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

Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

421–430 of 436 posts

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#421

Post by bananaface »

czbond wrote: post #356
bananaface wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but now you're filtering out a good chunk of people smart enough to work for G - so your applicant pool just got dumber.

Disagree. If someone's choice either is to work for G, or start the company, it is the founders risk to take and give up that job for the outsized risk and return of starting up. It is not YC's need to compensate a founder for their alternative.

If you think about these things in terms of "should" and "who's responsibility" you will never understand how it works.

What are the founder's other alternatives? What are there other early stage & incubation options? YC simply does have to compete with that.

I mean, look. Take your idea to the extreme - why do they pay a stipend at all? Why not force the founders to sleep in tubes above the office/outside on the street and supply just enough soylent, huel & low-dosage amphetamines to keep their brain working?

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#422

Post by bananaface »

klyrs wrote: post #349
Apocryphon wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waffle House would probably get great mileage with a publicity stunt building a house made of waffles. Hearken back to Hansel and Gretel, use it to host a waffle-eating contest, donate excess pastries to charity. Could really revitalize the brand.

Y'all are missing the truly horrible part of my idea (though Hansel & Gretel is about the right idea). After the house is built, the customers are intended to eat the house itself. I didn't flesh out the whole idea in my comment, but they should be inside the house while eating it. If it's big enough to warrant the name "house" (not "shack" nor "misshapen pile") then it's big enough for its inevitable collapse to end…

What about if you just make & sell Italian food?

See, there are no bad companies, all companies can pivot. In fact the original idea doesn't matter at all. Hurr durr buy my startup book

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#423

Post by KajMagnus »

djsumdog wrote: post #100
dbbk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I noped out of this as soon as I saw it. The guy is suggesting investing in startup founders but not giving them enough to live while they get that company off the ground. What is the point of that? Completely self-defeating.

I think back to Paul Graham's list of things that kill a startup: http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html He does list having both too little money and too much money. I agree, maybe the $25k made sense back before life in California was more expensive than living in Manhattan, and it should be enough to cover more living expenses. Maybe alternatively, YC could provide less money, but basic housing and needs so fo…

> basic housing

What about a YC building complex a bit outside SF? Maybe one close to NY too, and ... two in Europe, two in ... each continent? :- )

"Ycplex"? "Hackerplex"?

There could be a gym so people could stay healthy (and what about child care & school?).

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#424

Post by dbbk »

seertaak wrote: post #47
dbbk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I noped out of this as soon as I saw it. The guy is suggesting investing in startup founders but not giving them enough to live while they get that company off the ground. What is the point of that? Completely self-defeating.

> Yeah I noped out of this as soon as I saw it. I must be misunderstanding you; I read that as you stopped reading the entire thread because there was a single point you disagree with. Is that what you mean?

Yes, I think this single point is so moronic that it doesn't warrant entertaining anything further. Saying that a founder should go into personal debt, and if they don't they don't "believe" in their business enough, is mind-boggling.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#425

Post by norswap »

awillen wrote: post #9

The idea that check sizes should be small so people should be forced into dire financial situations is a terrible one, and one that would absolutely hurt diversity. You're going to end up with a bunch of rich white dudes as founders (because very, very obviously the other way that people can afford to take smaller checks is if they have a lot of money in the bank). The smaller class size issue is probably fair, but r…

I agree with this point wholeheartedly, though I wish it could be made without making "rich white dudes" as some kind of slur.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#426

Post by oluomike1 »

I totally understand if he feels this way..his own opinion. My own opinion is this, as a founder running our startup (catering marketplace for businesses and individuals) for over 2 and half years. Still working with No Angel or VC money, just friends and family funds. With our sweat and blood we tested the market from "Uber" style, events to iterating to various verticals.. The painful truth, it hurts when you can't pull out your best solutions to problems because of low funds, it leads to poor execution most times.. competition is fierce and business means war. Most founders would have given up before year one with no VC money. I see no harm in YC's cheque size and scaling. Heck.. Covid 19 just dug out some new interesting problems in need of urgent solutions. My Opinion. Cheers HN.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#427

Post by Raidion »

s_dev wrote: post #83
solumos wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be willing to bet that a clear majority of the most successful startups from the past 20 years were founded by people who were otherwise independently financially stable. It's very hard to focus on building a successful business when the cost of failure is potentially life-ruining.

Then don't start one if you can't consume the risk. I'm not sure what your point is -- that people who have kids should be given special exemption where they make more money from sales and inventment oportunties to compensate for choices they made?

I think the point is that the amount of support does impact the amount of success after. If you offered $1 dollar of support, you'd have fewer % of startups succeed. If you offered a million dollars, you'd have more succeed.

I think it is worth pointing out that the lower levels of support mean there will be fewer successful startups, and those startups will be founded and started by people that have a safety net of some kind. If the goal is efficiency of investment, this is fine, if there are other goals, it's worth noting how this policy impacts the other goals.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#428

Post by ryguytilidie »

softawre wrote: post #113
ryguytilidie wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get that awkwardly (and disingenuously) mocking strangers on the internet for perceived hypocrisy is the new hotness, but why would anyone keep reading an article where the author IMMEDIATELY makes it clear he doesn't understand human beings, economics or has a base level of empathy? Eh, who cares, mocking strangers it is!

You're mocking the OP, saying he doesn't understand humans or have any empathy, based on a single statement you disagree with.

I mean, at this point you seem to be upset that I'm judging someone for their statements and actions? What else is there to judge people by?

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#429

Post by blub »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #303
blub wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but then again in those situations of extreme poverty one probably has bigger problems than not being able to get a start-up off the ground. And of their parents threw them out or don't otherwise like them that's just bad luck. Some people will not have an easy life, I don't see why we have to make those with loving families feel bad about it.

No one's trying to make anyone feel bad about their loving family. We just don't want it to be a selection criterion for entrepreneurship.

That's exactly what's happening: diminishing others' achievements because they can move back with their parent.

It's not their fault that there's so much misery in the world, nor do they have an obligation to fix it.

Re: Y Combinator has lost its soul: A YC founder's perspective

#430

Post by blub »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #304
blub wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That assumption holds for most of the population in European countries, even the poorest ones. In fact it's common for young people to live with their parents a long time. One has to be either dirt poor or very unlucky not to he able to move back with relatives. This sound like an excuse.

The median wealth of African American households in the U.S. is $35k, vs. $150k for white households. Yes - most people might be able to move back in with relatives, but among those people who can't, minorities are almost certainly going to be overrepresented, which was OP's point.

The world's quite bigger than the US and its particularities don't apply in most other countries.
Post reply on HN