YC Fellowship • Hacker News Board

Re: YC Fellowship

#371

Post by taway19 » Tue, Jul 21, 2015, 6:07 PM UTC

This is my throw away account for privacy reason. I would like to have some advice about my career path (and to echo Sam's post regarding "it may be the difference between going to work at a big company and starting the next Airbnb")

I am a 22 software engineer working at Facebook right now. With the current stock raise, my annual compensation comes out to be a bit over 200k/year before bonuses. I am much more excited about the start-up scene and building product. But to throw away that non-trivial income away is a really tough decision. I am wondering if anyone has done it before or if you have a more general advice. Much appreciated!

Re: YC Fellowship

#372

Post by rachellaw » Tue, Jul 21, 2015, 6:52 PM UTC

schlagetown wrote: post #364

rachellaw wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Kat, Would YC Fellowship be open to later stage startups? We've already gone through a previous accelerator, done some fundraising (below series A) and have employees. Moving would be difficult for us since our key business is in fashion (we're in NYC) and also employees. As founders we're happy to go down to SF once in a while, but the remote option would suit us perfectly. thanks!

Seems clear from the about / FAQ pages that (at least for now) the answer to this is no. But would be cool to have something along these lines available for companies that prefer remote!

I think otherwise though, it seems like the fellowship was to try for remote program. See this article by SamA: http://techcrunch.com/2015/07/20/y-combinator-just-introduce...

I'm just concerned if they're going to cut out later stage startups who have fundraising but re-launched or pivoted.

Re: YC Fellowship

#373

Post by benja123 » Tue, Jul 21, 2015, 8:08 PM UTC

katm wrote: post #2

Kat from YC here. Sam, Matt Krisiloff and I are happy to answer any questions about the Fellowship. You can also send questions to fellowship@ycombinator.com.

Hi Kat,

This program sounds amazing. We took 30K from a good friend and they took some equity. Can we still apply? We would be willing to forfeit on the 12K

Re: YC Fellowship

#374

Post by grey-area » Tue, Jul 21, 2015, 8:39 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #225

grey-area wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

dominant founder is highly subjective and simply wrong in some of those cases, as pointed out above. Even if you want to argue there was a 'dominant' founder (whatever that means), your examples don't make sense: Apple would not exist without Steve Wozniak Google started as a partnership Allen sold qdos to IBM which established Microsoft

I'd argue that Apple had a dominant founder in the early days, but it was Steve Wozniak, not Steve Jobs. He'd basically built the Apple I in its entirety and shown it off at Homebrew before Steve Jobs said "Let's build a company around this and sell it." Also, Larry was always the primary driver behind Google; it started out as his thesis project, PageRank is named for him, and he'd already started crawling the web b…

Jobs had to persuade him to leave HP, and do all the selling and marketing, those are also important parts of building a business. In my view it was a partnership and you're ignoring a huge part of what made Apple Apple. That leaves you with Google, which also had two very early significant players.

I'm not arguing against single founders, it's perfectly possible, but most companies are not started by a single founder, they are collaborations and are all the better for it.

Re: YC Fellowship

#375

Post by hannaxu » Tue, Jul 21, 2015, 11:37 PM UTC

taway19 wrote: post #371

This is my throw away account for privacy reason. I would like to have some advice about my career path (and to echo Sam's post regarding "it may be the difference between going to work at a big company and starting the next Airbnb") I am a 22 software engineer working at Facebook right now. With the current stock raise, my annual compensation comes out to be a bit over 200k/year before bonuses. I am much more excite…

I'm a 24 year old UI/UX designer who just left my non-trivial income. Think about it in these terms, you have 8 weeks to try something with YC or not. Maybe more maybe less. You'll probably easily find a job right after with the same amount of compensation and something new to add to your portfolio.

Many big companies also are fine if you take a non paid leave of absence. And you can come back later with the same compensation. This was offered at my company (although I didn't take it) and perhaps something you can work out with Facebook. Perhaps ask a trusted advisor, all my managers were thrilled that I wanted to work on something on my own. And that it was "the best reason to leave a company."

