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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

#751

Post by tim333 »

marincounty wrote: post #678
cybin wrote: post #568

Hey Sam: So I've been working diligently for the last few weeks putting the final edits on my application to YC. I'm 68 years old an the only founder. On the positive side I've got almost 50 years of work in the project that defines the state of the art. Am I wasting my time in applying considering my age and singleness?

I don't think this question will be honestly answered. Maybe we should ask is there over three successful applicants that were over 50? It's not an unfair question.

I'm not sure if there are solo founders over 50 who were at YC but some individuals who are cofounders are. Dr John Slough of Helion for example.

I've got similar issues myself. Perhaps cofounders are the answer.

Maybe we can take inspiration from Rose Blumkin, founder of the Nebraska Furniture Mart who sold the store to Warren Buffett and then after arguments with her family left in a huff and set up a rival called Mrs. B's Clearance and Factory Outlet across the street at age 95. It became profitable and was Omaha's third-largest carpet outlet before Buffett bought that too.

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

#752

Post by techpassion »

With respect to reputation of YC, what happens if the pitch although being amazing in an application could be a conflict or add on to one of your existing already funded groups ?! Wouldn't there be a conflict while you reviewing an application for it to be judged faily ? And also the pitch idea is compromised against the benefit of the founder ! Please advise

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

#753

Post by wingerlang »

newjersey wrote: post #532
beachstartup wrote: post #522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EDIT: i should emphasize this is only my experience as a startup hiring manager. maybe YC attracts nothing but geniuses, i dunno. i'm just a guy on the internet. since yc is obviously not going to talk shit on their own applicants, i'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that it's just like every other job application process when six figures (or more) of money is on the line. big paychecks attract plenty of, sh…

Oh wow. I wish they said that the bar was so low. I would like to apply as well if that's the case. Edit: I still think the idea of Dropbox is pretty stupid and I wouldn't have given Drew Houston a penny if I was an investor. But I never thought the average application would be so far worse if Dropbox got funded and succeeded.

What's such a bad idea about Dropbox? A single folder that automatically syncs your files across devices.

Even for less technical people it makes sense and it is easily explained. Put the files in this folder and they are safe.

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

#754

Post by aries1980 »

semerda wrote: post #489
miracle_code wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The concept of ideas being worth near to nothing is new to me, can you explain that thinking? Without monetary arguments this seems not right.

Execution > Ideas. Most startups end up being famous for something else than the original idea. Read Founders at Work to get a glimpse of this.

> Most startups

Can you provide the numbers pls?

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

#755

Post by cybin »

cybin wrote: post #568

Hey Sam: So I've been working diligently for the last few weeks putting the final edits on my application to YC. I'm 68 years old an the only founder. On the positive side I've got almost 50 years of work in the project that defines the state of the art. Am I wasting my time in applying considering my age and singleness?

I can see from the comments that feedback is beneficial -- almost like having a co-founder:)

I'm not much on the social network scene, maybe I should give it a try.

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

#756

Post by jtfairbank »

theoracle101 wrote: post #498

I'm at a YC startup that's successful. How do you look at early employees of such companies, and how I tactfully apply? There is no way I could without it getting back to my CEO (or so it seems to me)

YC founder here. From what I've been told, employees of YC companies get a slight bump in the application process because the partners expect those companies to have a similarly high bar as YC.

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

#757

Post by bradleyc »

cybin wrote: post #592

BTW: The application form has a really nasty bug. If you've just spent the last hour in writing some of the greatest prose ever written, hit save, and don't wait for the response in the top right corner and hit logout your work will be lost:( dammit! Sam I hope you fix that.

Seconded.

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

#758

Post by argonaut »

argonaut wrote: post #543
mej10 wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SpaceX and Tesla? But more seriously, some examples: http://priceonomics.com/founders-with-kids/

Elon Musk has divorced twice. Not making a value judgment, just pointing out that he has clearly chosen entrepreneurial success over marital success.

Aaaand, he's getting divorced a third time (just in the news).

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

#760

Post by jasonmcalacanis »

foobarqux wrote: post #287
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…

Is it true that some VCs get first dibs on YC companies before demo day?

I can confirm this is true, because YC staff members have explained to me that they bring in a small group of investors to mentor -- and because founders have confirmed it.

This is something I talked about on This Week in Startups, and frankly I think it has something to do with my "ban."

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