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Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#61

Post by briandear »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #27
chiefofgxbxl wrote: post #6

Cool batch, particularly LemonBox which provides personalized vitamin packs to buyers in China. There's a huge user base right there, and I imagine the U.S. market is largely saturated / competitive already. I must respectfully express my concern over: "Grabb-it Inc. turns rideshare cars into digital billboards." There's probably a market for it as online advertisers face an uncertain future with possible regulation,…

So is LemonBox basically a daigou in startup form? I’m not sure what their advantage will be vs. the very numerous amount of small players that already do this. I also wonder if they misunderstand the vitamin market in China. Whereas it is mostly bros looking to buff up in the states, in China, you buy them abroad to show your elderly parents/grandparents you care for them. But maybe my views are outdated?

Are vitamins actually useful? The vast majority of people who eat normally don’t need vitamin supplements. It’s all mostly scammy to me: selling people a product that has almost no value unless you are malnourished. It’s big business sure, but it’s on the level of homeopathy for most people. Providing vitamins to undernourished kids might be valuable, but there isn’t any money in that. Vitamins are right up there with “organic” in terms of quantifiable health benefits.

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#62

Post by briandear »

l33tbro wrote: post #50

I think companies like Grabb-It Labs only make the world more hellish. I really don't understand why you would start a company like this. On my commute each day they've started video advertising on my local bus and also in the subway. It just really SUCKS to be bombarded with more shitty ads for banks and big box stores. I'm not trying to scold the founders. It just confounds me that people would start companies like…

It isn’t that someone starts this sort of company, it’s that respected people still fund them. Do we actually need more advertising companies?

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#63

Post by kkaranth »

necubi wrote: post #13
chiefofgxbxl wrote: post #6

Cool batch, particularly LemonBox which provides personalized vitamin packs to buyers in China. There's a huge user base right there, and I imagine the U.S. market is largely saturated / competitive already. I must respectfully express my concern over: "Grabb-it Inc. turns rideshare cars into digital billboards." There's probably a market for it as online advertisers face an uncertain future with possible regulation,…

Even worse, according to the techcrunch article [0] the projection screen is mostly opaque, so passengers won't be able to see out the window. [0] https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/15/grabb-it-wants-to-turn-you...

Later in the same article:

> It’s meant to only run when the driver is between rides. Once a passenger hops in the car, the projector is shut off — because, well, no one wants a projector blasting light in their face on the way to their next meeting.

So, they intend to use it as a means for drivers to make money when they are not in the middle of a trip.

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#64

Post by jpochtar »

AriaMinaei wrote: post #36

Optic [0] caught my eye. They seem to have made possible a new kind of abstraction in code. Something that's different from both functions and macros. It's a kind of abstraction that can be arbitrarily customized at each call site, yet retain its identity across all of them. Example: foo = do_a() bar = do_b(foo) Example 2: foo = do_a() bar = do_z(foo) baz = do_b(bar) Example 3: foo = do_a() bar = foo + 10 baz = do_b(…

why not just

    function baz(modifier) {
       let foo = do_a();
       let bar = modifier(foo);
       return do_b(bar);
    }

    Example 1: baz((foo) => foo);
    Example 2: baz((foo) => do_z(foo));
    Example 3: baz((foo) => foo + 10);
which lets you be more concise with

    baz = (modifier) => do_b(modifier(do_a()))

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#65

Post by mylons »

maxxxxx wrote: post #39
goatherders wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? This hits at the heart of startup porn. It's about money. It's only about money. It's only ever been about money. This is a good way to make money so it exists. I'm happy for startups that don't hide behind their capitalist mission.

True. I just don't think we should celebrate these startups.

an investment isn't a celebration. it's a bet that there will be a return on that investment.

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#66

Post by mmt »

cspa wrote: post #49
mmt wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their topics page https://cspa.io/topics also has numerous duplicate "example" links. Some of them are barely related to the sub-topic line item and some not at all (perhaps a typo? copy-pasto?). I provided feedback that included this issue, I believe around when it was first a "Show HN" post, but the page was never updated. That would certainly give me pause as to the accuracy of a technical (or detail-orientation)…

That's a bug, thanks for reporting it. We don't have it in our bug tracker -- I don't recall CSPA having a Show HN post o_O.

> I don't recall CSPA having a Show HN post

I'm likely incorrectly remembering the context, then. Possibly one of the "Work at a Startup" posts?

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#67

Post by starky »

syntaxing wrote: post #57

Saddens me that there are not many mechanical hardware companies from any YC year/season and this year is no exception.

Yeah, it is always disappointing that there aren't more startups around doing hardware. I think a large portion of that is that hardware is quite expensive to develop and requires a lot of space. From the YC perspective it doesn't really work with the 3 month rapid iteration schedule, that is barely enough time to get tooled prototypes.

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#69

Post by AznHisoka »

briandear wrote: post #61
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So is LemonBox basically a daigou in startup form? I’m not sure what their advantage will be vs. the very numerous amount of small players that already do this. I also wonder if they misunderstand the vitamin market in China. Whereas it is mostly bros looking to buff up in the states, in China, you buy them abroad to show your elderly parents/grandparents you care for them. But maybe my views are outdated?

Are vitamins actually useful? The vast majority of people who eat normally don’t need vitamin supplements. It’s all mostly scammy to me: selling people a product that has almost no value unless you are malnourished. It’s big business sure, but it’s on the level of homeopathy for most people. Providing vitamins to undernourished kids might be valuable, but there isn’t any money in that. Vitamins are right up there wit…

There are multi-vitamins and then there are supplements. Personally, I find the former useless but there are many supplements that are useful for various ailments. For example, melatonin if you find it hard to fall asleep, DGL licorice and probiotics if you got digestive issues. Some people swear by certain B-vitamins for acne as well. Different supplements work for different people.

Re: Companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch

#70

Post by mmt »

Fomite wrote: post #48

The concept of HappiLabs calls to me, and while spendy for a new lab, is definitely less than a qualified lab manager would be. Sadly, really only useful for wet labs.

> Sadly, really only useful for wet labs.

I'm not an insider on the terminology, but it seems a "wet lab" is what a lay person, like myself, thinks of when we hear "a lab" (in the physical sciences context).

What's the "dry" (or is the term of art different?) lab situation you wish it would be useful for?

There could be a different startup opportunity, if it's scalably computer-heavy [1]. I'm aware of computer-controlled instruments for wet labs being a very underserved market (and presumably with high margins for the computer portion), but that seems like a consulting/services/labor-intensive business.

[1] Around HN, that usually means software, but my background is Ops, so I actually consider commodity hardware quite scalable, too, despite the hardware-is-a-nightmare-we-have-to-do-cloud mythology.

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