7 ms·

My story of applying, getting in, and being a mom in Y Combinator

259 points by nnnnnn 12y ago

radicality 12y ago
I'm interested how she got that domain, women.com doesn't sound cheap.
- mlichtenstern 12y ago
  Article referenced above says she used money she earned while at Facebook.
salome2 12y ago
I found this very inspirational myself as a mom of 3 (and I'm psyched to have just applied last week!)
jp 12y ago
So is the person sitting next to PG a real prime madonna ? He he... (Sorry!)
untilHellbanned 12y ago
Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?
- Asparagirl 12y ago
  And she conveniently left out the cost of childcare for all the days she was gone. Oh, you know, those little $18-20 per hour* minor details. If her partner works fulltime, that could be round-the-clock care. But yeah, of course a mom can do YC! (If she's rich and has a very, very supportive partner.) And yeah, I do remember that tweet from Sam she highlighted. And the thing I tweeted back to him, unacknowledged, still stands: daycare in SoMa is almost impossible to find, in some cases has a two-and-a-half year waiting list. Gee, I wonder why about half the women in tech leave mid-career. * yes, that's the going rate in LA for two children, possibly more if one is a newborn, and/or if you pay your nanny on the books instead of off.
  - scobar 12y ago
    You're right that a very supportive partner is important. Being a mother, you probably have a pretty good system already, but I have some advice from my own experience that may or may not be helpful. I've been a work-at-home dad taking care of our little son. Save tasks that need complete focus for when your child is napping or sleeping at night. Do the stuff you can easily break from and start up again while your child needs (some but not undivided) attention like being strapped into a highchair for meals/coloring, watching a movie, or playing with toys/ipad/whatever else you allow. One great advantage we have as parents is being able to quickly recharge by enjoying time teaching/playing/snuggling with our little ones.
    - mlichtenstern 12y ago
      Good point. I started working from home as a contractor (and partially as a college instructor)long before my daughter was conceived. I took zero maternity leave and went right back to work when she was born - literally - while still in the hospital (those food trays make decent work stations). There was a very short learning curve on integrating motherhood into work life. I'm shocked by how hard people make it seem to be a working or entrepreneurial parent. Life is not easy for anyone anyway, but I feel like I'm even more driven and emotionally centered as a mother.
      - Jem 12y ago
        Seriously - could your comment be any more patronising? Just because your experience gave you the impression that this "working or entrepreneurial parent" lark isn't as hard as it's made out, doesn't mean that's the case for everyone. I went self-employed the week after my 2nd child was born, working from home around my two children. I was profitable in my first month and every month after that until I stopped nearly 2 years later. It was one of the best learning experiences of my working life so far but it was also HARD. Really, really bloody hard.
        mlichtenstern 12y ago
        Patronising? I find it interesting when people take offense to things so easily. How is sharing my personal experience patronising? I didn't say it wasn't hard - or "really, really, bloody hard," but given that there are people mining for coal, risking life and limb in the armed forces, and children digging through trash heaps for a living, I'd venture to say it's not THAT hard. The first three years of my daughter's life I was also caregiving for a dying parent and working full time. Life is hard. But parents are just as capable - if not more driven and willing to sacrifice - than anyone else and I don't think we should marvel at that (or as in recent news, imply women should freeze their eggs to pursue their careers). People have been having kids and working from the beginning of time. I know women from previous generations who have had ten or more kids and worked full time. Very common in the American South during the 20th century.
- scobar 12y ago
  This is exactly the inspiration women (and everyone else who believe they don't fit the YC archetype) need more of. She specifically recommends against directly copying some of her actions. It's admirable how she overcame so many challenges she faced. Buckling down and getting shit done when you miss your family isn't easy, and she is a great role model for those who will have to do that. Hopefully her story will inspire more outliers to give it a shot despite their doubts.
vitalus 12y ago
"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC. I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code, and exercising. Nowhere in that list is commuting." If you had to do it all again, would you move and leave your children behind? That seems like an impossible choice to make, and the tone of your story makes it sound like it all worked out well for you. Would you really not recommend the approach you took to someone in a similar situation?
- mrkurt 12y ago
  I did the opposite: moved for the summer, leaving my wife + 4 kids in Chicago. It wasn't easy. Others I knew moved their whole families for ~4 months. That also wasn't easy. If I did it again, and budget permitting, I probably would split time — weekends in Chicago, Monday through Thurs or Friday in Mountain View. What was interesting was how shocked family members and friends were that we'd work something out like this. If it had been a military deployment, though, no one would have batted an eye.
  - joshdotsmith 12y ago
    I was going to say just this. I went through basic training two years ago, and will leave again for Signal BOLC next year. Basic was hard and BOLC will be easier; a deployment would be much harder than YC.
  - randall 12y ago
