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How Y Combinator Changed the World

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Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#81

Post by miskid »

zt wrote: post #68

This thread is somewhat depressing. Depressing because the very nature of YC and HN at its best is optimism. A belief in the ability to build and not just a respect for those who do but a genuine desire to support those trying. Maybe not succeeding, but trying to create something in a world so set on making that difficult. It that always morally perfect: no. Does that always work: no. But, at its best, YC operates mo…

The thing is that people didn't lose interest in startups. Startups lost interest in people. I am still interested startups that do things differently, accelerators that enables startup that otherwise wouldn't happen or other things that are, well, interesting. But those are few and far between these days.

I also fundamentally disagree with the idea that you have to like something because of its process even if you dislike the outcome. Ironically I think that was what put YC apart in the first place. Every other incubator would talk about their fancy offices, lawyers and contacts but then wouldn't produce many notable startups. And by that measure YC probably never would have happened, or at least didn't deserve support.

It's something I think about whenever there is a development with some really popular company. That if the company had adopted the mindset of those rooting for it it probably wouldn't have been successful in the first place.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#82

Post by zt »

miskid wrote: post #81
zt wrote: post #68

This thread is somewhat depressing. Depressing because the very nature of YC and HN at its best is optimism. A belief in the ability to build and not just a respect for those who do but a genuine desire to support those trying. Maybe not succeeding, but trying to create something in a world so set on making that difficult. It that always morally perfect: no. Does that always work: no. But, at its best, YC operates mo…

The thing is that people didn't lose interest in startups. Startups lost interest in people. I am still interested startups that do things differently, accelerators that enables startup that otherwise wouldn't happen or other things that are, well, interesting. But those are few and far between these days. I also fundamentally disagree with the idea that you have to like something because of its process even if you d…

On the first line what do you mean by "The thing is that people didn't lose interest in startups. Startups lost interest in people." Or what, differently, do you want startups to do? (I"m genuinely asking, I'm curious!). I'm all for things like longer exercise windows, insourcing, etc, but I also think that startups, generally, have a much more inclusive brand of capitalism than most normal companies.

As for the rest, I'm not sure I follow the argument. I do not agree with the notion that every company that succeeds but has gone through YC would have succeeded without YC. I also don't agree with the notion that only companies that are going to succeed either way go through YC either. Empirically the latter is more easily falsifiable but I think both are false.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#83

Post by AussieWog93 »

sangnoir wrote: post #79
AussieWog93 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If those founders hadn't changed the world, they wouldn't be rich. Sure, Dropbox and Stripe aren't dismantling apartheid or eradicating polio, but these products do solve real problems and make life a little bit more bearable for millions of people. We should give credit where credit's due and acknowledge this impact.

> If those founders hadn't changed the world, they wouldn't be rich Good to know I'm changing the world with my CRUD apps - more than all the volunteers in the world since I'm (slowly) getting rich, and they aren't.

I know you're just trying to make a point, but in all seriousness what you're saying could be true.

If your CRUD apps are used by tens of thousands of people to make life slightly better - or even if the money you make from your CRUD apps allows your wife and kids to live a free life and not have to worry about making ends meet - you could potentially be making a far greater impact than even someone who devotes their life to volunteering.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#84

Post by ptr2voidStar »

tomhoward wrote: post #58
OnlineGladiator wrote: post #4

> Their ideas reflected YC’s implicit view that for every problem in the world, there is a startup solution I dream of a world where we try to solve problems first and monetize them second, and I don't mean growth hacking. > It’s Y Combinator’s world, and we’re all invested in it. There are many people who resent this world. I'd like to live in a world where success isn't measured by money.

We don’t live in a world where success is measured by money. No decent people think that way, and even most Silicon Valley people you’d consider “indecent” don’t think that way. Most people look at money-obsession and conspicuous displays of wealth as crass and lame, which is entirely appropriate. That said, money is a focus for companies as it is a measure of resources and scale. Without money, a company can’t survi…

No post body was provided.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#85

Post by ptr2voidStar »

ModernMech wrote: post #21
edouard-harris wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sincere question: what would one use to measure success in such a world?

Such a world exists. It's called "academia". Our measured units of success are publications, and citations.

No post body was provided.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#86

Post by jacquesm »

lkbm wrote: post #35
jacquesm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the delta between those that have it the best and those that have it the worst.

Measuring simply by how well those who have it worst is a much better metric. A world where all people have it terrible is a bad world. A world where everyone has it at least okay is a much better world. There are downsides to inequality, but a metric that counts "everyone is miserable" as a success is an awful metric.

No, because 'well' is then relative to what the 'haves' think it should be for those who have it worst. Which will result in a very large underclass who are deemed to have it 'well' and a small upperclass who have it 'amazing'.

The alternative is not a world where people have it terrible, it could also be a world where everybody has it good and to strive every day to make it better still.

Note that you are likely in the top 10% of wealth on this planet at the moment and we're talking about those 90% further down, a very large fraction of which doesn't even qualify for 'sufficient' under the current system.

So, your alternative would be better than what we have today, but your reading of my comment is incomplete.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#87

Post by jacquesm »

metacritic12 wrote: post #49
jacquesm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the delta between those that have it the best and those that have it the worst.

so one way to achieve the best possible society is by implementing Harrison bergeron?

It clearly is the most negative reading possible of my comment that prompted you to write this. Do you believe it is the only interpretation possible?

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#88

Post by jacquesm »

nielsole wrote: post #43
leifg wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me a socialist but we had scientific and engineering breakthroughs without hyper capitalism. If NASA had the budget of the 1960s today we would be way ahead of what Space X is doing now. And yeah, even without that I’d trade Space X for more global equality in a second.

NASA probably was perceived to show the superiority of the capitalist system over socialism in the 60ies though.

That's exactly why it got its budget in the first place: to show up the Russians (who had shown up the Americans by launching first 'Sputnik' and then Gagarin), not necessarily to do something useful in space. But no matter how they got their budget, I'm happy they did.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#89

Post by jacquesm »

Msw242 wrote: post #16
jacquesm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the delta between those that have it the best and those that have it the worst.

That's a hugely flawed north star. We've had inequality as long as we have had surplus. The more surplus, the more inequality. But I'd rather live today than in hunter gatherer times, even though they were materially more equal. "Why not modern life with less inequality?" Well because growing the pie and splitting the pie are competing drivers. If Elon musk weren't already obscenely wealthy, he wouldn't have been abl…

At a guess: you're not at the bottom of the pile.

Also, there are multiple solutions to the equation I posted and you chose to pick the worst.

Re: How Y Combinator Changed the World

#90

Post by danbmil99 »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #47

It's news to me that Livingston retired. Wikipedia doesn't seem to have gotten the memo which makes me feel better about not knowing. I no longer try to follow what she's up to but I used to be intensely curious about her career.

I was fortunate enough to be a fly on the wall the first couple of years of YC. A handful of incredible people, but honestly JL seemed to me to be the glue that held it all together.
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