Re: YC Fellowship

#376

Post by cperciva » Wed, Jul 22, 2015, 1:51 AM UTC

rattray wrote: post #349

cperciva wrote: post #227

targeted at teams that are very, very early. How about a version of this for companies which have been around for a while? Seriously, it doesn't sound like Tarsnap would fit into this program at all, but I'd love to be able to participate in something "lighter-weight" than YC -- something which, like the YC Fellowship, would allow me access to advice and contacts without taking funding or relocating. Of course, I'm g…

Is "advice" really what Tarsnap needs? It got a lot of it (really terrific advice, too) from patio11. Looking at the home page, it doesn't appear any of that advice has been taken.

Patrick's advice (both in that article and otherwise) has been very useful to me. But when I said "access to advice", I meant in a pull sense rather than a push sense: Patrick (and other people who I consult from time to time) is great within his area of expertise, but he doesn't know everything -- whereas I get the impression that at YC, for every problem there is someone who has relevant expertise and can offer advice.

Re: YC Fellowship

#377

Post by vinceyuan » Wed, Jul 22, 2015, 3:36 AM UTC

vinceyuan wrote: post #366

[off-topic question] I know YC asks the oversea team which got YC investment to move to Bay Area. But how do they deal with the visa? I don't think all of them have H1B or L1 visa. I heard a team moved to Bay Area with B1/B2 visa. Is it legal?

Any idea?

Re: YC Fellowship

#378

Post by 811639047892938 » Wed, Jul 22, 2015, 3:46 AM UTC

eonw wrote: post #370

garry wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a partner at YC for over 10 batches now, I've worked with lots of great founders who have come from all over the country, and many make having families work. The cofounders of MongoHQ both moved to Mountain View with their families (with kids) during YC, and it was a crowded house but a productive one too. It can be done. There's also nothing that says you absolutely have to stay in the Bay Area afterwards. Many f…

what does the bay area offer that requires someone to uproot and come out there just for a few months? what if the location they are already in is ideal for their business? for instance i live where we have 3 cent per kwh power, moving to SF to work on anything power intensive will increase my startup costs 5 fold at a minimum, and that is power alone, let alone everything else being 5x more costly. the insistence th…

What is your startup if electricity costs even factor into it??

Re: YC Fellowship

#379

Post by TylerJay » Wed, Jul 22, 2015, 6:21 AM UTC

beeboop wrote: post #365

TylerJay wrote: post #313

If anyone is looking for another person for their team or wants to join a team, consider me! If you're interested in discussing further after reading this, send me a message and we'll talk. I am currently self-employed as a startup consultant and freelance web developer. I have extensive Computer Science, Sales, Account Management, and Customer Success experience and have successfully started 2 small businesses in th…

Hi Tyler - you don't have an email listed - could you post one so I can send you a message? I'm a developer and it'd be nice to work with someone who has some experience like you.

Hey, thanks for reaching out. Shoot me an email at tjkresch@gmail.com

Re: YC Fellowship

#380

Post by taway19 » Wed, Jul 22, 2015, 6:21 AM UTC

hannaxu wrote: post #375

taway19 wrote: post #371

This is my throw away account for privacy reason. I would like to have some advice about my career path (and to echo Sam's post regarding "it may be the difference between going to work at a big company and starting the next Airbnb") I am a 22 software engineer working at Facebook right now. With the current stock raise, my annual compensation comes out to be a bit over 200k/year before bonuses. I am much more excite…

I'm a 24 year old UI/UX designer who just left my non-trivial income. Think about it in these terms, you have 8 weeks to try something with YC or not. Maybe more maybe less. You'll probably easily find a job right after with the same amount of compensation and something new to add to your portfolio. Many big companies also are fine if you take a non paid leave of absence. And you can come back later with the same com…

Thank you hannaxu! It's an encouraging feeling to know that other people are willingly taking a big leap of faith.

My family and loved ones also think I should go for it. Their main reason is: 1. I should accumulate awesome experience right now and do what I love. 2. A big/small income does not have any immediate impact on my lifestyle right now.

I may as well just go for it :)