    I totally valued the experience of being home on the weekends... I was commuting from Utah, but it was really really draining to travel that much. If possible, I think I'd opt to bring the family out. (My wife was pregnant, so that wasn't a real option for us.)
    - ryanSrich 12y ago
aresant 12y ago
There's an interesting back story on the Women.com domain. NBC owned women.com and women.net from the takeover of iVillage. A domain broker - Benjamin Padnos - won the domains at auction at SEDO for $1m in 2010, but the CEO of NBC - Jeff Zucker - blocked the domain name sale personally. Padnos wound up suing NBC and SEDO and settling, taking the domain names(1). Then he sold them to Susan in 2012 who purchased them with "some of the money she’d earned [at facebook]" (2)(3) I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction. 2012 was actually a relatively GOOD time to buy TLD's, compared to today's even-more-insane-than-insane-market. And given that the WHOIS for Women.com is literally registered to her name / email I hope that she's still as fired up about landing that whale as she should be! (1) http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/04/nbc-done-lawsuit/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/04/nbc-done-lawsuit/ (2) http://dotweekly.com/company-domain-movers-riot-games-amex/ http://dotweekly.com/company-domain-movers-riot-games-amex/ (3) http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/women-com/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/women-com/
- atomical 12y ago
  >I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction Why?
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - twelve40 12y ago
    cause it was a lot of money for a gamble that turned out nicely, and also she probably does something more inspiring with that domain than a broker?
    - markdown 12y ago
      > broker Is that the whitewashed version of "squatter"?
      - wolf550e 12y ago
        I guess with domains, "squatter" is one who buy lots of them for cheap without knowing which (if any) will turn out to be useful, and "broker" is one who buys few expensive domains intending to resell them, like real estate.
morgellons 12y ago
What did you expect after giving a buttcoiner money?
was_hellbanned 12y ago
I'm not saying this to be negative, necessarily, but something struck me in this essay, so I grep'd it. There are 47 instances of "I", by my count.
- fchollet 12y ago
  It should be expected from this kind of personal blog post to be about one's own story, rather than ideas or outward advice. I see nothing particularly negative with that. There are 48 instances of "I", 19 of "my", and 6 of "me". So on average 90% of sentences have one instance.
  - was_hellbanned 12y ago
    I see nothing particularly negative with that. I found it distracting and it struck me as lazy writing. Apparently, though, you can't criticize writing style on HN submissions.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- prawn 12y ago
  So, are you saying it to be negative, unnecessarily?
  - 001sky 12y ago
    Yep its stereotype / baiting but always possible an ounce of truth[1]. the worst mistakes to make are ones that let other people typecast you. so maybe its semi-constructive. eg, how many instances of "team"? cmd+f=(team)=1 _______________ Here’s my story: I left my role at Facebook 2 years ago to build women.com. With wide eyes and beginners confidence, I struck out on my own. I crafted my vision, wore a hoodie, and tried to raise a seed round on a dream and a deck. After 3 months of fund raising, I received term sheets (pre-product and pre-tech <>team<>), but success was fleeting. My partner and I hit the skids, split up, and ended our partnership. However, this was my dream and a couple of speed bumps weren’t going to crush it. I decided to bootstrap and get a working MVP into the hands of users. -------------------------- Although this contextual snippet may also explain a bit more regarding both observations. The word 'team' only appears within a parenthetical--and even then only within a vignette of previuous failure. perhaps, even if nothing but for PR purposes, this type of presentation may be improved by being more even handed going forward?. This just seems like a leadership coaching pont. If she were in another similar/leadership role (non CEO) it would still be relevant. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/27/are-modern-parents-self-absorbed http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/27/are-modern-p...
cyberjunkie 12y ago
Something about that first photo also also reminded me of the Last Supper.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- nandemo 12y ago
  Not sure why you're downvoted. It's no doubt a reference to Da Vinci's Last Supper.
huehue 12y ago
My story of applying, getting in, and being gay in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a white man in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a Java 9to5 developer in Y Combinator.
- gchokov 12y ago
  Yes. I am getting sick of these stories as well.
- mrweasel 12y ago
  I looked for the part where her being a mom made any difference what so ever. It must be hard to be away from your children most of the week and of cause taxing on her partner, but that's not really unique to YCombinator or startups.
  - atonse 12y ago
    It's not about her being a mom helping or hurting. It's about Her being a mom and going through YC. I think this kind of post can inspire other women with kids to see "maybe I can do it too." I think it really is that simple.
valleycynic 12y ago
