The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
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Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#2Skimming this, I noticed a few mistakes.
I was 30, not 31.
My degree is in CS, not computer engineering, which is a hybrid of CS and EE.
We were already working on another company when we decided to work on ecommerce. We were making software to generate web sites for commercial art galleries (who didn't want web sites). So we didn't suddenly decide to write software to make stores. It was more a question of switching to a market that wanted what we could make.
Robert's apartment was not in NYC. I was the one who lived in NYC, and I was visiting him in Cambridge.
I didn't wake up with a specific sentence in my head. I just woke up with the idea that we might be able to control the software on the server by clicking on links.
It's an overstatement to say that the idea of Viaweb was too strong to fail. We came close to failing several times. It is true though that the best thing we had going for us was the quality of the software (rather than, say, marketing, or connections).
We weren't the only ones "insane enough" to make web-based software. At least one of our competitors did. It was a big help though that our most dangerous competitor took a long time to grasp the idea.
The story about the origins of YC omits Jessica. We decided to start it one night while we were walking back from dinner in Harvard Square (http://ycombinator.com/start.html).
Robert never devoted his time exclusively to YC. Jessica and I did, but he and Trevor have always done it part time.
As far as I know, no one has ever tried to put a valuation on YC. You could value our current assets fairly precisely, but that would come to less than 500m.
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#3I think the moral of the story is clear: If you want to build a successful startup, you must first hate Windows.
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#4I think the moral of the story is clear: If you want to build a successful startup, you must first hate Windows.
Or rather, the best innovation doesn't come from love, but from hate.
"I hate writing Windows software." Builds the first web app.
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#5Why the Y Combinator model don't work/exist in other countries?
If this model spread to other countries it will be awesome, imagine the number of good ideas dying, when they just need a push.
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#6I think the moral of the story is clear: If you want to build a successful startup, you must first hate Windows.
That did make me laugh; however, I think there is some truth to it, in that it helps to dislike the standard way to do something in order to innovate.
After all, if you like the standard way, and practice it, what you are going to get is standard results - which are mostly average. Yes, there exist crazy creative innovations, but the vast majority of successful business are not new inventions - but rather, a better way to do something everyone is already doing. It's evolution -- sometimes a big step, but still, way more often evolution than revolution.
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#7Skimming this, I noticed a few mistakes. I was 30, not 31. My degree is in CS, not computer engineering, which is a hybrid of CS and EE. We were already working on another company when we decided to work on ecommerce. We were making software to generate web sites for commercial art galleries (who didn't want web sites). So we didn't suddenly decide to write software to make stores. It was more a question of switching…
Skimming this, I noticed a few mistakes.
Also, the story started a little too late for me. I would have loved to have heard about pg's earlier inspiration...I often wonder if he drew it from the same places as me: the classrooms of Doc Shultz, John Drumm, Adrienne Kapisak, Laura Mikesell, and Linda Sproull, and of course the computer lab and chess club at Gateway High School. I wonder how he ended up in computers instead of history, art, or literature. Funny how time flies. We've both come a long way since Monroeville, Pa.
Perhaps a future blog post?
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#8Why the Y Combinator model don't work/exist in other countries? If this model spread to other countries it will be awesome, imagine the number of good ideas dying, when they just need a push.
Culture, people, experience, business environment, lack of year-round shorts weather, ....
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#9Why the Y Combinator model don't work/exist in other countries? If this model spread to other countries it will be awesome, imagine the number of good ideas dying, when they just need a push.
It does, TechStars in particular has a huge number of affiliates around the world.
Re: The Aha Moments That Made Paul Graham's Y Combinator Possible
#10Skimming this, I noticed a few mistakes. I was 30, not 31. My degree is in CS, not computer engineering, which is a hybrid of CS and EE. We were already working on another company when we decided to work on ecommerce. We were making software to generate web sites for commercial art galleries (who didn't want web sites). So we didn't suddenly decide to write software to make stores. It was more a question of switching…
Skimming this, I noticed a few mistakes. Also, the story started a little too late for me. I would have loved to have heard about pg's earlier inspiration...I often wonder if he drew it from the same places as me: the classrooms of Doc Shultz, John Drumm, Adrienne Kapisak, Laura Mikesell, and Linda Sproull, and of course the computer lab and chess club at Gateway High School. I wonder how he ended up in computers ins…
I did write about that once: http://paulgraham.com/heroes.html