3 ms·

> We don't have a PR firm. I do think YC paid for an ad once in 2006 in the Stanford college newspaper, but we don't really do marketing. The thing we rely on m

by pen2l 11y ago

> We don't have a PR firm. I do think YC paid for an ad once in 2006 in the Stanford college newspaper, but we don't really do marketing. The thing we rely on most of all is founders we fund telling other people about our program. Really? That answer seems somewhat misleading, I don't know if intentionally. YC's biggest place to advertise is HN. In fact, look below right now -- 'Apply to YC'. In addition to reminders of when the applications are due showing up in frontpage, etc.

firloop 11y ago
Exactly. Y Combinator's marketing appears to be Hacker News, Startup School, the Female Founders Conference, Open Office Hours, and touring colleges -- essentially everything YC does more or less for "free" that serve to promote its main programs.
- seiji 11y ago
  Well, YC was bootstrapped (marketing-wise) by the goodwill of pg's personal website too. That had plenty of same-minded exposure in the beginning. Ten years later, people now see YC as "we can give you a better future/make you rich/famous/etc if you work hard and receive our magic touch." It's a very word-of-mouth spreading meme. "This company makes you rich, be one of us, shub shub."
holyjaw 11y ago
Putting a link to your product on your own non-commercial website isn't paid advertising though, and it's certainly not proof-positive of a PR firm.
- MichaelApproved 11y ago
  HN is a commercial website. In addition to the links promoting YC, they also post job listings for YC related companies.
pavornyoh 11y ago
>Really? That answer seems somewhat misleading, I don't know if intentionally. YC's biggest place to advertise is HN. In fact, look below right now -- 'Apply to YC'. In addition to reminders of when the applications are due showing up in frontpage, etc. That answer is not misleading IMHO. Apart from their own website such as this, they don't market through other venues such as radio, tv etc.. Never heard of YC until I was doing research through the web and found hacker news.
sama 11y ago
I thought about this more and in fairness I think since we don't charge for startup school, female founders conference, etc we should sort of count that as marketing. Though I also honestly believe they are good for the world. And HN, sort of.
oh_sigh 11y ago
Didn't PG himself sing the praises of good PR firms during his Viaweb days?
- tlb 11y ago
  At Viaweb in 1997 we were trying to reach mail order merchants, which PR firms were effective at, because they all read the same several magazines. It's not clear that PR firms have the ear of prospective founders in 2015. For more on this, see http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/06/03/jessica-livingston-why-startups-need-to-focus-on-sales-not-marketing/ http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/06/03/jessica-livings...
Pyxl101 11y ago
Take note of what website you're visiting :-) news.ycombinator.com. Is it really fair to call content on their own website marketing? I suppose there is a sense of the term in which that's true, but given the context I'm not sure that I would say so in the context of objecting to their claim.

by pen2l 11y ago

firloop 11y ago

Exactly. Y Combinator's marketing appears to be Hacker News, Startup School, the Female Founders Conference, Open Office Hours, and touring colleges -- essentially everything YC does more or less for "free" that serve to promote its main programs.

seiji 11y ago
Well, YC was bootstrapped (marketing-wise) by the goodwill of pg's personal website too. That had plenty of same-minded exposure in the beginning. Ten years later, people now see YC as "we can give you a better future/make you rich/famous/etc if you work hard and receive our magic touch." It's a very word-of-mouth spreading meme. "This company makes you rich, be one of us, shub shub."

holyjaw 11y ago

Putting a link to your product on your own non-commercial website isn't paid advertising though, and it's certainly not proof-positive of a PR firm.

MichaelApproved 11y ago
HN is a commercial website. In addition to the links promoting YC, they also post job listings for YC related companies.

pavornyoh 11y ago

>Really? That answer seems somewhat misleading, I don't know if intentionally. YC's biggest place to advertise is HN. In fact, look below right now -- 'Apply to YC'. In addition to reminders of when the applications are due showing up in frontpage, etc. That answer is not misleading IMHO. Apart from their own website such as this, they don't market through other venues such as radio, tv etc.. Never heard of YC until I was doing research through the web and found hacker news.

sama 11y ago

I thought about this more and in fairness I think since we don't charge for startup school, female founders conference, etc we should sort of count that as marketing. Though I also honestly believe they are good for the world. And HN, sort of.

oh_sigh 11y ago

Didn't PG himself sing the praises of good PR firms during his Viaweb days?

tlb 11y ago
At Viaweb in 1997 we were trying to reach mail order merchants, which PR firms were effective at, because they all read the same several magazines. It's not clear that PR firms have the ear of prospective founders in 2015. For more on this, see http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/06/03/jessica-livingston-why-startups-need-to-focus-on-sales-not-marketing/ http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/06/03/jessica-livings...

Pyxl101 11y ago

Take note of what website you're visiting :-) news.ycombinator.com. Is it really fair to call content on their own website marketing? I suppose there is a sense of the term in which that's true, but given the context I'm not sure that I would say so in the context of objecting to their claim.