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How YC Has Changed

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: How YC Has Changed

#41

Post by jedberg »

mwseibel wrote: post #40
jedberg wrote: post #37

I've been going to Demo Day off and on since 2007, and one big thing I've noticed is a change in who gets accepted. I see a lot more "sure bets" and a lot fewer "long shots". When I go to demo day now, I see a lot of companies that are fairly interesting, founded by an amazing team with a lot of accolades and/or exits or previous experience, and most of the companies have already launched and have revenue. What I don…

We still fund a lot of young early stage founders. I think there are two things that make them stand out less on Demo Day. First, batches are much larger and the average age of the batch has increased. Second, these founders are much less likely to be starting consumer startups and therefore they blend in better with the other startups. Another important change over the past 10 years is that many talented young poten…

> And by and large young founder tend to be attracted to consumer startups.

This, and everything else you said related to it, are an excellent point I hadn't thought about, and maybe that's why it seems different. Thanks for pointing that out.

Re: How YC Has Changed

#42

Post by 1123581321 »

mbesto wrote: post #36
andygcook wrote: post #10

Surprised Stripe didn't explicitly make the list of notable startups from over the years. Bigger than even Dropbox by valuation (obviously not apples to apples vs. public market cap) and arguably has had a bigger positive impact on the world than any other YC startup by actively increasing the GDP of the internet.

> YC startup by actively increasing the GDP of the internet Sorry, but what does this actually mean? Before Stripe existed, you most certainly could process a payment online, so why would Stripe's existence increase the overall market for goods and services online?

I take it to mean that Stripe is easier to use than its competitors, which means new companies start that wouldn’t have, resulting in revenue through Internet sales that wouldn’t have happened online yet without those companies existing.

Obviously the premises can be debated, but developers do like Stripe’s API and products, and it seems plausible that some of those developers have been successful.

Re: How YC Has Changed

#43

Post by dna_polymerase »

andygcook wrote: post #10

Surprised Stripe didn't explicitly make the list of notable startups from over the years. Bigger than even Dropbox by valuation (obviously not apples to apples vs. public market cap) and arguably has had a bigger positive impact on the world than any other YC startup by actively increasing the GDP of the internet.

> [..] bigger positive impact on the world than any other YC startup by actively increasing the GDP of the internet

How is selling more stuff on the internet better for the planet? If anything online sales with all the additional packaging and logistics is worse than traditional retail (at least when looking at ecological factors).

Re: How YC Has Changed

#44

Post by gerdesj »

carapace wrote: post #26

YC just announced YC China[1]. What will you say when they ask you to call it the "June Fourth Incident" instead of "Tienanmen Square Massacre"? You're not naive, you must see that moment in the future, or have some idea to dodge it somehow? Will you kowtow ? What's your attitude towards the Republic of China (Taiwan)? [1] https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-china-qi-lu/

A fair question and one that might be influenced by the Google MD's response to a request for a chat: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/28/technology/google-pichai-...

Re: How YC Has Changed

#45

Post by lettergram »

mwseibel wrote: post #31
zackmorris wrote: post #29

Hey it's Friday and I always wanted to ask: what do the people at YC think about bringing back some kind of smaller-scale investment for a larger number of applicants? There was a time in my life after I graduated in college in '99, after the dot bomb, before the housing bomb, before YC, when I could have made just about any app/website in 6 months for $10,000. I wasn't driven by money, I just needed basic living exp…

That is what we are doing in Startup School - https://blog.ycombinator.com/announcing-startup-school-2018/

I was half regretting doing last years startup school (as opposed to this one) -_-

At the same time, those AWS credits went a long way for me -- I'm sure that grant could go very far for others. Kudos for doing it!

Honestly, the most valuable aspect of startup school is the feedback from your peers. Half of my group I still stay in contact with (even intro'd them to a few customers). I guess, it's similar to YC; the networking effects.

I do think the money would be better upfront, as opposed to at the end. However, I guess there's no bar on entry and it's "free" so, I can see the reason to wait.

Re: How YC Has Changed

#46

Post by tptacek »

ajiang wrote: post #27

YC 2005-2014 = Doing things that don't scale YC 2014+ = Making the magic of PG, Jessica, Sam et al scalable

That's the whole idea, right? "Do things that don't scale" means not letting future logistical concerns get in the way of discovering a viable market. But once you do find a good one, you scale the fuck out of it.

