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Y Combinator’s New Head

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Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#91

Post by eru »

001sky wrote: post #86
untog wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm just questioning why one junk food (as you put it) is more valuable than the other. I am unconvinced that it is.

Interestingly, this leads to the heart of the analysis. Which is probability of success, control of success factors, and second best outcomes, given success doesn't happen. If you consider those more "rational" metrics (agnostic of money/fame), how would they compare?

Second best outcomes (or even median outcomes) cuts to the heart of the matter. C list executives still get good money. C list actors not so much, and not even fame.

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#92

Post by kreeben »

brandnewlow wrote: post #3
reason wrote: post #2

No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…

I experienced a lot of the same stuff growing up. Now that you have a clear understanding of your situation, you can change things, if you want. There's a statute of limitations for blaming parents for things. It's up to you, now. Break the chain.

"Break the chain" Yes, the parents should have supported OP emotionally more than they did. So, you break the chain because otherwise you will end up just like your parents, and you don't really like those guys, so you end up not really liking yourself and then you are even less likely to succeed in whatever area you want to succeed in.

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#93

Post by chbrown »

I wasn't there for the WWDC 2008 presentation, but in the article's linked snippet Altman's collars are definitely not popped. Google images has plenty of reference images for properly popped collars, reassuringly framed as motivational posters.

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#94

Post by salvadors »

sendos wrote: post #77
7cupsoftea wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect Sam a lot. I had the good fortune of meeting with him a few times and he invested in my company. I found him to be very smart, honest, and real. If I had to capture one of his strengths, I'd say he understands how systems operate (technology, people, and cultural systems). I'd have to disagree with you on lack of concrete achievements. He has a lot of concrete achievements that you can point to. Starting an…

I'm sure he's a remarkable person, but not so sure about the examples you give as concrete achievements. First, I would not consider Loopt a success. Second, can you give examples of startups he helped succeed? There is a saying to the effect of "If your financial advisor is so great, where is his yacht?" Similarly, how can a person be a great startup advisor without significant successes under his belt? If he is tha…

> There is a saying to the effect of "If your financial advisor is so great, where is his yacht?"

If your financial advisor is so great, where is your yacht?

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#95

Post by jw2013 »

reason wrote: post #2

No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…

>> "trying to kickstart things again past your formative years seems futile"

The point is almost none of these successes come overnight. Admitted, for example, many of success founders graduated from Stanford. But a lot of them they worked hard in high school to get into Stanford. So you may see A (success), but to get to A, they worked hard on B (some good background to get to A), and to get B they worked hard on C (some good background to get to B). A >> "But that hope is quickly vanishing the more and more I read about these individuals' backgrounds."

Does the great background help? Of course. But one thing about the internet age is the cost to start a startup is so low. And you know what the best part is? Pixels don't care. The investors may care about what kind of background you have, but your customers don't. Have you tried, say, make a simple service (e.g. website, or other form even not related to internet) some time? If not, please give it a try. If you never try, you will never fail. And it's okay to fail. None of the startups are guaranteed to be successful. Actually possibly none of your startups will be successful if you are very unlucky. But that shouldn't stop you from trying. Again, don't stare at billion (I am not saying you are), if it helps. That is like winning a lottery, and I don't think that's the right mindset. Do something small. Do something interests you. Build something just because you love building that.

>> I don't mean to rant or derail the topic, and apologies if I do.

Don't be. And thanks for reading all my comments if you made it this far. I hope my comment is not useless. Best luck, man. Don't give up.

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#96

Post by argumentum »

sendos wrote: post #77
7cupsoftea wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect Sam a lot. I had the good fortune of meeting with him a few times and he invested in my company. I found him to be very smart, honest, and real. If I had to capture one of his strengths, I'd say he understands how systems operate (technology, people, and cultural systems). I'd have to disagree with you on lack of concrete achievements. He has a lot of concrete achievements that you can point to. Starting an…

I'm sure he's a remarkable person, but not so sure about the examples you give as concrete achievements. First, I would not consider Loopt a success. Second, can you give examples of startups he helped succeed? There is a saying to the effect of "If your financial advisor is so great, where is his yacht?" Similarly, how can a person be a great startup advisor without significant successes under his belt? If he is tha…

> can you give examples of startups he helped succeed?

Stripe, for one. Most YC companies since he's become a partner. Almost any founder he's interacted with.

