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New YC homepage

ycombinator.com

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Re: New YC homepage

#41

Post by bflesch »

verdverm wrote: post #19
alephnerd wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC has always been founder first. Back when they started in the 2000s, most traditional VCs didn't recognize that high impact individuals can easily pivot or define product categories, and only concentrated on financial engineering (DCF go brrrrrr ). YC often also mentors founders on pivots (I'd say at least a third of all startups that make it to demo day were mentored into some sort of a pivot). YC also needs to pi…

> YC also needs to pivot It's been reported that the ratio of mentors to founders had become quite bad. Seems quality has gone down since they tried to scale something that doesn't scale

[flagged]

Re: New YC homepage

#42

Post by 0003 »

TheCoreh wrote: post #2

Looks good. A minor piece of feedback, though: might be just me, not sure if anyone else has this pavlovian conditioning, but seeing the black banner/bar on top with the YC logo/color below and HN background color immediately makes me think someone passed away.

Turning a builder into a formidable founder, which via the PG quote is someone who seems they will always get what they want is in its self a death. A builder... a truth-seeking creator dies. Devoured by someone who gets what they want, a superego. There should be a black bar at the top.

/s

Shout out to the risk takers.

Re: New YC homepage

#43

Post by nailer »

tptacek wrote: post #17
ripped_britches wrote: post #13

I mean trying to insinuate oai is a yc company is just shady right? I get that the subtext isn’t dishonest, but cmon, you know what you’re doing

They were an early funder. Seems p. reasonable for a VC firm to point that out.

Were OpenAI in a batch though? If not, I think maybe OpenAI deserves a mention but after companies that were actually in a batch.

Typography looks great though, animations are smooth, /formidable founder' is original and it's nice seeing Jared Friedman - he was super friendly and acted as a company champion when I applied in 2016.

Re: New YC homepage

#44

Post by ryandrake »

perfmode wrote: post #26

There’s something that bothers me about reducing achievement to stock price and exit valuations. Yet, it is sobering to witness the machinery laid bare. The whole aesthetic of startup success—those triumphant IPO bell-ringing moments—celebrates money, not wisdom or authentic progress. I’m aware this is the dominant framework, but that doesn’t make it feel less hollow. Welcome to Heartbreak.

> The whole aesthetic of startup success—those triumphant IPO bell-ringing moments—celebrates money, not wisdom or authentic progress.

Didn't see anything about ethics either, which, again, is not necessarily what a VC firm is about. It's actually kind of refreshing--the website clearly conveys YC's focus: It's about being "formidable" and "intensive work" and "urgency" and "fast." The editing on this site is impressive. They have boiled away everything down to the core of what the firm believes in, and it's "work hard make lots of money fast". Not something I'd personally be interested in being part of, but the site's wording is remarkable in its honesty, and I clearly know after reading it that the YC experience would not be my cup of tea!

Re: New YC homepage

#46

Post by alephnerd »

ls-a wrote: post #12
alephnerd wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC has always been founder first. Back when they started in the 2000s, most traditional VCs didn't recognize that high impact individuals can easily pivot or define product categories, and only concentrated on financial engineering (DCF go brrrrrr ). YC often also mentors founders on pivots (I'd say at least a third of all startups that make it to demo day were mentored into some sort of a pivot). YC also needs to pi…

> YC often also mentors founders on pivots Interesting. I once talked to an investor (not YC) and they asked me what I would do if the product failed. I said one thing I can do is pivot. And they literally responded with "we don't invest in founders who think about pivoting" > YC also needs to pivot it's marketing to compete with a16z Speedrun and PeakXV Surge Maybe. A write up about the new design would be cool I th…

> I said one thing I can do is pivot. And they literally responded with "we don't invest in founders who think about pivoting"

I'd say it depends on a VC's investment thesis as well as the stage your startup is at.

For the former, some wouldn't like your answer because it implies a lack of conviction (why should I invest in something the founder doesn't trust). Others wouldn't because it adds a degree of uncertainty (if this B2C reels company pivots into MLOps tooling how can I do due dilligence on my investment).

For the latter, seed/pre-seed that is open to pivoting isn't necessarily a negative flag because they are barely generating revenue as is and are trying to find PMF, but a Series B startup suddenly taking about a pivot might imply they aren't doing so hot.

> A write up about the new design would be cool I think

We ain't the LPs. We don't deserve an answer.

Re: New YC homepage

#48

Post by akomtu »

ryandrake wrote: post #44
perfmode wrote: post #26

There’s something that bothers me about reducing achievement to stock price and exit valuations. Yet, it is sobering to witness the machinery laid bare. The whole aesthetic of startup success—those triumphant IPO bell-ringing moments—celebrates money, not wisdom or authentic progress. I’m aware this is the dominant framework, but that doesn’t make it feel less hollow. Welcome to Heartbreak.

> The whole aesthetic of startup success—those triumphant IPO bell-ringing moments—celebrates money, not wisdom or authentic progress. Didn't see anything about ethics either, which, again, is not necessarily what a VC firm is about. It's actually kind of refreshing--the website clearly conveys YC's focus: It's about being "formidable" and "intensive work" and "urgency" and "fast." The editing on this site is impress…

[flagged]

Re: New YC homepage

#49

Post by archeantus »

What stood out to me more than how impressive the carousel of companies was, was the order of them. Wild that they have OpenAI and Stripe second and third to Airbnb.
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