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Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#261

Post by crisanionel »

keithwhor wrote: post #259
crisanionel wrote: post #249

Hi, any advice for solo founders, if the startup isn't launched yet, but expected to launch in 1 month? Thanks.

As a solo founder: my main advice is just do everything you can to create value and hustle. I don't want to paint a rosy picture --- being a solo founder is a hell of a lot of really, really hard work. It's not enough to just be good at writing software. My top recommendation is to find a cofounder you have worked with before that you really trust, and barring that, make sure you have a solid support network of frien…

Thanks for the advice.

Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#262

Post by sah2ed »

mwseibel wrote: post #175
urs2102 wrote: post #31

Hey Michael, with getting rid of the Fellowship, and moving to the MOOC, does that mean YC will look at some of the early stage companies the Fellowship would have looked at thus expanding their scope, or is that the purpose of the MOOC?

I think both - we always want to accept early stage companies to YC. Also I think the MOOC will be a great way for any company to get value out of YC.

How will the MOOC tie into your investment decisions now that the fellowship is no longer available?

Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#264

Post by keithwhor »

crisanionel wrote: post #261
keithwhor wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a solo founder: my main advice is just do everything you can to create value and hustle. I don't want to paint a rosy picture --- being a solo founder is a hell of a lot of really, really hard work. It's not enough to just be good at writing software. My top recommendation is to find a cofounder you have worked with before that you really trust, and barring that, make sure you have a solid support network of frien…

Thanks for the advice.

No problem. For what it's worth, I'm still pretty close to the beginning of my journey and wouldn't be here without a fantastic group of amazing, supportive friends, family, colleagues and investors.

I wish I had received more advice like this earlier on, and hope that's helpful for you. You'll probably hear, "find a cofounder" a heck of a lot but it's not necessary. It is extremely helpful, so always have your head on a swivel looking for the right people, just try to understand what you're getting into from the start. :)

Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#265

Post by avaer »

brudgers wrote: post #257
avaer wrote: post #25

How do you feel about non-profit startups developing pure Open Source software and services in exchange for donations, in the interests of bettering the ecosystem itself? Could a nascent Mozilla be a YC nonprofit?

The nascent Mozilla was Netscape and a well funded company that achieved a multi-billion dollar exit (final valuation $10 Billion per Wikipedia)[1]. As a commercial operation it was able to hire a significant engineering staff to work heads down on browser development over a sustained period. In contrast most non-profits have to hire for and focus on donor development and don't have a period of massive commercial gro…

> In contrast most non-profits have to hire for and focus on donor development and don't have a period of massive commercial growth fueled by venture capital.

Everyone has to pay for marketing, and I'll give you the part about growth.

But is this because something inherent in a nonprofit stops it from growing? Is it that there are fewer nonprofits to sample wins from? Or is that venture capital is simply not structured to consider the upside of funding anything other than a bet on a huge exit?

Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#267

Post by snowmaker »

Dim25 wrote: post #266

Will top teams from Startup School MOOC be accepted into Summer 2017 funding cycle? Or they will have a completely independent path and own demo day not related to the main program?

The programs are independent. We hope that some top MOOC teams will apply to YC and join the summer batch.

Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#268

Post by xiaoma »

Hi, Michael. Thanks for taking the time to do an AMA.

Where do you fall on the spectrum of looking for high probability wins vs black swan hunting? To put it another way, how high of a failure percentage would you accept so long as it maximized total cohort value?

E.g. would you accept see it as a loss if you funded the best single startup of the decade and all other YC funded companies failed? How about a 90% failture rate, but huge winners bringing a bigger return than YC has historically had? How do you balance the desire for a good hit rate vs a good total return?

Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#269

Post by brudgers »

avaer wrote: post #265
brudgers wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The nascent Mozilla was Netscape and a well funded company that achieved a multi-billion dollar exit (final valuation $10 Billion per Wikipedia)[1]. As a commercial operation it was able to hire a significant engineering staff to work heads down on browser development over a sustained period. In contrast most non-profits have to hire for and focus on donor development and don't have a period of massive commercial gro…

> In contrast most non-profits have to hire for and focus on donor development and don't have a period of massive commercial growth fueled by venture capital. Everyone has to pay for marketing, and I'll give you the part about growth. But is this because something inherent in a nonprofit stops it from growing? Is it that there are fewer nonprofits to sample wins from? Or is that venture capital is simply not structur…

I'm not sure. What I was trying to think about was 'what is a nascent Mozilla?' and the conclusion I came to is that it would have to look more like a fully formed organization or a commercial entity than something that would be obviously nascent and non-profit.

Thinking a bit more, big software related non-profits appear to be spin-offs from industry (Eclipse Foundation, Linux Foundation) or academia (Apache Foundation also from NCSA). In each case, the software came first as was the case with Mozilla and the funding followed because corporations found they had an interest in the software's continued development.

On the other hand, OpenAI might be a counter example where the money is coming to support research so that's a possible case where YC has funded a 'non-profit' at scale...though the model was recruitment rather than application.

Re: Michael Seibel, CEO of YC, is doing an AMA

#270

Post by tedmiston »

wcchandler wrote: post #183

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?

YC has backed at least one startup for indoor farming lighting, Transcend (S15), and one for indoor gardening, Click & Grow (S15).
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