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YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups

ycgraveyard.iamwillwang.com

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Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups

#91

Post by leetrout »

xenospn wrote: post #68
tinco wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pay themselves 200k/y in a pre-market fit startup? That's insane and I guess on the investors for going over the traditional preseed amounts. Or do you mean that they're zombie startups that make enough to pay the founder 200k/year?

I think a lot of gen z founders see nothing wrong with paying themselves a FAANG salary. My generation, not so much (I’m 45).

I worked at a startup where the founders were your age and paid themselves that much while holding their majority stake in stock.

We had open salary bands so we were all paid OK - especially our couple ~entry level folks at $100-120k. It was strange times in my eyes, though. They hired an HR person whose first act was to raise the c-suite salaries to market rate ($200k+) while the business still had negligible income but closed a round.

It is good to be in the owner class, I guess.

Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups

#92

Post by chrisjj »

sebmellen wrote: post #47
satvikpendem wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, what do ex-founders generally do after their startup is dead? For me I just got a job after my first few ones died, until I was able to succeed at my current ones, but I'm sure many might just continue working a job indefinitely.

I know some (YC and others) who float around doing nothing on $200k a year in salary because no investor cares enough, or has the legal right, to get their money back. Not sure what their long-term game plan is. The others end up at another Series B+ startup or go to a MANGA company if they can grind leetcode for a bit and get an interview.

> some (YC and others) who float around doing nothing on $200k a year in salary

So, not "functionally dead" then. ;)

Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups

#97

Post by anovikov »

smallerfish wrote: post #58
jbverschoor wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not what a lifestyle business is. Unless your lifestyle is eating ramen

Sure it is. If your business nets 3 million a year, it takes 5 people to run it, and your customer base is steady, that's lifestyle. Sucks for investors, pretty nice for you if you can keep it running.

But in a case like that eventually (once the business has become "sustainable") we will be speaking of 1.5 founders (some full-time founder and some guy who just holds some stock because they started together/knows some know-how) and 3.5 Indians/Ukrainians at $40 an hour. With like 60% of cash going to the main guy, domicile in some tax haven and probably that principal founder living in some tax haven, too, pocketing some 1.5M a year after all (minuscule) taxes. Good lifestyle!

Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups

#98

Post by DonHopkins »

jsemrau wrote: post #48
mattlondon wrote: post #19

> Better to have launched and lost than never to have launched at all ...yet when Google does this, people are up in arms and insist they should run their products forever, even if they have no product market fit.

Google launches, people start using it, and then they just turn it off.

Sometimes customers just can't grasp simple concepts, and people are morons who don't understand how really great Google products are. /s

A Pissed Off Tutorial For Google Wave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z4RKRLaSug

In the long term, Google's better off focusing their efforts optimizing the AI and UI behind their "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.

Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups

#99

Post by Salgat »

leetrout wrote: post #91
xenospn wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of gen z founders see nothing wrong with paying themselves a FAANG salary. My generation, not so much (I’m 45).

I worked at a startup where the founders were your age and paid themselves that much while holding their majority stake in stock. We had open salary bands so we were all paid OK - especially our couple ~entry level folks at $100-120k. It was strange times in my eyes, though. They hired an HR person whose first act was to raise the c-suite salaries to market rate ($200k+) while the business still had negligible income…

What a sweet position to be in. All the upside of the potential stock valuation windfall while none of the downside of putting your career and income on the line.

Re: YC Graveyard: 821 inactive Y Combinator startups

#100

Post by derangedHorse »

jasode wrote: post #63
robocat wrote: post #27

I'm onehundertpercent pissed off with YC: * The modal win for a founder is $0.00 * PG makes big talk about winner's average returns... Yayyyyy..... However YC gets preferential shares; YC is not aligned with the common shareholders (founders; builders). YC builds a story that they support creators however YC doesn't sit on the same table-side as creators. * I actually believe YC is worthwhile, but I wonder if Ize jus…

>However YC gets preferential shares; It's not that YC specifically gets "preferred shares" -- it's that investors in general insist on liquidation preferences when buying non-liquid shares in unproven private companies. How would an alternative scenario of investors buying common shares of illiquid stock in a private company actually be realistic? Maybe the startup founders could hypothetically insist on selling onl…

He didn’t claim YC does this where others don’t, his gripe is with the narrative YC pushes and how they seem incongruent to how they currently operate.
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