Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

401–410 of 559 posts

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#401

Post by karlosferra »

thecourier wrote: post #265
karlosferra wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with 1. Especially in countries that don't have anything like this available. I can speak from Cuba, since I am originally from there. Cuba has been closed for 50 years to America, but that is changing now. There are really smart people, that just don't have the necessary access to capital or good advice. Creating a branch of YC there would have a tremendous impact for local economy and people in addition of…

Carlos, how good is the internet in Cuba? if you were going to develop a web app, do cuban developers have better access to it now?

Like I said before, Cuba has been closed to a number of things for 50 years, including internet. However, things are starting to change for good, including internet access.

A few years back, only people from universities or other "privileged" entities, had access to it. Recently there have been changes that allow other sectors of the population to get internet access.

Is there broadband? No. Is it in every home or mobile device? No. But that is where the country that has been closed for 50 years to technology is headed finally.

This on its own constitutes a great business opportunity for any company that leverages that change, for instance.

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been" - Wayne Gretzky (i heard it from S.Jobs first).

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#402

Post by cperciva »

chubot wrote: post #392
cperciva wrote: post #359

Is there a place for Tarsnap at YC? Applying for YC funding doesn't make sense for several reasons: 1. I want to be king, not rich; everything I hear tells me that YC pushes companies to grow fast and increase their valuations, and that's something I fundamentally don't care about. I know that I'm stubborn enough that this would just result in a lot of frustration on both sides. 2. Tarsnap doesn't need the money. It'…

I think YC is the wrong place for this, for all the reasons you say. I don't see any reason that Tarsnap fits in YC besides "community", and even then it would be more of an outlier than a peer. It seems like it would fit in a community of people that are interested in lower risk, slower growing, but more personally lucrative businesses. YC companies do technically interesting things for sure, but a lot of the commun…

I don't see any reason that Tarsnap fits in YC besides "community"

Yes, that's exactly it.

and even then it would be more of an outlier than a peer.

I'm not so sure about that. OK, in a financial sense sure; but I know there are lots of YC companies doing technically cool things. It's not all rapidly-growing social networks for cats. ;-)

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#404

Post by raymondgh »

sama wrote: post #368
raymondgh wrote: post #342

Would you like to speak at HackingEDU (San Mateo, October 23-25), the world's largest education hackathon? http://www.hackingedu.co

Ok sure that sounds fun, could you email my office (SArouter@ycombinator.com)?

Done. Looking forward to it!

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#405

Post by tmalsburg2 »

mej10 wrote: post #397
shamino wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect to Sam Altman and everything he's accomplished, this is a pretty snarky comment that does not spend the time to thoughtfully answer the very real concern that OP presented. It's a huge risk to leave academia to participate in the possibly career-destroying alternative that currently exists. Academia isn't perfect with respect to career opportunities, but it does produce results. There are many in…

Do you think the people that have signed up for YCR haven't considered the career risks? It seems like anyone seriously interested in being a career researcher would know how unforgiving and competitive mainstream academia is.

The point is: YCR may be as unforgiving if not more. As things stand, I think YCR will attract people who are either reckless or have nothing to lose. Not sure if I would want to target that audience.

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#406

Post by shamino »

mej10 wrote: post #397
shamino wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With all due respect to Sam Altman and everything he's accomplished, this is a pretty snarky comment that does not spend the time to thoughtfully answer the very real concern that OP presented. It's a huge risk to leave academia to participate in the possibly career-destroying alternative that currently exists. Academia isn't perfect with respect to career opportunities, but it does produce results. There are many in…

Do you think the people that have signed up for YCR haven't considered the career risks? It seems like anyone seriously interested in being a career researcher would know how unforgiving and competitive mainstream academia is.

I think that people who signed up for YCR are looking for alternatives, and who will themselves be part of a biased group. In other words, it might be people who have struggled to find tenure-track positions in academia.

I think I'm mainly echoing the opinion that it's a little quick to say Academia is "fucked up", since with all it's flaws, there are still great virtues, and a more thoughtful response would probably be more appreciated. I also see the tendency for people to quickly judge academia when they haven't been in academia.

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#407

Post by ideathing27 »

sama wrote: post #330
ideathing27 wrote: post #312

Y Combinator has a record of supporting innovative ideas which come from the relative margins of the tech community, beginning with its invention of the startup accelerator as a concept. - Do you feel that Y Combinator's increasing visibility has helped your mission to attract a wide range of applicants beyond established tech industry insiders? - How do you manage the risk that your corresponding increase in competi…

1) Yes! That's really helped up expand into new areas. 2) The partnership talks about this all the time. We're very focused on not letting it happen. Far, far worse for us to miss one Airbnb than to fund 10 decent (and credible-sounding) companies.

Thank you for sharing your perspective. It's very encouraging to hear that!

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#408

Post by tinco »

cperciva wrote: post #359

Is there a place for Tarsnap at YC? Applying for YC funding doesn't make sense for several reasons: 1. I want to be king, not rich; everything I hear tells me that YC pushes companies to grow fast and increase their valuations, and that's something I fundamentally don't care about. I know that I'm stubborn enough that this would just result in a lot of frustration on both sides. 2. Tarsnap doesn't need the money. It'…

I'd say there's probably not a place for Tarsnap at YC (though I'm not sama), there's simply not enough ambition, but I'd be surprised if there isn't a place for Colin Percival. There obviously already is at HN and I bet there's dozens of startups that could use your help or advice in some way.

You mentioned a lot of reasons why Tarsnap can't be in the YC community. Perhaps you could come up with some reasons why you would have a place? It's marketing man ;)

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#409

Post by tlb »

tmalsburg2 wrote: post #370
sama wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's fucked up about academia. All the more reason to create alternatives. Do you really want to be part of a system that does not allow for failure? At a minimum, I expect YCR researchers to be turning down job offers from YC companies all the time.

I fully agree with your analysis of the shortcomings of the academic system, but that's really a lame response and suggests that you didn't think this through. We're not talking about people in their early twenties who can invest some years in crazy experiments without fearing the consequences. Researchers at that stage have invested a substantial chunk of their lives in their careers and many of them have families t…

The world would be a better place if more people took career risks. The evidence is that the majority of interesting stuff was created by people taking big career risks, even though they're a minority of all researchers. So people who take career risks are more likely to create something great.

It sucks to lose at a career gamble but, at least in Silicon Valley, most people who fail but keep trying, end up doing pretty well.

Re: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

#410

Post by jey »

tmalsburg2 wrote: post #298

I think you mentioned somewhere that you are aiming for early-career researchers, not so much for established group leaders. Being an early-career researcher myself (postdoc), my first thought was that your program could easily turn out to be a trap. At first, it looks like a fantastic opportunity because freedom and independence, etc. However, I'm sure that you are looking for high risk / high reward projects. So th…

Sure, you have to make a calculated decision of whether that's worth it. If you think you'd have a better expected return on staying in academia, you should just do so. I think there's plenty of talented folks who don't expect such a high return from academia for whom YCR provides a far better opportunity for success.
Post reply on HN