Re: How YC Has Changed

#47

Post by sebleon »

1123581321 wrote: post #42
mbesto wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> YC startup by actively increasing the GDP of the internet Sorry, but what does this actually mean? Before Stripe existed, you most certainly could process a payment online, so why would Stripe's existence increase the overall market for goods and services online?

I take it to mean that Stripe is easier to use than its competitors, which means new companies start that wouldn’t have, resulting in revenue through Internet sales that wouldn’t have happened online yet without those companies existing. Obviously the premises can be debated, but developers do like Stripe’s API and products, and it seems plausible that some of those developers have been successful.

While Stripe is extremely developer-friendly, the alternatives aren’t that bad. They’re annoying to set up, but certainly not prohibitive to a determined founder starting out. Today, options like Braintree are comparable in terms of dev-friendliness.

Re: How YC Has Changed

#48

Post by adam »

Having been through YC in the second batch in 2006 - their first one in California, and again in 2011, the differences were indeed pretty stark. In 2006, there were 8 startups. We knew each other well and we met with PG at his house a few times which obviously was pretty cool. He was also the one actually doing the cooking at the dinners! There was also lots of interaction with Trevor and Jessica and (less so) Robert. In 2011 there was no such type of interaction as they were just trying to figure out how to scale with 64 startups in the batch, outside money being involved, etc.

The other big difference no one has mentioned is the speakers that came to the dinners. They get the highest profile speakers now, but in 2006, the speakers would meet with each startup after their talk. You could demo to them and they'd give you feedback and personal advice. I distinctly remember a talk by Ev Williams about his failures at Blogger for example. Very raw and emotional. Some of the lessons I carry with me today, 12 years later, were from a few of those talks and after dinner conversations. In 2011 (and on) you're not getting close to one of those speakers unless you just so happen to get to sit by them at dinner.

Re: How YC Has Changed

#49

Post by wellboy »

mwseibel wrote: post #40
jedberg wrote: post #37

I've been going to Demo Day off and on since 2007, and one big thing I've noticed is a change in who gets accepted. I see a lot more "sure bets" and a lot fewer "long shots". When I go to demo day now, I see a lot of companies that are fairly interesting, founded by an amazing team with a lot of accolades and/or exits or previous experience, and most of the companies have already launched and have revenue. What I don…

We still fund a lot of young early stage founders. I think there are two things that make them stand out less on Demo Day. First, batches are much larger and the average age of the batch has increased. Second, these founders are much less likely to be starting consumer startups and therefore they blend in better with the other startups. Another important change over the past 10 years is that many talented young poten…

> We still fund a lot of young early stage founders

Examples from this batch?

Re: How YC Has Changed

#50

Post by murukesh_s »

jedberg wrote: post #37

I've been going to Demo Day off and on since 2007, and one big thing I've noticed is a change in who gets accepted. I see a lot more "sure bets" and a lot fewer "long shots". When I go to demo day now, I see a lot of companies that are fairly interesting, founded by an amazing team with a lot of accolades and/or exits or previous experience, and most of the companies have already launched and have revenue. What I don…

It's fairly obvious in the application form itself, If I remember. They do take folks without 'traction' but there are too many applications now I feel YC find it difficult to bet blindly.

The obvious solution then would be another YC like or a sub-brand from YC that do not accept startups with existing traction, as they are just looking for a boost instead of real hand holding. I feel YC realized this and they are doing programs like startup schools to accept/help more startups.

But a long term solution IMO is there should be more YC like orgs in every country/city to really nurture and help the ecosystem. The theme of accelerators should also vary based on the location and not just try to replicate the US model. For e.g. In US, it make sense to start product companies that have global vision. While in China, or India it make sense to promote ideas to solve local challenges or B2B products that do not need the media glare that SV companies get/enjoy. Also in India and other south-east asian countries, it might make sense to accelerate companies that can provide quality outsourcing experience to small/medium product companies in the west. I am yet to see a global startup-friendly outsourcing behemoth when there is an opportunity for same.

Also I feel if a company is not accepted in a cohort, they should be given weightage in the next cohort if they are hanging around and have bettered their stats.

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