4 ms·

How does HN significantly advantage YC's startups over others?

smt88 11y ago
Only 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 ago
    Ok, 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 ago
It'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 ago
It 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. :)
- Frondo 11y ago
  Not snark, not sarcasm, not nitpicking, actual genuine curiosity (because that'd be really encouraging if it were true!).....How do you know how diverse this community is?
  - smt88 11y ago
    It may not be demographically diverse, but it definitely is intellectually diverse. I've seen threads where people hard-core nerded out to the following topics: - any/all programming languages - processors (anything on silicon, really) - tractors - genetics - Chinese law - meteorology - geology The list goes on...
    - wuschel 11y ago
      This. Of course I would love to see HN data, but I believe that there is a fair amount of users that are not located anywhere near Silicon Valley. An indicator of this would be the fact that many people I know from the EU startup scene have an HN account. Different age group, background, and profession. Of course, the sample size is not that large here.
    - spdionis 11y ago
      And don't forget hard boiled eggs!! I was amazed at the popularity of that one...

smt88 11y ago

Only 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 ago
  Ok, 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 ago

It'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 ago

It 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. :)

Frondo 11y ago
Not snark, not sarcasm, not nitpicking, actual genuine curiosity (because that'd be really encouraging if it were true!).....How do you know how diverse this community is?
- smt88 11y ago
  It may not be demographically diverse, but it definitely is intellectually diverse. I've seen threads where people hard-core nerded out to the following topics: - any/all programming languages - processors (anything on silicon, really) - tractors - genetics - Chinese law - meteorology - geology The list goes on...
  - wuschel 11y ago
    This. Of course I would love to see HN data, but I believe that there is a fair amount of users that are not located anywhere near Silicon Valley. An indicator of this would be the fact that many people I know from the EU startup scene have an HN account. Different age group, background, and profession. Of course, the sample size is not that large here.
  - spdionis 11y ago
    And don't forget hard boiled eggs!! I was amazed at the popularity of that one...