Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

Post by krzyk » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 7:31 PM UTC

awillen wrote: post #242

kkolanm wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A wealthy black person can easily start their own business. They may have some advantages and disadvantages vs a wealthy white person but nothing can stop them doing it. They have money. A wealthy Black person is a “have” not a “have not.” A poor white person cannot use their whiteness to pay the bills. Ask millions of white people why they work shitty jobs if you think being white solves economic problems. They can’…

Please show me some organizations that are a bunch of rich white people who all attended Ivy League schools but are otherwise highly diverse (race, gender, etc.). That's the problem - you're talking in theory (obviously there are rich black people and they have resources) while ignoring practical reality, which is that race and socioeconomic status are highly correlated to the point where you can't just magically ign…

Post by Ericson2314 » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 7:34 PM UTC

seizethecheese wrote: post #244

Recent YC founder here. I disagree with the premise that boring ideas are inherently bad. Stripe is a B2B company that adds an API on top of existing infrastructure. Airbnb is a basic CRUD app. I also disagree that YC is not funding interesting ideas. Our batch had quite a few. Someone was making a rapid cargo ship. Someone else was making a fully distributed cell network. The only real copycat ideas were the ones du…

Post by thephyber » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 7:37 PM UTC

nbardy wrote: post #233

The Bay Area has lost its' soul. I moved here to meet creative people tackling big problems and I've found it's no longer about innovation and risk. Just a big pile of uninspired B2B SaaS companies. SV has become a well oiled money making machine for these kind of companies. If you want to work hard and get rich you come here and follow the grind to get your checks, status, clout, etc... I've found some creative peop…

Post by thephyber » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 7:40 PM UTC

czbond wrote: post #33

lifeformed wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, he calls it a "filtering function"... yes, to filter out people without safety nets.

Not a filtering function - I know of a few founders who scrapped by on Medicaid and food stamps for years to build a successful business by they had no savings

Post by mdoms » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

chrisco255 wrote: post #201

doorstar wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have a silicon valley success story in our family. His parents were telling me how he built everything up out of nothing, clearly unaware of their own contribution. He could pour all his money into his start-up because if he'd lost every dime he could have moved back in with them. He'd have his own bedroom, bathroom, and a fresh-cooked meal every night. He could have stayed with them as long has he wanted. Very fe…

Uh, most parents would take their kids back in the event of financial disaster. That's not even rare. Many folks live with their parents until late 20s / early 30s these days.