"Access to venture capitalists: Raising money is incredibly hard and incredibly distracting. The faster you can get it done, the faster you can get back to building something people want. YC is the perfect forcing function to help you raise capital. Network: Being an entrepreneur is a lonely path. There are few people who truly understand what you’re going through and even if your friends (or parents) are well meaning, they still don’t get it. YC is the ultimate network and you will be surrounding by people who do get it." These two points from her essay reveal more about the true nature of YC than perhaps the author intended. In theory, when you join YC, you and your cofounders give Paul & Co. a sizable chunk of equity in your budding startup in exchange for advice dispensed over dinner--advice and dinners which, given the valuations of certain YC-backed startups and the percentage of equity surrendered, cannot possibly, no matter how enlightening the advice or delicious the dinners, be worth the price paid in shares. Why then are so many founders eager to make what on the surface seems like a terrible deal? Because what they actually get in exchange for their equity is not mere mentoring, but the access to top VCs like Andreeson Horowitz and Sequoia. Those VCs can in turn, using their money and media connections, hype-up your startup and work to get you bought out/acquihired. We like to pretend that the startup game is a meritocracy and not all like the cronyism that goes on in corporate boardrooms where CEOs doubling as board members vote on each other's lavish compensation packages, but it is not difficult to recall examples that suggest it is all too similar. Take Loopt. It was a dying product with a dwindling userbase that while novel in concept for 2004, was clearly too early to market and soon found itself in a market awash with location-aware competitors like Foursqaure and Gowalla. But because Loopt had gone through YC and took investment from board members of Sequoia, strings were pulled to get Greendot to acquire Loopt and reward Sam with a life-changing exit and provide him and his investors with a justification for branding Loopt a success. From there, he went on to succeed PG as YC's president, and using that platform, he's written--without any hint of irony--polemics decrying the lack of innovation[1] and calling for startups to work on "breakthrough technologies"[2] despite having as his major accomplishment a failed feature phone version of Grindr.[3] I'm happy for Susan and hope her startup is successful, but her experiences has only reinforced my view that success in the Valley startup game is much more about luck and connections than skill and execution. She was suspiciously vague about her financial situation, but one can infer from the essay (buying the domain, flying back and forth, hiring a "full stack" dev), that it's probably much better than most mothers of two, married or otherwise. The requirement that you "move to the bay area"[4] (which she technically violated) all but ensures mothers who aren't rich won't apply, which completely negates her message of "I'm a mom and I did it and so can you!" [1] http://blog.samaltman.com/what-happened-to-innovation-1 http://blog.samaltman.com/what-happened-to-innovation-1 [2] http://blog.samaltman.com/new-rfs-breakthrough-technologies http://blog.samaltman.com/new-rfs-breakthrough-technologies [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385178 [4] http://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ http://www.ycombinator.com/apply/
danohuiginn 12y ago
Good for her, but the commuting process sounds hellish. And from the comments here, several others have been in the same situation. Does YC have any plans to better support founders in that situation?
geobz 12y ago
Thanks for sharing, let us know how it goes in the future. That Jordan guy judging from his behavior even with his reply on Reddit seems like a youngster that wants to make easy bucks and doesn't care about the future. If I was you I'd make a legal case and go full on him.
- Robadob 12y ago
  Appears this is in the wrong thread, probably referring to the robocoin ATM thread; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8457298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8457298
qwerta 12y ago
I started my own business after becoming stay-at-home dad. I know many parents with their own company, startup is good way to escape corporate cubicle, and spend more time with kids. Not sure why being parent as something worth mentioning here.
benstein 12y ago
I like to think of her kid. What will the other children say on the playground? "Your momma wears army bootstrap" and "Your momma so FAT32..."
jscheel 12y ago
The family sacrifice should not be discounted in any way. Specifically, being away from her children during the week could have an impact on her family for a long time. Probably less so with her three year-old daughter, but there will be an impact with her youngest child. There is still a huge amount of inherent bonding that happens at that age. I'm not disparaging her husband in any way, he seems like a good fella, but I can speak from experience. My daughter was 11 months old when I left for 500 Startups. I did the back and forth thing too. And I tried to be 100% when I was home. But that time away from her altered our relationship. No matter how awesome my wife was while I was gone.
foobarfizzbuzz 12y ago
I guess I fail to see what would differentiate between a father/mother. Like why does any option make a difference?
- DanBC 12y ago
  Mothers breastfeed. Companies need to have places for mothers to breast feed children, of for mothers to pump breast milk. Mothers sometimes have complications during birth. This can cause considerable physical difficulty in the following months. Here's some advice about recovery after c-section. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Caesarean-section/Pages/Recovery.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Caesarean-section/Pages/Recover... This post was written by a female parent. We call those "mothers". If it had been written by a male parent it would have used the word "father". There is currently a gender imbalance and so posts from people who are not male have some interest.
- scott_karana 12y ago
  Statistics and surveys consistently tell us that fathers invest much less time in their newborns than mothers, so unless you've only ever met outliers, it's a bit silly to pretend there's no difference.
untilHellbanned 12y ago
7% on $100K with a "7 figure" domain name, means that YC is already making a return on the investment even if the domain is only squatted. This was the easiest investment ever.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

