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My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

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Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#41

Post by Jem »

mlichtenstern wrote: post #34
scobar wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right that a very supportive partner is important. Being a mother, you probably have a pretty good system already, but I have some advice from my own experience that may or may not be helpful. I've been a work-at-home dad taking care of our little son. Save tasks that need complete focus for when your child is napping or sleeping at night. Do the stuff you can easily break from and start up again while your ch…

Good point. I started working from home as a contractor (and partially as a college instructor)long before my daughter was conceived. I took zero maternity leave and went right back to work when she was born - literally - while still in the hospital (those food trays make decent work stations). There was a very short learning curve on integrating motherhood into work life. I'm shocked by how hard people make it seem…

Seriously - could your comment be any more patronising? Just because your experience gave you the impression that this "working or entrepreneurial parent" lark isn't as hard as it's made out, doesn't mean that's the case for everyone.

I went self-employed the week after my 2nd child was born, working from home around my two children. I was profitable in my first month and every month after that until I stopped nearly 2 years later. It was one of the best learning experiences of my working life so far but it was also HARD. Really, really bloody hard.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#42

Post by calibraxis »

argonaut wrote: post #31
Asparagirl wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And she conveniently left out the cost of childcare for all the days she was gone. Oh, you know, those little $18-20 per hour* minor details. If her partner works fulltime, that could be round-the-clock care. But yeah, of course a mom can do YC! (If she's rich and has a very, very supportive partner.) And yeah, I do remember that tweet from Sam she highlighted. And the thing I tweeted back to him, unacknowledged, sti…

If you don't have the resources to fit a startup into your life (in some combination of time or money - she just happened to have a surplus of money), then maybe you shouldn't be doing a startup? Nobody every said startups/YC is a fit for every single person in every stage of their life.

Yes, that would be the honest thing for VCs to publicly say. "Now look, you'll want to be a guy, unless you're a woman of some means. We're not racist, as we're heavily composed of both whites and asians. Modulo certain Asian and perhaps lesser-European or -US accents. (That excludes others of course, which we hope you consider a feature and not a bug...) As for coming from a family with money and comfort, well we hardly need to list the benefits of that."

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#43

Post by gchokov »

huehue wrote: post #29

My story of applying, getting in, and being gay in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a white man in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a Java 9to5 developer in Y Combinator.

Yes. I am getting sick of these stories as well.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#44

Post by seanccox »

valleycynic wrote: post #32

"Access to venture capitalists: Raising money is incredibly hard and incredibly distracting. The faster you can get it done, the faster you can get back to building something people want. YC is the perfect forcing function to help you raise capital. Network: Being an entrepreneur is a lonely path. There are few people who truly understand what you’re going through and even if your friends (or parents) are well meanin…

YC really has succeeded in building a recognized brand in the tech startup space, such that they can really define that space. I'd compare YC to Harvard or Davos (the World Economic Forum), where the challenge is to get accepted. Once you have passed the gateway, the wealthy/powerful recognize this by extending opportunities to new members.

This is true of almost any club (the Free Masons, your local BPOE, Boy Scouts, etc.). You join, you get to know people, those people help you with your interests, and in return you help them with their interests. It isn't particularly difficult to see why this success might backfire and reduce/limit actual innovation, because it creates a powerful echo chamber – in part by design, to achieve specific goals, and in part by accident, because the people accepted by the club tend to meet predefined expectations.

The problem is, as I see it, that escaping that kind of feedback loop is very difficult, once an organization is in it, because the momentum making the loop bigger is difficult to redirect into an energy to make the loop different. Harvard could announce that it will no longer accept children from powerful/wealthy families, Davos could release a statement that this year it will be hosted in conjunction with the Communist International, and YC could relocate to Uganda for a season – but that's not what these organizations do, so after a point, they aren't able to innovate outside of very specific boundaries.

The answer to that, of course, is create new organizations with different boundaries/priorities, but Christ, that reeks of effort.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#46

Post by mrweasel »

huehue wrote: post #29

My story of applying, getting in, and being gay in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a white man in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a Java 9to5 developer in Y Combinator.

