Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
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Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#2"7. Projects vs. Businesses: Personally, I think YC is... not really concerned with selecting what may... become "real" companies... I think YC leans a bit too heavily towards the "build it and they will come" model..."
I'm not sure he understands the YCs' insight that startups with lots of happy users almost always succeed financially, one way or the other - the only things that kills them are founder fights, and major blunders, etc.
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#3"I think YC leans a bit too heavily towards the 'build it and they will come' model and for inexperienced entrepreneurs (just about all of the YC founders), this can distort reality."
MSPW != field of dreams.
What YC actually says is that MSPW is more important than monetization.
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#4I do agree that one of the great things that YC brings to the table are early users, who are willing to try thing sout and point out the problems.
The people who are spending time following YC companies are the ones who are more likely to give the site a shot- They're also often people who CARE about UI, Ease of use, and the other features that teams often Need reminding about.
Having 10 e-mails in the morning yelling that the new change makes things tougher, or that the background color causes eye-bleeding helps to avoid a Myspace-like situation.
Having the "Right" first users is crucial, and YC helps bring them (As does Reddit, if you're up to making it there, but that's a tough crowd at times.)
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#5"I think YC leans a bit too heavily towards the 'build it and they will come' model and for inexperienced entrepreneurs (just about all of the YC founders), this can distort reality." MSPW != field of dreams. What YC actually says is that MSPW is more important than monetization.
or more precisely, harder
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#6"7. Projects vs. Businesses: Personally, I think YC is... not really concerned with selecting what may... become "real" companies... I think YC leans a bit too heavily towards the "build it and they will come" model..." I'm not sure he understands the YCs' insight that startups with lots of happy users almost always succeed financially, one way or the other - the only things that kills them are founder fights, and ma…
Well, I could argue (and will) that the two are not mutually exclusive. Startups that think at least a wee bit about how to build a business may earn themselves more runway and hence have higher chances of ultimately building something users will love.
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#7"Teams vs. Individuals: YC leans strongly towards selecting startups that two or more founders. I'm a strong advocate of this myself as I believe that having two or more founders in an early-stage startup significantly improves the chances of success. By explicitly stating this requirement, YC forces early-stage entrepreneurs to find co-founders. This is a good thing as if there's a problem with finding a co-founder, that's an early signal of a problem (either with the founder or the idea or both), and everyone's better off knowing that sooner rather than later."
I am trying to understand why he is trying to discourage single founders in contrast with YC that is not doing that. If someone is determined to commit to his ideas, then not founding a co-founder will not discourage him. And its better than leaving your ideas completely.
We know it's hard more than anyone who hasn't experienced it. I just don't understand the absolute attack towards single founder from his side. He should know that if someone decided to take the single founder route he is absolute aware of the effects of the choice.
And if it's hard to be single founder, its better than finding someone who you are not aware of his real character and passions.
I dont like it that in order to differentiate themselves or not, from the fear of copying themseleves (some "journalists") and from saying the exact word of someone, they use some point of reference to later exagerate it. And I am reffering to the phrase "explicitly..." who is contrary to what YC sais i think..
I don't really like the writer's attitude attacking his readers -- am I the only one here?
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#8"Teams vs. Individuals: YC leans strongly towards selecting startups that two or more founders. I'm a strong advocate of this myself as I believe that having two or more founders in an early-stage startup significantly improves the chances of success. By explicitly stating this requirement, YC forces early-stage entrepreneurs to find co-founders. This is a good thing as if there's a problem with finding a co-founder,…
As the writer, I'll take full responsibility. Apologies if my attitude seems overly harsh (not intended to be).
Also, here's a direct quote from Paul Graham:
"This is one reason Y Combinator has a rule against investing in startups with only one founder. Practically every successful company has at least two. And because startup founders work under great pressure, it's critical they be friends."
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#9"Teams vs. Individuals: YC leans strongly towards selecting startups that two or more founders. I'm a strong advocate of this myself as I believe that having two or more founders in an early-stage startup significantly improves the chances of success. By explicitly stating this requirement, YC forces early-stage entrepreneurs to find co-founders. This is a good thing as if there's a problem with finding a co-founder,…
"I don't really like the writer's attitude attacking his readers -- am I the only one here?"
Surely you're being a bit sensitive because this topic hits so close to home. Try not being so defensive, sometimes the last thing you want to hear is just what you need.
You may be discouraged, but I don't think he's trying to do that. He just happens to agree with almost everyone I've heard from on this issue. Feel free to prove yourself as an exception, no one has said it's impossible.
Maybe collecting a list of single-founder companies would be inspirational for you? Here's some off the top of my head: Brad Fitzpatrick/LiveJournal, Markus Frind/PlentyOfFish, Mark Fletcher/ONElist.
Re: Why Combinator? Should You Join Paul Graham's Gang For The Gifted?
#10Gang for the gifted? I kinda thought of Y Combinator as a School of Rock for web entrepreneurs. ("One great website can change the world!")