259 points by nnnnnn 12y ago

radicality 12y ago

I'm interested how she got that domain, women.com doesn't sound cheap.

mlichtenstern 12y ago
Article referenced above says she used money she earned while at Facebook.

salome2 12y ago

I found this very inspirational myself as a mom of 3 (and I'm psyched to have just applied last week!)

jp 12y ago

So is the person sitting next to PG a real prime madonna ? He he... (Sorry!)

untilHellbanned 12y ago

Not most realistic role model for YC women. Affording a domain name like women.com and buying full stack developer?

Asparagirl 12y ago
And she conveniently left out the cost of childcare for all the days she was gone. Oh, you know, those little $18-20 per hour* minor details. If her partner works fulltime, that could be round-the-clock care. But yeah, of course a mom can do YC! (If she's rich and has a very, very supportive partner.) And yeah, I do remember that tweet from Sam she highlighted. And the thing I tweeted back to him, unacknowledged, still stands: daycare in SoMa is almost impossible to find, in some cases has a two-and-a-half year waiting list. Gee, I wonder why about half the women in tech leave mid-career. * yes, that's the going rate in LA for two children, possibly more if one is a newborn, and/or if you pay your nanny on the books instead of off.
- scobar 12y ago
  You're right that a very supportive partner is important. Being a mother, you probably have a pretty good system already, but I have some advice from my own experience that may or may not be helpful. I've been a work-at-home dad taking care of our little son. Save tasks that need complete focus for when your child is napping or sleeping at night. Do the stuff you can easily break from and start up again while your child needs (some but not undivided) attention like being strapped into a highchair for meals/coloring, watching a movie, or playing with toys/ipad/whatever else you allow. One great advantage we have as parents is being able to quickly recharge by enjoying time teaching/playing/snuggling with our little ones.
  - mlichtenstern 12y ago
    Good point. I started working from home as a contractor (and partially as a college instructor)long before my daughter was conceived. I took zero maternity leave and went right back to work when she was born - literally - while still in the hospital (those food trays make decent work stations). There was a very short learning curve on integrating motherhood into work life. I'm shocked by how hard people make it seem to be a working or entrepreneurial parent. Life is not easy for anyone anyway, but I feel like I'm even more driven and emotionally centered as a mother.
    - Jem 12y ago
      Seriously - could your comment be any more patronising? Just because your experience gave you the impression that this "working or entrepreneurial parent" lark isn't as hard as it's made out, doesn't mean that's the case for everyone. I went self-employed the week after my 2nd child was born, working from home around my two children. I was profitable in my first month and every month after that until I stopped nearly 2 years later. It was one of the best learning experiences of my working life so far but it was also HARD. Really, really bloody hard.
      - mlichtenstern 12y ago
        Patronising? I find it interesting when people take offense to things so easily. How is sharing my personal experience patronising? I didn't say it wasn't hard - or "really, really, bloody hard," but given that there are people mining for coal, risking life and limb in the armed forces, and children digging through trash heaps for a living, I'd venture to say it's not THAT hard. The first three years of my daughter's life I was also caregiving for a dying parent and working full time. Life is hard. But parents are just as capable - if not more driven and willing to sacrifice - than anyone else and I don't think we should marvel at that (or as in recent news, imply women should freeze their eggs to pursue their careers). People have been having kids and working from the beginning of time. I know women from previous generations who have had ten or more kids and worked full time. Very common in the American South during the 20th century.
scobar 12y ago
This is exactly the inspiration women (and everyone else who believe they don't fit the YC archetype) need more of. She specifically recommends against directly copying some of her actions. It's admirable how she overcame so many challenges she faced. Buckling down and getting shit done when you miss your family isn't easy, and she is a great role model for those who will have to do that. Hopefully her story will inspire more outliers to give it a shot despite their doubts.

