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Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

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Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#41

Post by palish »

RockyMcNuts wrote: post #40
mattmanser wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be brutally honest, if you're not a bit weird[1] you're probably not cut out to make it in the social space. We're talking about people who would have created a hot or not site 10 years ago without a thought about the pain it could cause people who always ended up 'not'. These aren't normally adjusted people. They have a lot of good points, and some very bad ones. If you want to look at it in a good way they're no…

unconventional? synonyms from thesaurus.com: anarchistic, atypical, avant-garde, beat, bizarre, crazy, eccentric, far-out, freakish, freaky, free and easy, idiosyncratic, individual, individualistic, informal, irregular, kinky, kooky, nonconformist, oddball, off the beaten track, off the wall, offbeat, original, out in left field, out of the ordinary, unceremonious, uncommon, uncustomary, unique, unorthodox, unusual,…

I'm surprised HN's spam filter didn't try to murder this comment.

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#42

Post by pg »

andjones wrote: post #35
pg wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. We were influenced by the large number of YC alumni that they got to recommend them, but not by the dinners they organized for the applicants.

Is it possible that those two events are connected?

I believe not, because they could not have organized these events till they'd already been invited for interviews.

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#43

Post by palish »

RockyMcNuts wrote: post #24
BrainScraps wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me a while to get this, so I made a helpful graph for everyone else as slow as I am. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22926250/pgResponse.png

kind of like a Kelly criterion bet http://www.math.washington.edu/~morrow/336_10/papers/jane.pd... if you bet like a mouse, you get cheese

Thanks for the interesting paper.

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#44

Post by nostrademons »

mattmanser wrote: post #16
onan_barbarian wrote: post #6

Given the inherent dodginess of so many 'social startups' already ("get piles of users now, figure out how to make a big pile of money from later"), this whole 'naughtiness' stuff bothers me. It's a short hop from naughty to 'actively unethical'. Here's the question: given that you've already demonstrated that you don't really have a lot of regard for the privacy of fellow YC interviewees (however 'intentionally' you…

To be brutally honest, if you're not a bit weird[1] you're probably not cut out to make it in the social space. We're talking about people who would have created a hot or not site 10 years ago without a thought about the pain it could cause people who always ended up 'not'. These aren't normally adjusted people. They have a lot of good points, and some very bad ones. If you want to look at it in a good way they're no…

FWIW, HotOrNot scales their votes so that everyone ends up in the top half. (No, they didn't do this when they launched, but obviously they've found it a good idea since then. Even rebels pander to their constituencies.)

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#45

Post by dkersten »

shareme wrote: post #26
dkersten wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In uni myself and a friend used this philosophy to get lab space and desks in the postgrad labs (we were undergrads and normally didn't get our own "private" lab space). We had keycards because we needed access for project work[1], found ourselves some unused space, unused desks etc figuring that if anybody minded we would just apologize and find someplace else. Nobody complained and by the time I graduated we had th…

I did as an undergrad in the US states doing both undergrad and grad course work in Molecular Biology both lab space and computer lab space..keycards, key licenses to apps using apple's keyserver, etc. Even got an unofficial desk in one of the Faculty member's offices. It was not just knowing those Professors but we did enough 'free' work that we could easily ask for bribes..either pay us or give us space..in my case…

Its amazing what you can get away with if you just try.

Of course, like you, we had a reputation for getting stuff done. We got keycard access and permission to store our project work (since it included electronics) in the postgrad labs and we then went to see how far we could take it. We produced some great projects for them in return[1]. We even got a photo (alongside then prime minister) in a local newspaper.

My project partner is currently doing a PHD there and has used the similar tactics to get equipment, lab space and other benefits and his supervisors don't mind because he has opened new research avenues and published papers for them.

[1] the project I linked to was pioneered by myself and my project partner, but has since been used for further projects (and has been professionally rebuilt using expensive hardware - ours cost about €300 in materials to build; the professionally manufactured version cost approx. €10K - but was (is, I guess - I haven't been involved) also much, much more accurate

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#46

Post by davidw »

mrkurt wrote: post #11
yid wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that the tone of the blog post suggests a desperation about getting into YC, rather than the old adage of wanting to build something that people actually want to use. It's also interesting that HN is full of people who talk about a higher education bubble, but a YC bubble mysteriously seems to be off-topic here. (Note that I love and use a lot of YC companies)

If they're anything like me, it's not "desperation" to get into YC, necessarily, as much as the ridiculous hatred of failure. They'd probably go equally nuts for anywhere they applied, be it Harvard or Juliar or for unemployment checks.

Ok, but you're sort of equating 'getting into YC' with 'success'.

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#47

Post by ryannielsen »

davidw wrote: post #46
mrkurt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're anything like me, it's not "desperation" to get into YC, necessarily, as much as the ridiculous hatred of failure. They'd probably go equally nuts for anywhere they applied, be it Harvard or Juliar or for unemployment checks.

Ok, but you're sort of equating 'getting into YC' with 'success'.

I got the impression that mrkurt was implying the Grubwithus founders didn't want to fail the YC interview, not that getting into YC guaranteed Grubwithus would be successful.

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#48

Post by orborde »

davidw wrote: post #46
mrkurt wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they're anything like me, it's not "desperation" to get into YC, necessarily, as much as the ridiculous hatred of failure. They'd probably go equally nuts for anywhere they applied, be it Harvard or Juliar or for unemployment checks.

Ok, but you're sort of equating 'getting into YC' with 'success'.

It's success at "getting into YC".

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#49

Post by paulnelligan »

pg wrote: post #2

"The problem is, while pg outwardly disapproved of our actions, we know he secretly loves founders that push the limits!" You know what, though: the response function around the limit is not a smooth bell curve; it drops sharply below the x axis as you go past the peak.

I find myself wondering if they're still pushing ...

Re: Interviewing with YC? Don't overstep the limits like us (but be close)

#50

Post by mman »

I get a bad gut feeling when i read posts like this. It is the same feeling i get when i watch MTV or elimidate or something.

The MTVification of Entrepreneurship! That sums up the feeling i get when reading this article and many others like it.

It just feels really... hollow. Like you are building an RPG character based on the "What We Look For Article". Spent all your points on naughtiness.

Seriously, yuck. Stop it.

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