Startup School 2017 First Lecture • Hacker News Board

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#51

Post by good_vibes » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 11:12 AM UTC

xiaoma wrote: post #35

I was wondering what the acceptance rates were for this MOOC. I understand it's difficult to deal with large numbers of applicants and that it's just not feasible to give every single applicant personalized feedback. From the other side, I've been working on my goal for much of the past year and a half if I include collaboration attempts with offline businesses in my market that ended with job offers but no collab. I…

I can relate to your situation a lot. I've done some thinking and realized, YC is great but they are not the decider of my fate. There are other options and at the end of the day, great ideas executed by great people can succeed no matter how many rejections they get. I think there is a lot of hubris in HN and in YC, in SV in general. All I can say is, be so good they can't ignore you.

Whether I get into YC or not, I'm willing to bet my life on the fact that they will know my name soon and realize they made a mistake.

I don't care how crazy or delusional this sounds because this isn't a project or a startup, this is my reason for existing. Finding a way is all I have in this life.

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#52

Post by klunger » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 12:19 PM UTC

Does anyone know if they will be doing this again? We found out about it too late to do try and apply. I looked through the FAQ on the website, but did not see anything about whether this was a one-off or if they would do it again.

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#53

Post by giarc » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 1:20 PM UTC

nhorob67 wrote: post #13

Interesting how Moskovitz just glosses over a "lifestyle" business. I started a business 2 years ago, am the sole employee, and it'll make $400-500k in revenue in 2017 with 20-40% net profits. I don't think I recreated the wheel here. I'm making a software product that businesses want to buy.

Have you considered sharing with Indie Hackers (https://www.indiehackers.com/businesses)?

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#54

Post by giarc » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 1:22 PM UTC

nhorob67 wrote: post #15

BukhariH wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't mind me asking. What's your business?

Farm accounting software. Boring to most, exciting to me! Just maybe that's a key

I think you are right. Everyone wants to build the next Facebook/IG/Uber. A software company that appeals to the masses and will be front page news. There's likely a lot of opportunity in the fringe area's that aren't mainstream.

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#55

Post by giarc » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 1:23 PM UTC

klunger wrote: post #52

Does anyone know if they will be doing this again? We found out about it too late to do try and apply. I looked through the FAQ on the website, but did not see anything about whether this was a one-off or if they would do it again.

Try searching HN history. They did some Q/A type sessions about it. I believe they wanted to see how this went and were hoping to make this a regular thing.

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#56

Post by inputcoffee » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 3:10 PM UTC

nhorob67 wrote: post #13

Interesting how Moskovitz just glosses over a "lifestyle" business. I started a business 2 years ago, am the sole employee, and it'll make $400-500k in revenue in 2017 with 20-40% net profits. I don't think I recreated the wheel here. I'm making a software product that businesses want to buy.

You should read startup=growth.

I am not saying you are wrong to be proud of your achievement, but as a practical matter, YC doesn't think of startups as new companies. It thinks of startups as a specific kind of new company that is trying to grow very large, very quickly.

Edit: Just realized someone else brought up this point and linked to the essay downstream. I guess I'm leaving this point here because it is closer to the question.

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#57

Post by bvi » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 3:10 PM UTC

Void_ wrote: post #48

jaoued wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've applied along with 50k applicants ( http://blog.ycombinator.com/startup-school-online-registrati... ) and we are in this batch along with 3000 other startups coming from all corners of the world (startup founder track). In our case, we've built MyAppConverter about three years ago, starting from native iOS to native Android code conversion and now building an online mobile application porting platform. We've ap…

Hey man, we're in the same group (62), can't wait to learn more about your business! At first I thought everybody got in, but now I see I was pretty damn lucky with my product Median (www.median.tech), since I'm solo. This MOOC is just the best, I didn't expect there would be so much community around it. As a solo founder, I'm very grateful be in a group with other founders from all around the world.

On a side note, Median looks fantastic. Hope you guys (just you?) go far!

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#58

Post by TuggaRoo » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 3:41 PM UTC

mifeng wrote: post #21

arikr wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This lecture series is definitely aimed at the "startup = growth" type of startup, so much more relevant to companies that want to get huge.

As a former founder I do think there's truth to Altman's advice to tackle big/hard problems rather than small/easy. Rationale: - you develop unique expertise and skills that are more valuable (ie more acquihire rationale) if things go south - easier to fundraise and recruit - optionality: downshifting to solving a smaller problem is easier than leveling up to solving a bigger one

But not all huge problems have to = huge financial gain

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#59

Post by dang » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 7:23 PM UTC

throwathrowaway wrote: post #42

dang wrote: post #5

Something else that's just out is the list of future speakers: https://blog.ycombinator.com/startup-school-online-first-lec... (via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14045559 )

The startup school's About page says there are office hours every week > Class Office Hours will also be held each week to give live advice and feedback to the class. but that schedule only has office hours planned for weeks 2, 5 and 9. Is one an update of the other? Are there any office hours the first week?

I don't know but I'll ping sandslash for you.

Re: Startup School 2017 First Lecture

#60

Post by sandslash » Thu, Apr 06, 2017, 7:28 PM UTC

throwathrowaway wrote: post #42

dang wrote: post #5

Something else that's just out is the list of future speakers: https://blog.ycombinator.com/startup-school-online-first-lec... (via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14045559 )

The startup school's About page says there are office hours every week > Class Office Hours will also be held each week to give live advice and feedback to the class. but that schedule only has office hours planned for weeks 2, 5 and 9. Is one an update of the other? Are there any office hours the first week?

Sorry about that. Initially we were going to have on-stage office hours every week, but we have since changed the format for the course. Those office hours in the most recent blog post are current; we'll update the site now.

Apologies for the confusion!