vitalus 12y ago

"Each week, I either flew or drove to Mountain View. Burning the candles at both ends, this commuting & scheduling hell allowed me to maintain a stable life for my young daughters and make the most of YC. I do not recommend this approach and in fact, it’s 100% against YC. You are required to move and you should. It’s exhausting and it takes your focus off of the most important things: talking to users, shipping code, and exercising. Nowhere in that list is commuting." If you had to do it all again, would you move and leave your children behind? That seems like an impossible choice to make, and the tone of your story makes it sound like it all worked out well for you. Would you really not recommend the approach you took to someone in a similar situation?

mrkurt 12y ago
I did the opposite: moved for the summer, leaving my wife + 4 kids in Chicago. It wasn't easy. Others I knew moved their whole families for ~4 months. That also wasn't easy. If I did it again, and budget permitting, I probably would split time — weekends in Chicago, Monday through Thurs or Friday in Mountain View. What was interesting was how shocked family members and friends were that we'd work something out like this. If it had been a military deployment, though, no one would have batted an eye.
- joshdotsmith 12y ago
  I was going to say just this. I went through basic training two years ago, and will leave again for Signal BOLC next year. Basic was hard and BOLC will be easier; a deployment would be much harder than YC.
- randall 12y ago
  I totally valued the experience of being home on the weekends... I was commuting from Utah, but it was really really draining to travel that much. If possible, I think I'd opt to bring the family out. (My wife was pregnant, so that wasn't a real option for us.)
  - ryanSrich 12y ago

aresant 12y ago

There's an interesting back story on the Women.com domain. NBC owned women.com and women.net from the takeover of iVillage. A domain broker - Benjamin Padnos - won the domains at auction at SEDO for $1m in 2010, but the CEO of NBC - Jeff Zucker - blocked the domain name sale personally. Padnos wound up suing NBC and SEDO and settling, taking the domain names(1). Then he sold them to Susan in 2012 who purchased them with "some of the money she’d earned [at facebook]" (2)(3) I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction. 2012 was actually a relatively GOOD time to buy TLD's, compared to today's even-more-insane-than-insane-market. And given that the WHOIS for Women.com is literally registered to her name / email I hope that she's still as fired up about landing that whale as she should be! (1) http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/04/nbc-done-lawsuit/ http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/04/nbc-done-lawsuit/ (2) http://dotweekly.com/company-domain-movers-riot-games-amex/ http://dotweekly.com/company-domain-movers-riot-games-amex/ (3) http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/women-com/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/women-com/

atomical 12y ago
>I have a ton of respect for the commitment on that transaction Why?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- twelve40 12y ago
  cause it was a lot of money for a gamble that turned out nicely, and also she probably does something more inspiring with that domain than a broker?
  - markdown 12y ago
    > broker Is that the whitewashed version of "squatter"?
    - wolf550e 12y ago
      I guess with domains, "squatter" is one who buy lots of them for cheap without knowing which (if any) will turn out to be useful, and "broker" is one who buys few expensive domains intending to resell them, like real estate.

