8 ms·

Don't see a problem with YC "dutching" and spreading their bets across multiple forks/teams.

minimaxir 2y ago
Due to YC's large batch sizes and the consolidation of industries such as AI, increasing numbers of YC startups are now directly competing with each other.
- ellisv 2y ago
  VCs will frequently invest in competing startups to hedge their bets.
- JohnMakin 2y ago
  When 98% of your "product" is a thin wrapper around chatGPT, you will of course end up competing against every other product that is a thin wrapper around chatGPT.
  - wmf 2y ago
    Not really. The medical ChatGPT wrappers don't compete with the legal ChatGPT wrappers or the code editor ChatGPT wrappers. It has been argued (ad nauseam) that ChatGPT itself competes with all the wrappers, not that the wrappers compete with each other.
    - JohnMakin 2y ago
      > . It has been argued (ad nauseam) that ChatGPT itself competes with all the wrappers, not that the wrappers compete with each other. This makes more sense now that I think about it.
    - zgeor 2y ago
      They don't compete right now, but surely the architecture of the system will be quite similar, or solve very similar types of challenges. So it should become easier to jump domains when these solutions mature.
      - tempusalaria 2y ago
        This seems completely wrong. A legal wrapper will use domain specific legal expertise to structure and develop their product and functionality. It will likely have many functions that are specifically optimized for the legal use case. If a wrapper can easily move across many domains, then the wrapper likely adds little value to the base model.
  - hilux 2y ago
    As someone (not YC funded) who is developing exactly such an app, I've wondered about this ...
drpossum 2y ago
I just forked the vs code repo and didn't screw up statements on a license for a business model. I'm clearly the superior hedge and I'll be waiting for my check.
- jdamon96 2y ago
  you're obviously joking, but it'd be interesting if you actually tried :) people seem so caught up in founders' particular ideas at the pre-seed stage and forget that YC is investing in people - specifically: people who try. you can jokingly quip that you'd be better at forking vs code, but at the end of the day they're doing it - not "waiting for their check" - and you're making fun of them on the internet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  - drpossum 2y ago
    You're right, I am joking. I have my own ventures that carry some dignity. It's also premature for a claim that they are "people who try" as they have not produced anything except mistakes and apologies. Also, maybe consider you're spending your time baselessly defending strangers on the internet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    - ahoka 2y ago
      When there's gold rush, sell shovels: create a startup with an AI product for defending other AI startups' blatantly unimaginative idea.
  - satvikpendem 2y ago
    > people seem so caught up in founders' particular ideas at the pre-seed stage and forget that YC is investing in people - specifically: people who try. Are they? Seems like based on this YC alum [0], the reality these days is otherwise. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41697032 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41697032
- wg0 2y ago
  "Fork you"
threeseed 2y ago
It does dispel the myth that YC is simply investing in founders. They are really investing in the ideas that the partners like and then finding teams who are capable of delivering on it. Which is of course fine but you see Dalton's Request for Startups and I've not seen only a tiny handful in the last two batches.

Due to YC's large batch sizes and the consolidation of industries such as AI, increasing numbers of YC startups are now directly competing with each other.

ellisv 2y ago
VCs will frequently invest in competing startups to hedge their bets.
JohnMakin 2y ago
When 98% of your "product" is a thin wrapper around chatGPT, you will of course end up competing against every other product that is a thin wrapper around chatGPT.
- wmf 2y ago
  Not really. The medical ChatGPT wrappers don't compete with the legal ChatGPT wrappers or the code editor ChatGPT wrappers. It has been argued (ad nauseam) that ChatGPT itself competes with all the wrappers, not that the wrappers compete with each other.
  - JohnMakin 2y ago
    > . It has been argued (ad nauseam) that ChatGPT itself competes with all the wrappers, not that the wrappers compete with each other. This makes more sense now that I think about it.
  - zgeor 2y ago
    They don't compete right now, but surely the architecture of the system will be quite similar, or solve very similar types of challenges. So it should become easier to jump domains when these solutions mature.
    - tempusalaria 2y ago
      This seems completely wrong. A legal wrapper will use domain specific legal expertise to structure and develop their product and functionality. It will likely have many functions that are specifically optimized for the legal use case. If a wrapper can easily move across many domains, then the wrapper likely adds little value to the base model.
- hilux 2y ago
  As someone (not YC funded) who is developing exactly such an app, I've wondered about this ...

drpossum 2y ago

I just forked the vs code repo and didn't screw up statements on a license for a business model. I'm clearly the superior hedge and I'll be waiting for my check.

jdamon96 2y ago
you're obviously joking, but it'd be interesting if you actually tried :) people seem so caught up in founders' particular ideas at the pre-seed stage and forget that YC is investing in people - specifically: people who try. you can jokingly quip that you'd be better at forking vs code, but at the end of the day they're doing it - not "waiting for their check" - and you're making fun of them on the internet ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- drpossum 2y ago
  You're right, I am joking. I have my own ventures that carry some dignity. It's also premature for a claim that they are "people who try" as they have not produced anything except mistakes and apologies. Also, maybe consider you're spending your time baselessly defending strangers on the internet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  - ahoka 2y ago
    When there's gold rush, sell shovels: create a startup with an AI product for defending other AI startups' blatantly unimaginative idea.
- satvikpendem 2y ago
  > people seem so caught up in founders' particular ideas at the pre-seed stage and forget that YC is investing in people - specifically: people who try. Are they? Seems like based on this YC alum [0], the reality these days is otherwise. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41697032 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41697032
wg0 2y ago
"Fork you"

threeseed 2y ago

It does dispel the myth that YC is simply investing in founders. They are really investing in the ideas that the partners like and then finding teams who are capable of delivering on it. Which is of course fine but you see Dalton's Request for Startups and I've not seen only a tiny handful in the last two batches.