice (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45375715), and has been completely consistent about the advice he has given.

Not that everyone should always be consistent, but you guys could not have picked a worse example to seize on.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#252

Post by ClimaxGravely »

DonHopkins wrote: post #200
skeeter2020 wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the show and rewatch it often, but if you lived in that world during the show's timeframe you can see it's changed draamtically. It still holds up as the "vision" of what we thought a SW startup looks like, but the reality is these scrappy little altruistic startups are not lead by hands-on tech founders, they're all taking the money today - often from PE - and are already the people from the show we laughed a…

I agree, it's gotten much much worse, especially with all the MAGA/Trump/Musk/Thiel boot licking. It's prime time for Silicon Valley: AI Bubble. Instead of hiring the original actors or artists or writers, it could be ironically AI animated in the style of South Park, with a storyline about infringing on copyright and intellectual property, and putting actors and artists and programmers out of work. I wonder what kin…

I suspect Erlich might have died of an opium overdose at this point.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#253

Post by dang »

danielfalbo wrote: post #150
dvrp wrote: post #129

Paul Graham Essay and early YC: live your life, don’t start a company in your 20s. You are young only once. Post Paul Graham YC: reserve your YC spot now. There’s no downside!

For whoever wants to re-read one of the articles that mentions the idea, there you go: https://paulgraham.com/before.html#f7n:~:text=You%20can%20do...

What that article says is "don't start a startup in college". That is what pg has always said, and is not at all what the GP comment imputes to him.

More at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45375715.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#254

Post by foldr »

dang wrote: post #243
dvrp wrote: post #129

Paul Graham Essay and early YC: live your life, don’t start a company in your 20s. You are young only once. Post Paul Graham YC: reserve your YC spot now. There’s no downside!

I'm having a hard time understanding the 'gotcha' quality of this comment and this subthread. There's no inconsistency; PG has always said that people should finish college before starting a startup—I heard him say this over 15 years ago, and he went on about it at length at his most recent YC talk. Edit: I think I understand the problem now. PG's actual advice has always been "finish college before starting a startu…

I don't have a strong personal opinion on this, but the PG essay mentioned in the comment you link to advises people not to start a startup while in college and to do other things in their "early 20s", while Early Decision is targeted specifically at people who are currently college students and (mostly) in their early 20s. I don't think there's a 'gotcha' there, but there is at least a tension, no?

While you're correct that the comment you're responding to is a bit sloppy in summarizing what PG said ("20s" instead of "early 20s"), its basic point still makes sense.

YC is not the Church of Paul Graham, so I don't see any need to dive into Pauline exegesis and attempt to reconcile YC's current admissions process with everything PG has ever said. YC can do what it likes, and people can note what may or may not have changed since PG was in charge of it.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#255

Post by snowmaker »

FinnLobsien wrote: post #219

I think everyone criticizing this is comparing it to the wrong thing. Many ambitious students: -graduate and work 100 hour+ weeks as investment banking associates. -join other people's startups where they work crazy hours -work hellish hours in PhDs/med school/law school Yes, being a founder is hard and can be absolute hell at times. But so are some of the "normal" things ambitious students already do post-graduation…

Yes, this is an excellent point.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#256

Post by Kranar »

doctorpangloss wrote: post #232
FinnLobsien wrote: post #219

I think everyone criticizing this is comparing it to the wrong thing. Many ambitious students: -graduate and work 100 hour+ weeks as investment banking associates. -join other people's startups where they work crazy hours -work hellish hours in PhDs/med school/law school Yes, being a founder is hard and can be absolute hell at times. But so are some of the "normal" things ambitious students already do post-graduation…

speaking only for recent graduates I know personally well: ambitious students also want to be writers, for example. If only it were so easy as writing more makes you a better writer! So if you have to sit around and get life experiences that are interesting to write about (a good way to be a good writer), do you want to do that while working for Stripe, drinking kombucha and getting free lunches and being able to liv…

> If only it were so easy as writing more makes you a better writer!

One commonly repeated piece of advice that almost all successful authors state is to write a lot, a lot, a lot. Like just practice writing, it doesn't have to be good.

I hear this often said about many other creative endeavors as well, including painting, cooking, game development/design, etc... It often seems like really good artisans just pull greatness out of thin air, but that's because we often only see the successes, not the failures, but I am reminded that even the best writers, poets, and artists in general spend a great amount of time just creating content that no one will ever see.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#257

Post by snowmaker »

omosubi wrote: post #238

I don't know why there's so much negativity. I see this as a big win for students interested in it. 1. it's a short commitment - only 3 months. more time-bound opportunities should be available to kids coming out of school. too many people go straight to big finance/law/tech/etc and get stuck because they don't want to give up the salary or safety. 2. get access to a network that is very difficult to get access to ot…

This is a good way of thinking about it!

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#258

Post by snowmaker »

Illniyar wrote: post #175

Seems like a good thing for founders, doesn't force them to quit school to start a funded startup. Especially for under-privileged youths who might not be able to miss a high paying job opportunity or have no income for months. Seems like a bad signal for YC though - if you aren't committed enough to quit school or at the very least reject job offers and do your startup anyway - feels like you might not be committed…

I think there is some risk of that. But commitment isn't static. A lot of incredible companies started with founders who were just toying with an idea and weren't committed at all, then they became more committed over time as things started to work.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#259

Post by 3pt14159 »

FinnLobsien wrote: post #219

I think everyone criticizing this is comparing it to the wrong thing. Many ambitious students: -graduate and work 100 hour+ weeks as investment banking associates. -join other people's startups where they work crazy hours -work hellish hours in PhDs/med school/law school Yes, being a founder is hard and can be absolute hell at times. But so are some of the "normal" things ambitious students already do post-graduation…

I'm sorry but only at my most very dedicated periods of work did I work 100 hour weeks, and that was like 3 or 4 weeks tops. I highly doubt that anyone sustains a 100 hour work week for much longer. Eighty hour work weeks? Sure, that is doable, but sleeping at the job site because you are pulling a 100 hour work week is just not sustainable.

Re: Do YC after you graduate: Early decision for students

#260

Post by dang »

foldr wrote: post #254
dang wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having a hard time understanding the 'gotcha' quality of this comment and this subthread. There's no inconsistency; PG has always said that people should finish college before starting a startup—I heard him say this over 15 years ago, and he went on about it at length at his most recent YC talk. Edit: I think I understand the problem now. PG's actual advice has always been "finish college before starting a startu…

I don't have a strong personal opinion on this, but the PG essay mentioned in the comment you link to advises people not to start a startup while in college and to do other things in their "early 20s", while Early Decision is targeted specifically at people who are currently college students and (mostly) in their early 20s. I don't think there's a 'gotcha' there, but there is at least a tension, no? While you're corr…

The early decision is for people who want to start a startup once they finish college. I don't see a tension between that and advising people to finish college.

The difference between "20s" and "early 20s" is huge; it's the difference between Google and not-Google (btw, that pg essay includes this information). Since not-not-funding-Google is, to a first approximation, the entire startup investment business, conflating the two is more than a bit sloppy, and the GP comment (imputing an inconsistency to PG that doesn't exist, with cynical implications), makes no sense once one adjusts for what pg really said. He's been consistent about this for many years! I'm being irritable again now though. but not with you!

You made me laugh with the Pauline bit!

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