morgellons 12y ago

What did you expect after giving a buttcoiner money?

was_hellbanned 12y ago

I'm not saying this to be negative, necessarily, but something struck me in this essay, so I grep'd it. There are 47 instances of "I", by my count.

fchollet 12y ago
It should be expected from this kind of personal blog post to be about one's own story, rather than ideas or outward advice. I see nothing particularly negative with that. There are 48 instances of "I", 19 of "my", and 6 of "me". So on average 90% of sentences have one instance.
- was_hellbanned 12y ago
  I see nothing particularly negative with that. I found it distracting and it struck me as lazy writing. Apparently, though, you can't criticize writing style on HN submissions.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
prawn 12y ago
So, are you saying it to be negative, unnecessarily?
- 001sky 12y ago
  Yep its stereotype / baiting but always possible an ounce of truth[1]. the worst mistakes to make are ones that let other people typecast you. so maybe its semi-constructive. eg, how many instances of "team"? cmd+f=(team)=1 _______________ Here’s my story: I left my role at Facebook 2 years ago to build women.com. With wide eyes and beginners confidence, I struck out on my own. I crafted my vision, wore a hoodie, and tried to raise a seed round on a dream and a deck. After 3 months of fund raising, I received term sheets (pre-product and pre-tech <>team<>), but success was fleeting. My partner and I hit the skids, split up, and ended our partnership. However, this was my dream and a couple of speed bumps weren’t going to crush it. I decided to bootstrap and get a working MVP into the hands of users. -------------------------- Although this contextual snippet may also explain a bit more regarding both observations. The word 'team' only appears within a parenthetical--and even then only within a vignette of previuous failure. perhaps, even if nothing but for PR purposes, this type of presentation may be improved by being more even handed going forward?. This just seems like a leadership coaching pont. If she were in another similar/leadership role (non CEO) it would still be relevant. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/27/are-modern-parents-self-absorbed http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/08/27/are-modern-p...

cyberjunkie 12y ago

Something about that first photo also also reminded me of the Last Supper.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
nandemo 12y ago
Not sure why you're downvoted. It's no doubt a reference to Da Vinci's Last Supper.

huehue 12y ago

My story of applying, getting in, and being gay in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a white man in Y Combinator. My story of applying, getting in, and being a Java 9to5 developer in Y Combinator.

gchokov 12y ago
Yes. I am getting sick of these stories as well.
mrweasel 12y ago
I looked for the part where her being a mom made any difference what so ever. It must be hard to be away from your children most of the week and of cause taxing on her partner, but that's not really unique to YCombinator or startups.
- atonse 12y ago
  It's not about her being a mom helping or hurting. It's about Her being a mom and going through YC. I think this kind of post can inspire other women with kids to see "maybe I can do it too." I think it really is that simple.

