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Ways YC has changed in the last year

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Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#91

Post by solardev »

rgbrenner wrote: post #78
jeffbee wrote: post #60

> It's a beautiful space with an incredible history - it's where the US built battleships for WWI and WWII. Pretty sure this plays fast and loose with the history of American naval warfare. The only battleship built in San Francisco, that I can think of, is the 19th-century relic USS Ohio.

http://pier70sf.org/history/shipsBuilt/ShipsBuiltAll.html

That seems to list a bunch of destroyers and other vessels, but not "battleships".

Probably the tweeter was just using that term colloquially, like "ship of war", rather than as a classification of size and function.

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#92

Post by enumjorge »

This is off topic, but it’s crazy to me that the current incarnation of Twitter still seems to be the communication platform of choice for a good portion of the tech community. Presumably Jared still considers it to be the best way to share this information despite the fact that the app is so user hostile. Even using nitter to bypass these restrictions, we’re still breaking a paragraph into separate posts, as if sharing text longer than a sentence on the intent is a something we need to handle in a piecemeal fashion.

At a time when I can use ML algorithms to create beautiful images from a simple description, Twitter feels positively prehistoric. And yet the people investing in the bleeding edge continue using smoke signals to reach their audience. It’s remarkable.

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#93

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

slg wrote: post #90
seabass-labrax wrote: post #10

It's a risky investment strategy to put so much emphasis on AI startups. Not only do you have the already volatile nature of early-stage software companies (which YC is of course used to), but this is a bet on whether machine learning, chiefly LLMs, are going to continue to outperform other technologies and become sustainable to run. There's no question in my mind that 'Open'AI is subsidizing the vast majority of LLM…

Jared made the comparison to S06 and it might be interesting to note that was the worst performing class in YC history in terms of percentage outcomes for each company. 73% of those companies are dead, 9% are still alive, and 18% got exits[1]. Although YC almost certainly cares more about money than percentage outcomes and one of those exits was Zynga buying OMGPop, so YC probably views that class as a success. Seems…

S06 was also the --first batch-- (Edit: I was mistaken, S05 was the first batch, but the rest still stands), well before YC was the "hit maker" its known as today, so it's not surprising that class didn't do as well as subsequent ones. The acceptance rate for startups into YC now is miniscule compared to what it was in 2006.

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#94

Post by hackernewds »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #85
neilv wrote: post #30

> We've now tried every point on the spectrum: fully remote, hybrid and fully in-person. So now we don't have to worry if we're being luddites: in-person YC just really is the best. How was this determined to be best? (Obviously, they haven't controlled for variables like the switch to 4 smaller batches, and the high percentage of startups all doing one exciting thing (AI). And do they realize the costs. And is it be…

YC doesn't exactly need to do double-blinded controlled studies to come to some conclusions. I'm sure they get lots of feedback from the companies in a batch, not to mention the partners' own assessments of how things work. It seems entirely reasonable to me then, after they did have different sessions with different configurations, to point to particular points and say "in-person just worked way better".

> YC doesn't exactly need to do double-blinded Controled studies to come to some conclusions.

Why not? There is a barrage of companies touting the benefits of in person collaboration, thinly veiled to just being "surveil the workers"

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#95

Post by dilyevsky »

steveBK123 wrote: post #45
ajkjk wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine the actual reason is the complete opposite of everything you said except for 'vibes'. Just cause you can't imagine why anyone would care about being in person doesn't mean the only remaining reason is a greedy powertrip. You're just not being sufficiently imaginative.

Sure for a bootcamp or intensive project or whatever, in-person can have benefits. For juniors and mentorship and whatever, sure helps there too. But the lingering question is... Why is it that everyone was super cool with hybrid & remote, even past COVID danger, but as soon as FAANG had massive layoffs we went from 2days to 3days to majority back in office at many tech companies? And the east coast bank/fund/finance…

Because zirp was over

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#96

Post by pixl97 »

enumjorge wrote: post #92

This is off topic, but it’s crazy to me that the current incarnation of Twitter still seems to be the communication platform of choice for a good portion of the tech community. Presumably Jared still considers it to be the best way to share this information despite the fact that the app is so user hostile. Even using nitter to bypass these restrictions, we’re still breaking a paragraph into separate posts, as if shar…

Ok, then suggest some other platform that has the network effects of an existing large audience?

Technology matters far less than network effects. Not saying it doesn't matter at all, but you have to overcome the audiences stickiness to a platform first.

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#97

Post by hackernewds »

xkr wrote: post #59
steveBK123 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was determined the same way FAANG, Banks, and others have determined in-person is best: "haha, the economy is slowing, get back to the office you F*(&# losers". Absolutely breathtaking level of cynicism from executive class that as soon as interest rates went up, hiring market cooled, and the power balance between workers & bosses swung back their way, suddenly in-office was "most productive". 100% vibes and "beca…

I can’t speak for YC or FAANG management but as a regular software engineer I totally get where they’re coming from. I worked at a FAANG company through and after covid, the difference in teams productivity was noticeable. Not in the remote working favour. I understand some people are more productive at home but I’m yet to see a _team_ that is more productive being remote. I lack the experience working in remote-firs…

I see the opposite. My team was vastly more productive remote, and gained 2 hours of commute time per day.

Your anecdata vs mine? ;)

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#98

Post by jeffbee »

enumjorge wrote: post #92

This is off topic, but it’s crazy to me that the current incarnation of Twitter still seems to be the communication platform of choice for a good portion of the tech community. Presumably Jared still considers it to be the best way to share this information despite the fact that the app is so user hostile. Even using nitter to bypass these restrictions, we’re still breaking a paragraph into separate posts, as if shar…

The YC leaders spend half of their time fawning over Elon Musk, so it makes sense that they are captive on his platform.

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#99

Post by slg »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #93
slg wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jared made the comparison to S06 and it might be interesting to note that was the worst performing class in YC history in terms of percentage outcomes for each company. 73% of those companies are dead, 9% are still alive, and 18% got exits[1]. Although YC almost certainly cares more about money than percentage outcomes and one of those exits was Zynga buying OMGPop, so YC probably views that class as a success. Seems…

S06 was also the --first batch-- (Edit: I was mistaken, S05 was the first batch, but the rest still stands), well before YC was the "hit maker" its known as today, so it's not surprising that class didn't do as well as subsequent ones. The acceptance rate for startups into YC now is miniscule compared to what it was in 2006.

>so it's not surprising that class didn't do as well as subsequent ones

But it also didn't do as well as the previous ones. I don't know when exactly YC got that "hit maker" reputation you are talking about, but S06 is an outlier regardless. The class directly before and directly after had failure rates of 29% and 38% compared to S06's 73%. The only classes coming close to the failure rates of S06 were in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Re: Ways YC has changed in the last year

#100

Post by pyrophane »

neilv wrote: post #30

> We've now tried every point on the spectrum: fully remote, hybrid and fully in-person. So now we don't have to worry if we're being luddites: in-person YC just really is the best. How was this determined to be best? (Obviously, they haven't controlled for variables like the switch to 4 smaller batches, and the high percentage of startups all doing one exciting thing (AI). And do they realize the costs. And is it be…

Whereas in any thread about WFH it seems that 95% of HN has concluded that remote just really is the best. Case close. No further study needed. The only reason to think otherwise is corporate greed.
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