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The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

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Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#31

Post by pg »

argumentum wrote: post #24
pg wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yipes, nothing like that. That's the total value of all the companies we've funded. We assume we end up with 3% on average after dilution.

That would value YC at around $400m, but isn't the mean dilution insufficient, since YC would be diluted the most for the highest valued startups? A very interesting question: once it's all said and done (let's say in 30 years), do you think YC will have a greater valuation than any single YC startup?

Unlikely given the power law distribution of startup outcomes. But if you set a threshold defining a big hit and we funded 33 of them we'd end up being one ourselves. It's conceivable we could fund 33 big hits in 30 years. Depends how much we grow.

(3% is our estimate for the biggest successes.)

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#33

Post by redthrowaway »

coverband wrote: post #13
redthrowaway wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's impossible to know for sure, but Viaweb is considered to be the first web app.

??? Maybe the first online store builder, but not the first web app...

http://www.paulgraham.com/first.html

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#34

Post by coffeemug »

robmcm1982 wrote: post #25

I am disappointed by this article. It made such a big deal about PG hating to work with Windows, and reduced the innovation of web applications to a way to not work in Windows. Really? Clearly the whole point was to get away from developing desktop applications, and realizing the single-source, rapid development nature of web apps. Please don't tell me that developing client apps on Windows was so much worse then doi…

Have you ever worked with MFC or Win32 GUI API proper? I have, and I can't imagine anyone who'd want to go back to those days.

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#35

Post by gwu78 »

From the comments, it often seems that there are a lot of HN readers who really like Windows as an OS.

Is it true that "distaste for Windows" was a motivating factor behind Viaweb?

For me, Windows was an enormous itch. I scratched it with UNIX. Thank you, Redmond, for the motivation.

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#36

Post by nostrademons »

Arjuna wrote: post #8

Was Viaweb First? http://www.paulgraham.com/first.html http://ycombinator.com/viaweb

It was first according to PG's knowledge, which is incomplete. Amazon.com was incorporated in 1994, and sold its first book online in July 1995 [1], a month before Viaweb. EBay launched in Sept 1995 [2], a month after Viaweb, and so was probably independently under development. Geocities was active and allowing user-contributed content by July 1995 [3], a month before. WebCrawler was the first general-purpose Internet search engine, and launched in April 1994 [4].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon.com

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBay#History

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoCities#History

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebCrawler

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#37

Post by adamzerner »

I'm not sure exactly how to say it, but the article didn't really take us through the thought process of pg as he "made yc possible".

Two things I'm interested in hearing more about:

1) What was the thinking behind viaweb? yc? How did pg arrive at the decision? Was it as simple as the insights that were mentioned? Were alternatives considered? (Before I started http://www.collegeanswerz.com/, I had a list of hundreds of ideas that I went through before deciding on a website with better college reviews.) If so, what made viaweb/yc better than the alternatives? What aspects of viaweb/yc were forseen, and which just happened because of luck?

2) What was pg thinking he'd do with his life before viaweb? yc? Before viaweb, it says that he was basically flip flopping between consulting and art. What did he think he'd do with his life at this point? Any plans? What was he feeling? Excited? Anxious? Bored? What about the 7 years between viaweb and yc? Thoughts and plans about what he'd do with his life?

I know this stuff isn't directly related to viaweb and yc, but it's useful to know thought processes, rather than just touching on the main insights. You can't really learn from insights. You can learn from thought processes.

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#38

Post by jason_wang »

nostrademons wrote: post #36
Arjuna wrote: post #8

Was Viaweb First? http://www.paulgraham.com/first.html http://ycombinator.com/viaweb

It was first according to PG's knowledge, which is incomplete. Amazon.com was incorporated in 1994, and sold its first book online in July 1995 [1], a month before Viaweb. EBay launched in Sept 1995 [2], a month after Viaweb, and so was probably independently under development. Geocities was active and allowing user-contributed content by July 1995 [3], a month before. WebCrawler was the first general-purpose Interne…

Viaweb was the internet's first web application. Its customers used Viaweb to create and manage their own e-commerce sites. Like Shopify (or rather, Shopify is like Viaweb).

Viaweb was not an e-commerce site like Amazon or Ebay. Its customers were merchants rather than consumers.

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#39

Post by nostrademons »

jason_wang wrote: post #38
nostrademons wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was first according to PG's knowledge, which is incomplete. Amazon.com was incorporated in 1994, and sold its first book online in July 1995 [1], a month before Viaweb. EBay launched in Sept 1995 [2], a month after Viaweb, and so was probably independently under development. Geocities was active and allowing user-contributed content by July 1995 [3], a month before. WebCrawler was the first general-purpose Interne…

Viaweb was the internet's first web application. Its customers used Viaweb to create and manage their own e-commerce sites. Like Shopify (or rather, Shopify is like Viaweb). Viaweb was not an e-commerce site like Amazon or Ebay. Its customers were merchants rather than consumers.

I'd define "web application" as "something that lets you perform a task via the web". All of the companies I linked count under that definition; Amazon let you buy books; EBay let you buy & sell odds & ends; GeoCities let you build a website; WebCrawler let you search for things.

If you define it more narrowly as "something that lets you create a site", Geocities still counts.

I think you'd have to narrow the category to "first online store builder" to make it accurate, which is still quite an accomplishment, but certainly isn't the "first web app".

Re: The Aha Moments That Made Y Combinator Possible

#40

Post by jpau »

ph0rque wrote: post #19

Over the years, evolving in its own way, Y Combinator has continued to grow at an astounding rate. It is valued now at $13.7 billion, with the clear potential for further growth. Ignoring the mistake of valuing YC at $13.7B instead of its companies, here's a crazy idea: I wonder when we'll see YC go for an IPO?

For me, it wouldn't make sense taking YC itself public. I can't see much of an upside to the partners for taking the company public. Please, correct me if you see otherwise.

What would be fantastic though, is for YC to incorporate their holding of each individual year (older than, say, 3 years) into a fund, and then take those public (and continue to do so). An annual YC ETF.

PG, has an annual YC ETF crossed your mind?

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