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I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#571

Post by foobarqux »

siglesias wrote: post #431
abeppu wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you work at a startup, you're acting like an investor but investing your time instead of your money. True, except: (a) An employee can probably only work for one startup at a time, and begins vesting after a year. That's like asking an investor to bet on at most 1 company per year. (b) Employers tend to give substantially less detailed information about their business, financials, etc to prospective employees…

Diversification only lowers risk. The expected value doesn't change.

Which matters a lot if you only have one or two shots.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#572

Post by JesseAldridge »

flipside wrote: post #468

I haven't had much luck finding the right cofounder despite meeting thousands of people over the past few years so clearly there's a problem. A few months ago I decided that the problem was probably me since I'm far from perfect so I've been spending considerable time on self improvement by working to define and embody our vision, mission and culture (while continuing to hammer away on product). Is quality the right…

Hey Mat. We met a few months ago (through Weave). I thought you seemed like a decent guy. IIRC, the main problem I saw was that you seemed strongly committed to an idea that I didn't find very interesting. I meant to follow up with you, but more promising leads took priority and I never found the time. Just FYI.

We should meet again sometime. Send me an email?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#573

Post by myblake »

sama wrote: post #148
oskarth wrote: post #141

What is your advice for people who don't have co-founder material friends (mostly non-technical/non-sales people, or conservative) and are out of college? I've experience starting companies with acquaintances, something that, predictably, didn't go so well. Is there any alternative - that you have seen in YC - to getting new friends, getting to know them really well, and starting a company in a few years time?

I have a good answer for this! Go work at a breakout medium sized tech company (i.e. a couple of hundred to a couple of thousand people). You'll meet lots of potential cofounders. The people that are attracted to these companies are usually 1) really good and 2) interested in starting a company down the line.

I'd also add to this that you should be getting a decent base salary at a company at this phase and you should try and live below your means, both so you can save and have a cushion allowing you to work full time without outside funding and so that when you do the burn rate on that cushion is smaller.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#574

Post by baristaGeek »

In case we apply to YC and don't get in, the best option is to work on the startup anyway. Would you recommend bootstrapping until we get in? Or a specific group of less prestigious accelerators? Do you consider other accelerators in general a "break pedal" because they give wrong advice? Or because there's less equity to supply a potential exit in the future?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#576

Post by vit05 »

You talked about the "two founders." How do you think is the best way to present an idea to someone else for her to help?

Many people reject the powerpoint. I decided to make a landing page. If anyone is interested I send a greater amount of information in a PDF, while working on a prototype.

Do you have a better suggestion than this?

tks

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#577

Post by vit05 »

You talked about the "two founders." How do you think is the best way to present an idea to someone else for her to help?

Many people reject the powerpoint. I decided to make a landing page. If anyone is interested I send a greater amount of information in a PDF, while working on a prototype.

Do you have a better suggestion than this?

tks

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#579

Post by [deleted] »

downandout wrote: post #484
sama wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really prefer at least two founders, but it's not a deal-breaker. We funded Drew Houston of Dropbox as a solo founder, but he got a cofounder before the batch started. A bad cofounder is far, far worse than no cofounder. I'd spend maybe 20% of your time looking for a cofounder, and the rest on your business. But don't force a cofounder if you don't have a good, organic option. The more progress you make on the bus…

>The more progress you make on the business, the easier it will be to get a great cofounder. I am not trying to be pedantic...but are they really a cofounder if you've hashed out the idea and made progress on the business prior to their involvement? It's an important question in my mind, because a cofounder typically receives far more equity than virtually anyone else that becomes involved with the business after it…

[deleted]

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#580

Post by kendallpark »

I was wondering if YC would consider working with a startup that is essentially owned by a medical school as opposed to the founders.

Scenario: I will be attending medical school next fall (this is after three years industry programming). One of the surgeons I plan to work with during med school has a for-profit medical technology project still at the seed stage. He is currently seeking venture capital investors.

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