Lessons from YC AI Startups
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Lessons from YC AI Startups
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Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#2Something I've noticed going through founder's LinkedIn pages is that it seems that entrepreneurs seem to be significantly more attractive than the average person. I assume a partial causative factor could be that the number of positive impressions you make on people with influence correlates with success of your startup, and one's capacity to make positive interpersonal impressions correlates with physical attractiveness.
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#3AI startups have inspired me to think more about what "value creation" really is. There's so many AI startups out there that add AI to make silly process X easier, when it really hides the problem of silly process X existing in the first place. From one perspective, adding AI solves the problem. From another perspective, it further entrenches the problem. Does this create net value? AI is both inspiring and demoralizing... inspiring in that it unlocks a million new doors, but demoralizing in that most of those doors appear to be empty.
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#4Something I've noticed going through founder's LinkedIn pages is that it seems that entrepreneurs seem to be significantly more attractive than the average person. I assume a partial causative factor could be that the number of positive impressions you make on people with influence correlates with success of your startup, and one's capacity to make positive interpersonal impressions correlates with physical attractiv…
Or they pay for professional headshots for their LinkedIn page?
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#5Something I've noticed going through founder's LinkedIn pages is that it seems that entrepreneurs seem to be significantly more attractive than the average person. I assume a partial causative factor could be that the number of positive impressions you make on people with influence correlates with success of your startup, and one's capacity to make positive interpersonal impressions correlates with physical attractiv…
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/motivate/202306/do-p...
I’ve known of this phenomenon since I was a kid and saw a 20/20 episode on it where they took attractive people and not attractive people and ran them through job interviews etc. The outcome was as you might expect.
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#6AI startups have inspired me to think more about what "value creation" really is. There's so many AI startups out there that add AI to make silly process X easier, when it really hides the problem of silly process X existing in the first place. From one perspective, adding AI solves the problem. From another perspective, it further entrenches the problem. Does this create net value? AI is both inspiring and demoraliz…
I think most investors look at these companies and invest based on whether they think they can find a greater fool. Having a CEO who can talk smart, confident, and spew bullshit is a golden signal for that. The product and tech doesn't matter, just need to hype and sell the vision.
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#7AI startups have inspired me to think more about what "value creation" really is. There's so many AI startups out there that add AI to make silly process X easier, when it really hides the problem of silly process X existing in the first place. From one perspective, adding AI solves the problem. From another perspective, it further entrenches the problem. Does this create net value? AI is both inspiring and demoraliz…
Every situation is different, but in cases where AI has been valuable for me personally, "silly process X" isn't something that I can easily get rid of. People are messy. Processes are messy. AI doesn't straighten them out, but it does speed up sifting through the messiness. YMMV.
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#8Odd that the first two categories of AI startups were AI infrastructure. Reminds me of blockchain to some degree.
Would have expected to see more vertically focused solution on the top 4 list. Eg, transportation, oil & gas, agriculture, etc… all huge markets.
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#9Something I've noticed going through founder's LinkedIn pages is that it seems that entrepreneurs seem to be significantly more attractive than the average person. I assume a partial causative factor could be that the number of positive impressions you make on people with influence correlates with success of your startup, and one's capacity to make positive interpersonal impressions correlates with physical attractiv…
Or they pay for professional headshots for their LinkedIn page?
And pay to groom themselves.
Re: Lessons from YC AI Startups
#10Odd that the first two categories of AI startups were AI infrastructure. Reminds me of blockchain to some degree. Would have expected to see more vertically focused solution on the top 4 list. Eg, transportation, oil & gas, agriculture, etc… all huge markets.
“During a gold rush, sell shovels.”