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My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

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Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#91

Post by jules »

webwright wrote: post #70
valleycynic wrote: post #32

"Access to venture capitalists: Raising money is incredibly hard and incredibly distracting. The faster you can get it done, the faster you can get back to building something people want. YC is the perfect forcing function to help you raise capital. Network: Being an entrepreneur is a lonely path. There are few people who truly understand what you’re going through and even if your friends (or parents) are well meanin…

Two points. There was a non-rich mom in my batch in 2008 (one of the hardest fundraising climates in the last decade). She and her co-founder kicked ass and raised more money than most of the batch. Point #2: You need to expand your view of meritocracy beyond just product/code. Expanding who you know, how much they like/admire you, and how much they want to work with you is part of meritocracy . Imagine it as a multi…

> Expanding who you know, how much they like/admire you, and how much they want to work with you is part of meritocracy.

Ehhh, that's the textbook definition of cronyism, the opposite of meritocracy.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#92

Post by was_hellbanned »

jacquesm wrote: post #56
was_hellbanned wrote: post #2

I'm not saying this to be negative, necessarily, but something struck me in this essay, so I grep'd it. There are 47 instances of "I", by my count.

>I'm not saying this to be negative, necessarily, but something struck me in this essay, so I grep'd it. There are 47 instances of "I", by my count. You already have 2 instances of 'I' in a single sentence (not counting the one in quotes). So on average you're ahead of her already.

Why acknowledge sample size when snark is on the line?

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#93

Post by was_hellbanned »

fchollet wrote: post #7
was_hellbanned wrote: post #2

I'm not saying this to be negative, necessarily, but something struck me in this essay, so I grep'd it. There are 47 instances of "I", by my count.

It should be expected from this kind of personal blog post to be about one's own story, rather than ideas or outward advice. I see nothing particularly negative with that. There are 48 instances of "I", 19 of "my", and 6 of "me". So on average 90% of sentences have one instance.

I see nothing particularly negative with that.

I found it distracting and it struck me as lazy writing. Apparently, though, you can't criticize writing style on HN submissions.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#94

Post by philh »

webwright wrote: post #86
amirmc wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You said "You need to expand your view of meritocracy beyond just product/code. Expanding who you know, how much they like/admire you, and how much they want to work with you is part of meritocracy." So yes, you may as well be championing gender, race and background, since you've already redefined 'merit' (in a rather perverse way, imho). Edit: I see others have also commented on this and the Wikipedia link from anot…

Can you point me to a definition of merit that I redefined? I guess I'll try to say it slightly differently to clarify: "it's worth working to expand who you know, how much they like/admire you and how much they want to work with you". This is a skill you can get better at. It's hard work that you need to do. And yes, sadly, this work is certainly easier if you're a 25 year old white guy who went to Stanford. Do you…

You can't simply say that it's meritorious to work hard at whatever it is that makes one succeed. Otherwise any non-randomised culture is meritocratic. For meritocracy to be a meaningful term, the concept of merit needs to be detached from real-world success.

Which isn't to say that network-building isn't meritorious, but you can't use that particular argument for it.

(It's also not relevant how meritocratic SV culture is in other areas.)

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#96

Post by mlichtenstern »

Jem wrote: post #41
mlichtenstern wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. I started working from home as a contractor (and partially as a college instructor)long before my daughter was conceived. I took zero maternity leave and went right back to work when she was born - literally - while still in the hospital (those food trays make decent work stations). There was a very short learning curve on integrating motherhood into work life. I'm shocked by how hard people make it seem…

Seriously - could your comment be any more patronising? Just because your experience gave you the impression that this "working or entrepreneurial parent" lark isn't as hard as it's made out, doesn't mean that's the case for everyone. I went self-employed the week after my 2nd child was born, working from home around my two children. I was profitable in my first month and every month after that until I stopped nearly…

Patronising? I find it interesting when people take offense to things so easily. How is sharing my personal experience patronising? I didn't say it wasn't hard - or "really, really, bloody hard," but given that there are people mining for coal, risking life and limb in the armed forces, and children digging through trash heaps for a living, I'd venture to say it's not THAT hard.

The first three years of my daughter's life I was also caregiving for a dying parent and working full time. Life is hard. But parents are just as capable - if not more driven and willing to sacrifice - than anyone else and I don't think we should marvel at that (or as in recent news, imply women should freeze their eggs to pursue their careers). People have been having kids and working from the beginning of time. I know women from previous generations who have had ten or more kids and worked full time. Very common in the American South during the 20th century.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#97

Post by [deleted] »

Jem wrote: post #41
mlichtenstern wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. I started working from home as a contractor (and partially as a college instructor)long before my daughter was conceived. I took zero maternity leave and went right back to work when she was born - literally - while still in the hospital (those food trays make decent work stations). There was a very short learning curve on integrating motherhood into work life. I'm shocked by how hard people make it seem…

Seriously - could your comment be any more patronising? Just because your experience gave you the impression that this "working or entrepreneurial parent" lark isn't as hard as it's made out, doesn't mean that's the case for everyone. I went self-employed the week after my 2nd child was born, working from home around my two children. I was profitable in my first month and every month after that until I stopped nearly…

[deleted]

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#98

Post by [deleted] »

Jem wrote: post #41
mlichtenstern wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. I started working from home as a contractor (and partially as a college instructor)long before my daughter was conceived. I took zero maternity leave and went right back to work when she was born - literally - while still in the hospital (those food trays make decent work stations). There was a very short learning curve on integrating motherhood into work life. I'm shocked by how hard people make it seem…

Seriously - could your comment be any more patronising? Just because your experience gave you the impression that this "working or entrepreneurial parent" lark isn't as hard as it's made out, doesn't mean that's the case for everyone. I went self-employed the week after my 2nd child was born, working from home around my two children. I was profitable in my first month and every month after that until I stopped nearly…

[deleted]

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#99

Post by mlichtenstern »

philh wrote: post #94
webwright wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point me to a definition of merit that I redefined? I guess I'll try to say it slightly differently to clarify: "it's worth working to expand who you know, how much they like/admire you and how much they want to work with you". This is a skill you can get better at. It's hard work that you need to do. And yes, sadly, this work is certainly easier if you're a 25 year old white guy who went to Stanford. Do you…

You can't simply say that it's meritorious to work hard at whatever it is that makes one succeed. Otherwise any non-randomised culture is meritocratic. For meritocracy to be a meaningful term, the concept of merit needs to be detached from real-world success. Which isn't to say that network-building isn't meritorious, but you can't use that particular argument for it. (It's also not relevant how meritocratic SV cultu…

It is fair to say that the YC experience adds value to the companies that participate - even if only by virtue of screening and vetting companies for investors - although that is clearly not the only benefit. For a company that comes in as an idea, and has no revenue / implicit value, the equity (in exchange for funding and value add) makes sense. Companies are not obliged to apply if they don't see value.

Re: My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

#100

Post by serve_yay »

valleycynic wrote: post #32

"Access to venture capitalists: Raising money is incredibly hard and incredibly distracting. The faster you can get it done, the faster you can get back to building something people want. YC is the perfect forcing function to help you raise capital. Network: Being an entrepreneur is a lonely path. There are few people who truly understand what you’re going through and even if your friends (or parents) are well meanin…

Wow, thank you for writing this.
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