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#97

Post by eruditely »

klochner wrote: post #26
reason wrote: post #2

No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…

From this week's "Corner Office" in the NYT, about hiring: What I’m mainly listening for is: Does this person believe things are happening for them, for a positive reason, regardless of what actually happened? Or do they believe that things are happening to them and against them? Do they hold a grudge against events, or do they believe they were a gift? I’ll listen for whether they say things like, “I’m so glad that…

What about the third option where things are just happening with no narrative? The most important one.

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#98

Post by ajju »

sendos wrote: post #77
7cupsoftea wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect Sam a lot. I had the good fortune of meeting with him a few times and he invested in my company. I found him to be very smart, honest, and real. If I had to capture one of his strengths, I'd say he understands how systems operate (technology, people, and cultural systems). I'd have to disagree with you on lack of concrete achievements. He has a lot of concrete achievements that you can point to. Starting an…

I'm sure he's a remarkable person, but not so sure about the examples you give as concrete achievements. First, I would not consider Loopt a success. Second, can you give examples of startups he helped succeed? There is a saying to the effect of "If your financial advisor is so great, where is his yacht?" Similarly, how can a person be a great startup advisor without significant successes under his belt? If he is tha…

>First, I would not consider Loopt a success. >how can a person be a great startup advisor without significant successes under his belt?

What is your definition of significant success? Let's say it's an exit over 100M or an IPO?

By your own realization that kind of success in startups requires luck. So does that preclude anyone who didn't get an exit over 100M from being a great startup advisor?

If so, we should rule Paul Graham out, right? Was Bill Campbell a bad startup advisor in '94 because Go went bankrupt? Heck even Ben Horowitz barely escaped having his company go bankrupt because of the dot com bust. Yet, for all of these guys, their success at being great startup advisors is self evident from the success of the companies they have advised.

Loopt may not have had a mega-exit, but how many companies do you know who were able to get exclusive deals from every major wireless carrier in a country? I know of 0. I think even Apple took longer to get there than Loopt.

But that's just one example out of various things they did right, and I am sure many mistakes they made and learned from on their way to the exit.

>Second, can you give examples of startups he helped succeed?

Based on my personal experience, I would imagine every YC startup since Sam has been a partner at YC would say he has helped them in their successes. The CEO of Stripe was quoted in the article. My company is far from being successful in the same sense as Stripe yet, but I have called Sam on sundays, when he was on vacation, and I think once when he was in another country and he has helped us be successful in each of those instances.

> "If your financial advisor is so great, where is his yacht?"

Here: http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/13/yc-pg-2014-update/

Obviously this is the combined result of help from all the YC partners and hard work from the startup teams, but do you think Sam would be president of YC if his contribution was not significant?

[And yes, I know most of these returns are unrealized but YC has probably made a majority of their investments in the last 5 years, and the lifespan of most VC funds is 10 years]

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#99

Post by zem »

sendos wrote: post #77
7cupsoftea wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I respect Sam a lot. I had the good fortune of meeting with him a few times and he invested in my company. I found him to be very smart, honest, and real. If I had to capture one of his strengths, I'd say he understands how systems operate (technology, people, and cultural systems). I'd have to disagree with you on lack of concrete achievements. He has a lot of concrete achievements that you can point to. Starting an…

I'm sure he's a remarkable person, but not so sure about the examples you give as concrete achievements. First, I would not consider Loopt a success. Second, can you give examples of startups he helped succeed? There is a saying to the effect of "If your financial advisor is so great, where is his yacht?" Similarly, how can a person be a great startup advisor without significant successes under his belt? If he is tha…

a good financial advisor might be very good set knowing how to manage money and at the same time not particularly motivated to put in the work specific to actually making it. the efforts and rewards are different. if he can make a comfortable living simply by advising the people who do the actual slogging involved, that might be more than enough for him.

Re: Y Combinator’s New Head

#100

Post by arfliw »

reason wrote: post #2

No disrespect to Sam in any way -- he truly seems like a brilliant guy with a chorus of influential people behind him -- but I've been on a successful-person wikipedia binge as of late, and it's become very, very clear that a person's upbringing almost determines whether or not they're going to be successfull, which saddens me. I grew up to some very close-minded parents who severely limited my growth, forced me to f…

What about Steve Jobs?
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