6 ms·

This is going back to YC's roots and I love it! If you are scrappy, $20k can get you extremely far at a cost that is "basically" zero (1.5% stake that only con

This is going back to YC's roots and I love it! If you are scrappy, $20k can get you extremely far at a cost that is "basically" zero (1.5% stake that only converts upon a liquidity event of $100M+ or IPO). Remember, PG "...started Viaweb with $10k..."[0] in 1995 and "Julian got 10% of Viaweb" for that investment. Viaweb sold to Yahoo! for $49M[1]. The whole reason why YC exists is because PG got a $10k investment! Back in 2005, pre YC, PG started the Summer Founders Program and invested $20k in each group. "Another of our hypotheses was that you can start a startup on less money than most people think. Other investors were surprised to hear the most we gave any group was $20,000. But we knew it was possible to start on that little because we started Viaweb on $10,000."[2] The first version of Viaweb.[3] I keep finding examples of the seeds of YC and they get me really excited. You can see a photo from 2005 from the SFP and YC's roots here[4] [0] http://old.ycombinator.com/start.html http://old.ycombinator.com/start.html [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaweb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viaweb [2] http://paulgraham.com/sfp.html http://paulgraham.com/sfp.html [3] http://web.archive.org/web/19961120231442/http://www.viaweb.com/ http://web.archive.org/web/19961120231442/http://www.viaweb.... [4] http://ep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/paulgraham/sfptable.jpg http://ep.yimg.com/ty/cdn/paulgraham/sfptable.jpg

hakeeem 11y ago
Love it!
waterlesscloud 11y ago
Plus $20k with remote allowed can go waaaaaaay further than $20k and must be in SV.
wuschel 11y ago
Sounds great! Thumbs up for leading the way, YC.
nightski 11y ago
Or it's one-two months of consulting income post-tax for a single developer. Bootstrapping is incredibly easy nowadays.
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  Consulting on the side isn't bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is funding your business development with revenue from that business. Bootstrapping a startup, keep in mind that a startup is a business designed to grow very fast, is very, very difficult, requiring a certain kind of consumer-facing business model. Consulting on the side is a time sink that takes resources away from your enterprise. That's all but incompatible with growing fast. There are plenty of other kinds of businesses you can bootstrap. But startups are particularly hard, which is why so many of them rely on venture funding.
  - hawkice 11y ago
    Many businesses will sell consulting services and a product, transitioning away from consulting if the product supplies regular income and is more time-effective to invest in.
    - vinceguidry 11y ago
      That's still consulting on the side. It's just that now you have the whole business doing it. It brings in income but is ultimately just a distraction, because you don't want to be doing it for years.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
      - hawkice 11y ago
        ?? Why not? If you can make money and help good people, what's the X-factor? Obviously I like investing in products, but I see it more as a way to keep utilization high without busywork. Given, YC might not like it, but I bet they like the business going under a lot less.
        vinceguidry 11y ago
        I mean, if that's what you want to do, by all means. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. But it's not a startup. > I bet they like the business going under a lot less. You would be wrong. They would much rather see you shut down a company that fails to find traction and come up with a new idea and new team and get fresh funding than they would you tying yourself up for 10+ years in what they would term a lifestyle business. They didn't give you that money to sit on, they gave it to you to change the world.
j45 11y ago
There is also great talent everywhere who isn't always able to relocate. Not to mention locations where 20k can go extremely far, combined with great local talent. Looking forward to seeing if this program takes on more of an international flavor than perhaps originally anticipated.

hakeeem 11y ago

Love it!

waterlesscloud 11y ago

Plus $20k with remote allowed can go waaaaaaay further than $20k and must be in SV.

wuschel 11y ago

Sounds great! Thumbs up for leading the way, YC.

nightski 11y ago

Or it's one-two months of consulting income post-tax for a single developer. Bootstrapping is incredibly easy nowadays.

vinceguidry 11y ago
Consulting on the side isn't bootstrapping. Bootstrapping is funding your business development with revenue from that business. Bootstrapping a startup, keep in mind that a startup is a business designed to grow very fast, is very, very difficult, requiring a certain kind of consumer-facing business model. Consulting on the side is a time sink that takes resources away from your enterprise. That's all but incompatible with growing fast. There are plenty of other kinds of businesses you can bootstrap. But startups are particularly hard, which is why so many of them rely on venture funding.
- hawkice 11y ago
  Many businesses will sell consulting services and a product, transitioning away from consulting if the product supplies regular income and is more time-effective to invest in.
  - vinceguidry 11y ago
    That's still consulting on the side. It's just that now you have the whole business doing it. It brings in income but is ultimately just a distraction, because you don't want to be doing it for years.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - hawkice 11y ago
      ?? Why not? If you can make money and help good people, what's the X-factor? Obviously I like investing in products, but I see it more as a way to keep utilization high without busywork. Given, YC might not like it, but I bet they like the business going under a lot less.
      - vinceguidry 11y ago
        I mean, if that's what you want to do, by all means. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life. But it's not a startup. > I bet they like the business going under a lot less. You would be wrong. They would much rather see you shut down a company that fails to find traction and come up with a new idea and new team and get fresh funding than they would you tying yourself up for 10+ years in what they would term a lifestyle business. They didn't give you that money to sit on, they gave it to you to change the world.

j45 11y ago

There is also great talent everywhere who isn't always able to relocate. Not to mention locations where 20k can go extremely far, combined with great local talent. Looking forward to seeing if this program takes on more of an international flavor than perhaps originally anticipated.