valleycynic 12y ago

"Access to venture capitalists: Raising money is incredibly hard and incredibly distracting. The faster you can get it done, the faster you can get back to building something people want. YC is the perfect forcing function to help you raise capital. Network: Being an entrepreneur is a lonely path. There are few people who truly understand what you’re going through and even if your friends (or parents) are well meaning, they still don’t get it. YC is the ultimate network and you will be surrounding by people who do get it." These two points from her essay reveal more about the true nature of YC than perhaps the author intended. In theory, when you join YC, you and your cofounders give Paul & Co. a sizable chunk of equity in your budding startup in exchange for advice dispensed over dinner--advice and dinners which, given the valuations of certain YC-backed startups and the percentage of equity surrendered, cannot possibly, no matter how enlightening the advice or delicious the dinners, be worth the price paid in shares. Why then are so many founders eager to make what on the surface seems like a terrible deal? Because what they actually get in exchange for their equity is not mere mentoring, but the access to top VCs like Andreeson Horowitz and Sequoia. Those VCs can in turn, using their money and media connections, hype-up your startup and work to get you bought out/acquihired. We like to pretend that the startup game is a meritocracy and not all like the cronyism that goes on in corporate boardrooms where CEOs doubling as board members vote on each other's lavish compensation packages, but it is not difficult to recall examples that suggest it is all too similar. Take Loopt. It was a dying product with a dwindling userbase that while novel in concept for 2004, was clearly too early to market and soon found itself in a market awash with location-aware competitors like Foursqaure and Gowalla. But because Loopt had gone through YC and took investment from board members of Sequoia, strings were pulled to get Greendot to acquire Loopt and reward Sam with a life-changing exit and provide him and his investors with a justification for branding Loopt a success. From there, he went on to succeed PG as YC's president, and using that platform, he's written--without any hint of irony--polemics decrying the lack of innovation[1] and calling for startups to work on "breakthrough technologies"[2] despite having as his major accomplishment a failed feature phone version of Grindr.[3] I'm happy for Susan and hope her startup is successful, but her experiences has only reinforced my view that success in the Valley startup game is much more about luck and connections than skill and execution. She was suspiciously vague about her financial situation, but one can infer from the essay (buying the domain, flying back and forth, hiring a "full stack" dev), that it's probably much better than most mothers of two, married or otherwise. The requirement that you "move to the bay area"[4] (which she technically violated) all but ensures mothers who aren't rich won't apply, which completely negates her message of "I'm a mom and I did it and so can you!" [1] http://blog.samaltman.com/what-happened-to-innovation-1 http://blog.samaltman.com/what-happened-to-innovation-1 [2] http://blog.samaltman.com/new-rfs-breakthrough-technologies http://blog.samaltman.com/new-rfs-breakthrough-technologies [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385178 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=385178 [4] http://www.ycombinator.com/apply/ http://www.ycombinator.com/apply/

danohuiginn 12y ago

Good for her, but the commuting process sounds hellish. And from the comments here, several others have been in the same situation. Does YC have any plans to better support founders in that situation?

geobz 12y ago

Thanks for sharing, let us know how it goes in the future. That Jordan guy judging from his behavior even with his reply on Reddit seems like a youngster that wants to make easy bucks and doesn't care about the future. If I was you I'd make a legal case and go full on him.

Robadob 12y ago
Appears this is in the wrong thread, probably referring to the robocoin ATM thread; https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8457298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8457298

qwerta 12y ago

I started my own business after becoming stay-at-home dad. I know many parents with their own company, startup is good way to escape corporate cubicle, and spend more time with kids. Not sure why being parent as something worth mentioning here.

benstein 12y ago

I like to think of her kid. What will the other children say on the playground? "Your momma wears army bootstrap" and "Your momma so FAT32..."

jscheel 12y ago

The family sacrifice should not be discounted in any way. Specifically, being away from her children during the week could have an impact on her family for a long time. Probably less so with her three year-old daughter, but there will be an impact with her youngest child. There is still a huge amount of inherent bonding that happens at that age. I'm not disparaging her husband in any way, he seems like a good fella, but I can speak from experience. My daughter was 11 months old when I left for 500 Startups. I did the back and forth thing too. And I tried to be 100% when I was home. But that time away from her altered our relationship. No matter how awesome my wife was while I was gone.

foobarfizzbuzz 12y ago

I guess I fail to see what would differentiate between a father/mother. Like why does any option make a difference?

DanBC 12y ago
Mothers breastfeed. Companies need to have places for mothers to breast feed children, of for mothers to pump breast milk. Mothers sometimes have complications during birth. This can cause considerable physical difficulty in the following months. Here's some advice about recovery after c-section. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Caesarean-section/Pages/Recovery.aspx http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Caesarean-section/Pages/Recover... This post was written by a female parent. We call those "mothers". If it had been written by a male parent it would have used the word "father". There is currently a gender imbalance and so posts from people who are not male have some interest.
scott_karana 12y ago
Statistics and surveys consistently tell us that fathers invest much less time in their newborns than mothers, so unless you've only ever met outliers, it's a bit silly to pretend there's no difference.

untilHellbanned 12y ago

7% on $100K with a "7 figure" domain name, means that YC is already making a return on the investment even if the domain is only squatted. This was the easiest investment ever.

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