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I enjoyed the article, but I worked for a startup in 1999 that was funded by a technology accelerator. So it would appear Ycombinator wasn't the first, unless this is meant in some more specific way.
I enjoyed the article, but I worked for a startup in 1999 that was funded by a technology accelerator. So it would appear Ycombinator wasn't the first, unless this is meant in some more specific way.
Just an example: CMGI, Inc. was calling themselves an Internet Incubator around 1995.
Probably better to make a claim based on success.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder how much of the "social radar" reputation came from her just being a woman in a team of men. I don't know the gender breakdown in those days at YC but I'd be concerned that Livingston is elevating a socially ambiguous and widespread female trait — making normative intuitive judgements — into some kind of superpower. Women are socialized to do this, to make judgements of value based on scant information. Men,…
The world operates on value judgements with scant information. I'm not sure why this is being dismissed as inferior.
The stories behind lots of theses names everyone has heard are amazing. I still remember reading it in about 2006 and being so immediately impressed with everything Paul Buchheit said. It was shocking to me, because I'd started that chapter thinking he shouldn't be in the book ("Gmail? He's not a founder!").
The other thing was the superficial "insights" that one particular (well known) founder had in the book. They were clearly wrong, and they have colored my thinking about luck and being in the right place ever since. It's only recently I've started rethinking that after they made some good (lucky?) investments over the last few years.
Jessica's 2001 (wow!) book "Founder's at Work"[1] is something everyone should read. The stories behind lots of theses names everyone has heard are amazing. I still remember reading it in about 2006 and being so immediately impressed with everything Paul Buchheit said. It was shocking to me, because I'd started that chapter thinking he shouldn't be in the book ("Gmail? He's not a founder!"). The other thing was the s…
I enjoyed the article, but I worked for a startup in 1999 that was funded by a technology accelerator. So it would appear Ycombinator wasn't the first, unless this is meant in some more specific way.
Yeah, the claim caught me too. Just an example: CMGI, Inc. was calling themselves an Internet Incubator around 1995. Probably better to make a claim based on success.
Jessica's 2001 (wow!) book "Founder's at Work"[1] is something everyone should read. The stories behind lots of theses names everyone has heard are amazing. I still remember reading it in about 2006 and being so immediately impressed with everything Paul Buchheit said. It was shocking to me, because I'd started that chapter thinking he shouldn't be in the book ("Gmail? He's not a founder!"). The other thing was the s…
* 2007 book
The Google preview says 2001 for me, which it gets from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98233.Founders_at_Work (note the "first published 2001")
But Gmail wasn't out then, so that can't be right, and I must have read it in 2007 or 2008.
I enjoyed the article, but I worked for a startup in 1999 that was funded by a technology accelerator. So it would appear Ycombinator wasn't the first, unless this is meant in some more specific way.
The pre-YC incubators operated on a completely different model. They typically had shared services, centralized control, and were rarely filled with entrepreneurs doing their own thing.
"Accelerator" was a term that YC used to distinguish themselves from that model, and whether or not they were the first to use the term what they did was truly different.