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

Post by hyperbovine » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 9:03 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.

Post by jamespollack » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 9:11 PM UTC

_curious_ wrote: post #124

xwdv wrote: post #31

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You can absolutely hire a rockstar dev, you need to think in terms of cashflow. You may not be able to pay a full year of salary, but you can still pay their full weekly salary as you go until you either run out of money or produce enough revenue to get to that point.

Agreed, it's not even about the money. My last company had a technical cofounder who by all means was highly sought after and managed a team of 15-20 other developers in their primary dev consulting company meaning not only did they rock technically but also had biz acumen. That individual worked FOR FREE for 3 years 25 hrs/week before collecting any money. Don't ever think you have to pay a developer some market sal…

Post by jamespollack » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 9:13 PM UTC

_curious_ wrote: post #360

ricardobeat wrote: post #149

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> Don't ever think you have to pay a developer some market salary (or any salary) upfront "A developer" should definitely be paid market rates, otherwise they are a founder and should be rewarded accordingly with equity. I think this mindset of "getting work for free" is very damaging to the person holding the short end of the stick. Someone who already has a well paid job, is willing to do a startup on the side, and…

"otherwise they are a founder and should be rewarded accordingly with equity." Of course - as they were. My point was on cash money comp. Never said they worked for free hence their title of technical cofounder which implies equity. "...and actually be effective at it is extremely rare. What you'll usually find is someone at the beginning of their career that doesn't really understand what they are getting into." The…

Post by jamespollack » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 9:18 PM UTC

_curious_ wrote: post #115

kemayo wrote: post #6

He lost me with the whole "make founders take on massive personal debt to survive" tweet. Removing that particular stressor, particularly from people from poorer backgrounds who lack the access to that kind of credit is how we get a better sampling of ideas.

It's the right idea but the wrong tool. Debt is actually the enemy of the founder/entrepreneur IMO...but building equity in yourself through moonlighting, side hustle, etc - is a better pathway. This is known as hard work = 60-80 hrs/week combined type of stuff. Debt will creep up and crush you eventually, do not go into debt to "fund" your startup.

Post by count » Wed, Jul 22, 2020, 9:28 PM UTC

ponker wrote: post #316

Alex3917 wrote: post #25

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It also doesn't make any sense from an investment perspective. Reddit would have been one of the most successful YC companies of all time, except for that they basically had to shut down because they couldn't raise money. This happened to lots of early YC companies that could have otherwise been successful. Had Reddit not sold for pennies on the dollar to Conde Nast, that alone would have probably paid for the extra…

How did the founders get so rich if they sold for pennies on the dollar to Conde Nast?