I looked for the part where her being a mom made any difference what so ever. It must be hard to be away from your children most of the week and of cause taxing on her partner, but that's not really unique to YCombinator or startups.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#47

Post by markdown »

wolf550e wrote: post #40
markdown wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> broker Is that the whitewashed version of "squatter"?

I guess with domains, "squatter" is one who buy lots of them for cheap without knowing which (if any) will turn out to be useful, and "broker" is one who buys few expensive domains intending to resell them, like real estate.

I guess one can make that distinction.

In my dictionary a squatter is one who meets this criteria:

1. Buys a domain with the sole intention of reselling it for profit.

2. Does nothing with it while sitting on it... ie. doesn't develop a website one it other than a shitty squatter landing page.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#48

Post by dkarapetyan »

seanccox wrote: post #44
valleycynic wrote: post #32

"Access to venture capitalists: Raising money is incredibly hard and incredibly distracting. The faster you can get it done, the faster you can get back to building something people want. YC is the perfect forcing function to help you raise capital. Network: Being an entrepreneur is a lonely path. There are few people who truly understand what you’re going through and even if your friends (or parents) are well meanin…

YC really has succeeded in building a recognized brand in the tech startup space, such that they can really define that space. I'd compare YC to Harvard or Davos (the World Economic Forum), where the challenge is to get accepted. Once you have passed the gateway, the wealthy/powerful recognize this by extending opportunities to new members. This is true of almost any club (the Free Masons, your local BPOE, Boy Scouts…

Feedback loops and echo chambers are an excellent way to describe it. There is an analogy that I think is relevant but most people don't get when I bring it up or just think I'm plain crazy. The analogy is the fire ecology.

In certain ecosystems fire is a necessary component of ecological vitality. It is destructive in the short term but leads to a more robust and diverse ecosystem in the long term. Coming back to your points we have reached a certain kind of equilibrium in the startup ecosystem where the incumbents through network effects have become entrenched and are now actively detrimental to diversity and innovation. I don't know what the equivalent of fire would be in the startup and technology ecosystem.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#49

Post by seanccox »

dkarapetyan wrote: post #48
seanccox wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC really has succeeded in building a recognized brand in the tech startup space, such that they can really define that space. I'd compare YC to Harvard or Davos (the World Economic Forum), where the challenge is to get accepted. Once you have passed the gateway, the wealthy/powerful recognize this by extending opportunities to new members. This is true of almost any club (the Free Masons, your local BPOE, Boy Scouts…

Feedback loops and echo chambers are an excellent way to describe it. There is an analogy that I think is relevant but most people don't get when I bring it up or just think I'm plain crazy. The analogy is the fire ecology. In certain ecosystems fire is a necessary component of ecological vitality. It is destructive in the short term but leads to a more robust and diverse ecosystem in the long term. Coming back to yo…

I believe the 'fire' is something akin to the post-2000 tech bubble collapse. When markets correct or collapse, investors tend to become more conservative (or outright scared) and risk averse. That dries up the sources of capital available to more risk-prone endeavors, like funding tech startups. Even with lower capital costs, a VC firm looking for tech opportunities will be more selective in post-correction market. Whether that means startups will be more innovative or diverse, to impress VCs, or become more homogenous but cost-effective, in order to attract investment, is an issue I don't know enough about to predict. In any event, I like the idea of a fire ecology. I think it's a good one.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#50

Post by argonaut »

calibraxis wrote: post #42
argonaut wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't have the resources to fit a startup into your life (in some combination of time or money - she just happened to have a surplus of money), then maybe you shouldn't be doing a startup? Nobody every said startups/YC is a fit for every single person in every stage of their life.

Yes, that would be the honest thing for VCs to publicly say. "Now look, you'll want to be a guy, unless you're a woman of some means. We're not racist, as we're heavily composed of both whites and asians. Modulo certain Asian and perhaps lesser-European or -US accents. (That excludes others of course, which we hope you consider a feature and not a bug...) As for coming from a family with money and comfort, well we ha…

So are you implying that no woman has a surplus of time (and that they never do)?

Do you disagree with my assertion that if you want to start a company, you have to have lots of time, and if you don't have that, then you'll have to trade something else for that (like money: for hiring people, paying for flights, etc)?

There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. If you have no time, and no money, don't expect to be able to start a successful startup.

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