8 ms·

Is it just me, or do real entrepreneurs need to be less excited about this YC interview thingy. If you care so much for third party approval from PG and folks

by eterno 17y ago

Is it just me, or do real entrepreneurs need to be less excited about this YC interview thingy. If you care so much for third party approval from PG and folks (not that they are not nice/smart ppl) but then just go to a B-school dude and get that nice degree which will surrogate for your competencies in the real world. BillG didnt need no YC, neither did Google guys and neither did the ipod god - infact even PG didnt need no YC, so please stop this gushing/blogging over your yc interviews as if they are like the biggest thing to happen to your entrepreneurial careers. Its beginning to sound almost like a b-school interview and I wudnt be surprised if YC starts attracting the entrepreneur wannabes for the 'stamp' that they missed from going to a b-school.

pg 17y ago
Actually we did have a prototype of YC: we had an angel investor, Julian Weber, who gave us our first $10k, got all our paperwork done, taught us the rudiments of business, introduced us to one of our two next investors, and let us demo to them in his NYC loft. We were very lucky to have Julian, and we would have been even better off with YC, which is a superset. In addition to all the above, you get other startups as colleagues, and startup-specific advice.
- eterno 17y ago
  Exactly, and for those guys who do not get into YC, they still have the option of getting a 'prototype of YC' - which in your own words is almost the same as YC. I am not saying YC is bad - far from it - I am myself a big fan. The only thing I was pointing out was that the YC interview rejection/acceptance should ideally have only as much importance as being rejected/accepted from probably another angel investor - which happens more often than not in the startup world and consequently should not be given a lot of importance. The entrepreneurs who are in the trenches shouldnt really care as much about a rejection or two - its no big deal and even an acceptance might not be a big deal - but if you build something that people want and have something to show for it then feel free to jump over the moon.
  - systemtrigger 17y ago
    These guys are "building a more efficient market for flights" so they might need the kinds of connections and insight YC promises. If the founders are amazing and yet they need help producing their show you assume it's all a funding issue. They're from Australia; they don't know tech angels or Silicon Valley, they know YC. Even if all they think they need is money I don't know any angels who are clamouring for unreferred new blood, do you? Success in the flights industry can be lucrative but if you don't hit a home run you get zip. Solution: impress some knowledgeable, connected people who will be determined to help you if they like you. These guys passed, maybe they have reason to be happy.
  - pg 17y ago
    which in your own words is almost the same as YC Where did I say that? My point was that we were lucky to get a subset of YC.
tomaitch 17y ago
To some degree I'd agree with you more now having done YC than before. If you live in the USA and have ways of working yourself into Silicon Valley or some other startup culture, or have some other kind of access to seed funding and mentorship, then you don't need YC to succeed. For us here in Melbourne, it was much harder. There's a few successful tech entrepreneurs from the 80s and 90s but they don't really get the web. And the angel and VC communities are tiny and unsophisticated. Sure we could have backed ourselves, left our Melbourne lives behind and headed for Silicon Valley in the hope of finding a way to make things work. And had there not been any other option, perhaps we might have tried that, although at our age, probably not. YC allowed us to fast-track the whole process. In the space of 5 months we went from just another unknown little startup from Melbourne to demoing our product to some of the world's most astute tech investors and being acclaimed by fellow startup founders and high-profile Valley identities alike. That's not to say we've succeeded... we have a huge task ahead of us. But YC has helped us do in a few short months what might have taken us years any other way.
- tomaitch 17y ago
  I should add that what we gained from YC more than anything else was confidence. With what we know now, we realise we possibly could have come to Silicon Valley and successfully launched our startup without YC-backing, although it still would have taken much longer. But we didn't know anyone who could introduce us into the culture, and we had no way of knowing how much potential we had and how reasonable it was to believe we could succeed. We weren't even convinced that our idea was a good one until YC backed it. So I guess, if you're already confident, you don't need YC.
  - axod 17y ago
    Why do you feel you need Silicon Valley / culture / mentorship etc? If you have a good idea, just do it. Doesn't really matter where you are if you have the determination to succeed.
    - david927 17y ago
      I live in Europe and there's not much in the way of concept level funding here. I completely understand the OP -- having any help, let alone a few months of funding, the mentorship and Demo Day is definitely worth getting excited about, especially if you're not already in a hub area. On a funny note: We just had TechCrunch party here in Prague over the weekend, and it was like an AA meeting. No investors, just startups pitching to themselves and consoling themselves. When you're starting you take all the help you can get. So don't tell me about it doesn't matter where you are -- it matters.
puzzle-out 17y ago
I always understand YC as an iconoclastic force (being disruptive etc), but its own success means inevitably it will become something of an idol.
JabavuAdams 17y ago
I'm occasionally irritated by this cliquishness, but it's all about access, access, access. Anyone can apply. The fact that YC exists now, and the fact that it gets the attention it does make the YC brand a great one to be associated with if you are looking for investment. The founders you mentioned didn't need YC, but if they were doing it again today, are you saying they wouldn't derive any benefit from applying to YC? Also, blogging about a YC interview may be a way to get alternate funding back home. For instance, I got a job interview (in Toronto, Canada) in the mid nineties in part because I had interviewed at Microsoft, in Seattle. I didn't get the Microsoft job.
- coffeemug 17y ago
  Access helps. But one thing I've realized is that everyone (well, almost everyone) is knowable if you're willing to make the effort. A little confidence, and a little intelligently done networking will open most doors you're looking for. YC is a great opportunity, but this is a good thing to keep in mind regardless of whether you get in. They can only give you so many shortcuts. Eventually, you'll have to do the heavy lifting yourself.
yef 17y ago
That's like saying "Thomas Edison didn't go to college, so nobody should be excited about going to college". YC is in the business of creating entrepreneurs, which I'd expect most people here would agree is a noble (and profitable) cause. You don't have to read the interview writeups if you don't want to. :)
brk 17y ago
Todays landscape is vastly different from when MS and Apple were founded. Even Google for that matter. In reading through most of the YC-funding companies, it seems they cater not only to Web-type startups, but also very young (on average) founders. If you've been doing startups for a while, you don't need YC. If you're new to the whole starting/operating a business and raising money, it would seem to be a very valuable relationship. I learned most of the lessons that YC-funded founders will learn along the way. But I did it on my own, and at a cost of about $500K of my personal money when I was in my 20's. I would have gladly given up a few % for the money, and most importantly the advice and experience.

