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>YC’s partners seem surprisingly uninterested in money, or competitive threats. There are hundreds of other “accelerators” worldwide that have replicated YC’s i
by dataker 11y ago
>YC’s partners seem surprisingly uninterested in money, or competitive threats. There are hundreds of other “accelerators” worldwide that have replicated YC’s investment and training philosophy, but none with its brand or its record
- mgalka 11y agoI've always wondered about this. Is it really just the brand that has made Y Combinator the #1 accelerator for so long?
- _sentient 11y agoWell, the brand is a byproduct of all the excellent work YC partners have been doing over the last 10 years. That being said, YC now has a strong positive selection advantage, the benefit of which is self-perpetuating.
- chasb 11y agoNo, YC is more than the brand. YC has an ethos, and the brand is a result. The ethos is evangelism for basic business practices derived from common sense, rationality, and empathy. The brand does have perks for founders, though. The network is actually that awesome, yes. YC is extraordinary for making it easy to raise a seed round. Some good ideas take time to mature, and a seed round helps them get momentum. I wish more investors would try to emulate YC.
- vdaniuk 11y ago>There are hundreds of other “accelerators” worldwide that have replicated YC’s ... Nonsense. The article authors are so very wrong. There will be literally zero replicators of YC until someone replicates the most influential open tech community/media that is HN. A competitive advantage that is truly hard to copy. That's like a basic fact from real world startups 101.
- robotresearcher 11y agoHow does HN significantly advantage YC's startups over others?
- smt88 11y agoOnly YC companies are allowed to post jobs on HN. You could imagine that HN is a direct solution to what many people consider that hardest problem startups have to solve: hiring good engineers.
- jacquesm 11y ago> Only YC companies are allowed to post jobs on HN. That's factually incorrect. Only YC companies are allowed to post job ads at any time and as separate threads. But once per month any company can post job ads on HN, the 'who is hiring' threads on the first of the month.
- smt88 11y agoOk, let me rephrase that. Only YC companies are available on the "jobs" tab at the top of this, and every, HN page. Only YC companies can be the original post, instead of a comment. YC job postings are the only links that are not subject to comments/criticism. The original point is that HN serves a very useful purpose for YC companies that it doesn't serve for non-YC companies.
- eloff 11y agoIt's a hiring advantage for YC startups, as well it's publicity for YC in general, putting the YC brand in front of people who apply to accelerators. Why do I know a lot about YC? Because I read hacker news and there's a lot of stories here about YC and YC companies. What do I know about their competitors? Almost nothing. So it's a huge advantage.
- wuschel 11y agoIt is possibly one of the most diversified tech communities on the planet. As such it attracts talent. At the end, talent is your most valuable raw material as an accelerator/startup. HN pulls techies/hackers like a magnet. In a way, it was the internet exposure to YC/HN/pg's essays that brought me into the startup world. And in a way, it was always my aspiration to go to Mountain View and talk to those people that gave me that exposure. :)
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]