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I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

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

#691

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

rboyd wrote: post #664
rahulvohra wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since Jason gets a lot of flak (not that he cares): Jason was one of the first and most helpful investors in Rapportive (YCS10, acq LinkedIn). He believed in us when there was no obvious reason to. Jason was one of the first investors I went back to for Superhuman. (He negotiated hard, but then so do I — that's just part of each side getting what they want.) I'd work with Jason again in a heartbeat for my next compan…

Superhuman?? what a brand!

Wait until you see the product -- it's AWESOME. I've been using it for two weeks and I'm addicted. I think this will be 100x bigger than Rapportive! excited for it!

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

#692

Post by firethief »

malz wrote: post #608
sama wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We fund companies with no traction/revenue all the time, though the bar is higher. A really compelling idea is more important to us than traction or revenue. We understand how quickly exponential growth happens.

It is interesting that on this AMA you say both "ideas are worth so little" and "a really compelling idea is more important to us than traction or revenue." Can you elaborate?

I think the compatibility of those statements hinges on the difference between an idea in the sense of something you could transfer in an elevator, and an idea in the sense of the culmination of an entire viewpoint on a topic, along with the mind(s) that developed that viewpoint.

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

#693

Post by anujp »

8cellos wrote: post #20

Are educational projects viewed mainly by IK12 or by all YC partners? What about hardware educational startups, do they stand a chance? IK12 only got software startups so far, so...

I wish there was a way to message users on HN. Wanna talk hardware education?

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

#694

Post by redtri »

nikcub wrote: post #560
redtri wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jason is the only investor I've worked with that treated me simply as a founder, not a "female founder." This alone is a reason that new YC entrepreneurs should have access to working with him. He sets an example of how entrepreneurs should be treated. Jason has seen me at my worst, when I was ready to throw in the towel and battling with my board and generally having a tough, tough time, and I left the meeting with…

You are one of 7 brand new accounts created since this thread was posted who have left comments praising Jason: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=supergeek18 https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=vincentc https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Clectasteve https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ericzli https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rushtix https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=redtri https://news.ycombinator.com/u…

I saw the tweet and wanted to offer my POV. I created a new account because I couldn't remember the password to my old account (redtricycle) and was responding on the fly. redtri = founder of red tricycle(not fake/anon). Two sides to every story (at least!) and people are entitled to hear all ...

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

#695

Post by lmm »

baron816 wrote: post #681
lmm wrote: post #652

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it you'd want from YC? The businesses they most want to work with are those that are in a position to get the most out of it.

Connections, advice, mentorship, funding, credibility, etc. I hope I can make it without their help, but they would certainly give me a big boost.

Ok, so do you think you'd get more use out of those things now or later? (Maybe you're asking because you don't know, but I think it's useful to reframe it that way).

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

#696

Post by baron816 »

lmm wrote: post #695
baron816 wrote: post #681

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Connections, advice, mentorship, funding, credibility, etc. I hope I can make it without their help, but they would certainly give me a big boost.

Ok, so do you think you'd get more use out of those things now or later? (Maybe you're asking because you don't know, but I think it's useful to reframe it that way).

Ok thanks. That's actually a really good answer and helps a lot.

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

#697

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

ninjudd wrote: post #610
nikcub wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and i'll give a counterexample - Jason yelling down and belittling an entrepreneur and his team during prep for a conference presentation, for a totally unrelated reason and then cancelling their appearance because he was mad at something else. I have never seen anything like it. Assholes are manipulative, it's how they get away with it. The problem is silicon valley is self-reinforcing with positive feedback, nobody…

I've seen Jason critique a lot of pitches. I have to say, it's hard for me to believe your description of the situation is giving the full story. Yes, Jason probably had some brutally honest feedback about the presentation and how to make it better. But in my experience, his feedback is always spot on. I've personally been on the receiving end of such feedback, and it can feel harsh at times. But this is one of Jason…

1. I always ask folks -- in private and group meetings -- "do you want the red or blue pill?"

2. Founders have asked for the brutal truth of the 'red pill 'every single time. No founder has ever asked for the blissful illusion of the blue pill. Not once!

3. I've coached 700 startups for TC50, LAUNCH Festival and the LAUNCH Incubator (27 and growing!)... never had a complaint. Not one. That includes Dropbox, Yammer, FitBit, CafeX, Clicker, Brilliant.org and hundreds more.

[ background: The person making these claims is close friends with my former partner on TC50 -- that partner was accused of some very nasty things. ]

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

#698

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

ricfulop wrote: post #491
sama wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, it has nothing to do with all the shit he talks about YC. Though that's annoying, it's fine. We collect feedback from YC founders on investors (we have a giant database of this). If you mistreat founders, we don't invite you to Demo Day. This isn't permanent--if you stop mistreating founders we start inviting you again. Also, it's possible that our founders are wrong in their assessment of how a particul…

Excluding Jason is perplexing to me. For context I've started 6 companies, one went public and was a unicorn. I've worked with Jason as an angel in my companies and I've been on a board with him. Jason has been an awesome throughout several years of doing business with him. I can't envision a scenario where he wouldn't be founder friendly and I'd love to have him as an investor in any future project I pursue. Any fir…

... and I am soooooo excited for your latest startup Ric. You're going to change the world -- again!

much love, thanks for speaking at the Angel Summit earlier this month!

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

#699

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

djiaomei wrote: post #437
sama wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, it has nothing to do with all the shit he talks about YC. Though that's annoying, it's fine. We collect feedback from YC founders on investors (we have a giant database of this). If you mistreat founders, we don't invite you to Demo Day. This isn't permanent--if you stop mistreating founders we start inviting you again. Also, it's possible that our founders are wrong in their assessment of how a particul…

This is not our experience. Actually, Jason is the most founder-friendly investor that I have ever worked with. He really cares about founders. He was the very first investor that invested in us, and has become our biggest champion since our very early days. Most investors look for traction and only decide to invest when you have traction. Jason sees the fire and the determination in us (first time founders), and dec…

The traction I saw in https://leadiq.io/ was NOT in the product as much as the founder... it was clear to me that you were a winner who knew how to execute at a high level -- even if the product was a little awkward and round around the edges when we met.

Truth is, we're all a little awkward at the start... Uber and Thumbtack were both a little awkward when I did those angels rounds too.

The job of an angel investor is to look at the promise of the startup -- not the problems.

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

#700

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

KurtKumar wrote: post #474
sama wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, it has nothing to do with all the shit he talks about YC. Though that's annoying, it's fine. We collect feedback from YC founders on investors (we have a giant database of this). If you mistreat founders, we don't invite you to Demo Day. This isn't permanent--if you stop mistreating founders we start inviting you again. Also, it's possible that our founders are wrong in their assessment of how a particul…

Sam and Jason, this is something that should be done and resolved 1-on-1. The entire ecosystem collectively gets distracted when these happen. Imagine the cost of this (gazillion followers spending gazillion man-decades of brain cycles). Also this gets you and him to be distracted as well and compound it by NOT tweeting/snap chatting stuff that is net +ive.

+1

Sam is wildly successful I'm wildly successful

We've disagreed twice in 10 years, but when we do it's like two huge bulls cracking heads -- it's ugly! :-)

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