by eterno 17y ago

pg 17y ago

Actually we did have a prototype of YC: we had an angel investor, Julian Weber, who gave us our first $10k, got all our paperwork done, taught us the rudiments of business, introduced us to one of our two next investors, and let us demo to them in his NYC loft. We were very lucky to have Julian, and we would have been even better off with YC, which is a superset. In addition to all the above, you get other startups as colleagues, and startup-specific advice.

eterno 17y ago
Exactly, and for those guys who do not get into YC, they still have the option of getting a 'prototype of YC' - which in your own words is almost the same as YC. I am not saying YC is bad - far from it - I am myself a big fan. The only thing I was pointing out was that the YC interview rejection/acceptance should ideally have only as much importance as being rejected/accepted from probably another angel investor - which happens more often than not in the startup world and consequently should not be given a lot of importance. The entrepreneurs who are in the trenches shouldnt really care as much about a rejection or two - its no big deal and even an acceptance might not be a big deal - but if you build something that people want and have something to show for it then feel free to jump over the moon.
- systemtrigger 17y ago
  These guys are "building a more efficient market for flights" so they might need the kinds of connections and insight YC promises. If the founders are amazing and yet they need help producing their show you assume it's all a funding issue. They're from Australia; they don't know tech angels or Silicon Valley, they know YC. Even if all they think they need is money I don't know any angels who are clamouring for unreferred new blood, do you? Success in the flights industry can be lucrative but if you don't hit a home run you get zip. Solution: impress some knowledgeable, connected people who will be determined to help you if they like you. These guys passed, maybe they have reason to be happy.
- pg 17y ago
  which in your own words is almost the same as YC Where did I say that? My point was that we were lucky to get a subset of YC.

