love this move. I've seen first hand the 150k let's startups limp around for far to long.
The YC VC Program
31–40 of 171 posts
Re: The YC VC Program
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think that taking this money precludes founders from raising more money if they need it, as they would have needed to do two years ago before the Start Fund.
The problem is raising money during the 3mo YC program is difficult and discouraged. YC founders have said they are discouraged from raising money until Demo Day or beyond, so they can focus on building stuff. In very few cases will $80k vs. $150k make a difference before Demo Day, except for (IMO) hardware, certain other businesses with specific prepayments (maybe a licensing deal like "exclusive 12mo license for Ki…
I would actually go further and say it's not just difficult, I imagine it would be near fatal unless you were a well established company walking in. We found fundraising to be an incredibly soul sucking process and without at least a firm grip and a solid plan for what you're doing you wouldn't make it far.
While not nearly as bad as fundraising itself, I would also caution people not to underestimate how much work a successful kickstarter is. A lot of work is required, and is continued to be required long after it has finished.
Re: The YC VC Program
#33Is this in addition to the $12k-20k invested by YC itself, for a total of $92k-100k?
The START money has always been on top of the YC partnership investment.
Re: The YC VC Program
#34Is there any significance to Ron Conway not being in the group anymore?
We certainly didn't kick SV Angel out. They're among our favorite investors in fact. It just didn't make sense with their fund size to keep doing these investments. Unlike the other investors, they are what's now called a "super angel" fund, and those are much smaller.
I'm certain there are some companies that need more runway than others. Is it possible for, say, hardware companies to renegotiate for, e.g. 30k per VC rather than the current 20k?
Re: The YC VC Program
#3580k may be a little tight for international founders, as flights and legal fees for visas can be very expensive. Also silly things like paying extra for deposits on rent/bills as you have no US credit history. But otherwise seems reasonable.
$80k would also be hard to do in SF for Americans. I think YC should do something around the Google Fiber initiative in KC - there's already a startup community congealing around the fiberhoods that have already gone live, and you can make it at least 1.5 to 2 years in KC on $80k, given the ridiculously low cost of living compared to SF.
Re: The YC VC Program
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the assumption is that only the most colossal implosions happen in the first 6mo after YC. It's much easier for 2-3 people plus 1-2 hires to burn through most of $80k in 6mo after YC, vs. 150k. Figure founders consume $3-4k/mo each, and hires cost $10-15k, and you spend $20-30k on corp/legal/etc.
I was asking specifically about: > it sometimes caused messy disputes in the unsuccessful ones. I can't imagine a dispute that would occur at 150k but not at 80, except maybe of the cut-and-run variety, but the same could be said of any dollar amounts - you need to know when to cut your losses.
The dispute happens after some of the money is burned off. Only very exceptional people get divorced during their honeymoon. Assuming a constant burn rate, there's much less money left when you start with a smaller pile.
(and, virtually anyone who can get into YC is passing on a $10-15k/mo income opportunity by just getting a job somewhere. Fighting for 1-2 mo of wages makes less sense than fighting for 6-12. The dispute would happen anyway, but it's not worth fighting if there's only a small balance left.)
Re: The YC VC Program
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
We certainly didn't kick SV Angel out. They're among our favorite investors in fact. It just didn't make sense with their fund size to keep doing these investments. Unlike the other investors, they are what's now called a "super angel" fund, and those are much smaller.
I'm certain there are some companies that need more runway than others. Is it possible for, say, hardware companies to renegotiate for, e.g. 30k per VC rather than the current 20k?
I'd never thought of that. Maybe in version 2.
Re: The YC VC Program
#3880k may be a little tight for international founders, as flights and legal fees for visas can be very expensive. Also silly things like paying extra for deposits on rent/bills as you have no US credit history. But otherwise seems reasonable.
$80k would also be hard to do in SF for Americans. I think YC should do something around the Google Fiber initiative in KC - there's already a startup community congealing around the fiberhoods that have already gone live, and you can make it at least 1.5 to 2 years in KC on $80k, given the ridiculously low cost of living compared to SF.
But then you'd have to live in Kansas City, not the Bay Area, where all the investors and talent are. There are many parts of the Bay Area less expensive than SF proper.
Re: The YC VC Program
#39I've never heard of Maverick Capital -- are they the hedge fund? They seem to be med-tech focused, if that's them.
Looks like it: http://www.crunchbase.com/financial-organization/maverick-ca...
Edit: NOT Mark Cuban.
Re: The YC VC Program
#40Off topic: did Yuri Milner lose money on his Zynga and Groupon investments?