tomaitch 17y ago

To some degree I'd agree with you more now having done YC than before. If you live in the USA and have ways of working yourself into Silicon Valley or some other startup culture, or have some other kind of access to seed funding and mentorship, then you don't need YC to succeed. For us here in Melbourne, it was much harder. There's a few successful tech entrepreneurs from the 80s and 90s but they don't really get the web. And the angel and VC communities are tiny and unsophisticated. Sure we could have backed ourselves, left our Melbourne lives behind and headed for Silicon Valley in the hope of finding a way to make things work. And had there not been any other option, perhaps we might have tried that, although at our age, probably not. YC allowed us to fast-track the whole process. In the space of 5 months we went from just another unknown little startup from Melbourne to demoing our product to some of the world's most astute tech investors and being acclaimed by fellow startup founders and high-profile Valley identities alike. That's not to say we've succeeded... we have a huge task ahead of us. But YC has helped us do in a few short months what might have taken us years any other way.

tomaitch 17y ago
I should add that what we gained from YC more than anything else was confidence. With what we know now, we realise we possibly could have come to Silicon Valley and successfully launched our startup without YC-backing, although it still would have taken much longer. But we didn't know anyone who could introduce us into the culture, and we had no way of knowing how much potential we had and how reasonable it was to believe we could succeed. We weren't even convinced that our idea was a good one until YC backed it. So I guess, if you're already confident, you don't need YC.
- axod 17y ago
  Why do you feel you need Silicon Valley / culture / mentorship etc? If you have a good idea, just do it. Doesn't really matter where you are if you have the determination to succeed.
  - david927 17y ago
    I live in Europe and there's not much in the way of concept level funding here. I completely understand the OP -- having any help, let alone a few months of funding, the mentorship and Demo Day is definitely worth getting excited about, especially if you're not already in a hub area. On a funny note: We just had TechCrunch party here in Prague over the weekend, and it was like an AA meeting. No investors, just startups pitching to themselves and consoling themselves. When you're starting you take all the help you can get. So don't tell me about it doesn't matter where you are -- it matters.

puzzle-out 17y ago

I always understand YC as an iconoclastic force (being disruptive etc), but its own success means inevitably it will become something of an idol.

JabavuAdams 17y ago

I'm occasionally irritated by this cliquishness, but it's all about access, access, access. Anyone can apply. The fact that YC exists now, and the fact that it gets the attention it does make the YC brand a great one to be associated with if you are looking for investment. The founders you mentioned didn't need YC, but if they were doing it again today, are you saying they wouldn't derive any benefit from applying to YC? Also, blogging about a YC interview may be a way to get alternate funding back home. For instance, I got a job interview (in Toronto, Canada) in the mid nineties in part because I had interviewed at Microsoft, in Seattle. I didn't get the Microsoft job.

coffeemug 17y ago
Access helps. But one thing I've realized is that everyone (well, almost everyone) is knowable if you're willing to make the effort. A little confidence, and a little intelligently done networking will open most doors you're looking for. YC is a great opportunity, but this is a good thing to keep in mind regardless of whether you get in. They can only give you so many shortcuts. Eventually, you'll have to do the heavy lifting yourself.

yef 17y ago

That's like saying "Thomas Edison didn't go to college, so nobody should be excited about going to college". YC is in the business of creating entrepreneurs, which I'd expect most people here would agree is a noble (and profitable) cause. You don't have to read the interview writeups if you don't want to. :)

brk 17y ago

Todays landscape is vastly different from when MS and Apple were founded. Even Google for that matter. In reading through most of the YC-funding companies, it seems they cater not only to Web-type startups, but also very young (on average) founders. If you've been doing startups for a while, you don't need YC. If you're new to the whole starting/operating a business and raising money, it would seem to be a very valuable relationship. I learned most of the lessons that YC-funded founders will learn along the way. But I did it on my own, and at a cost of about $500K of my personal money when I was in my 20's. I would have gladly given up a few % for the money, and most importantly the advice and experience.