4 ms·

This is one of those times it makes me sad that YC is so unconventional/lean (though I understand the decision and I'm not sure I'd do anything different in the

This is one of those times it makes me sad that YC is so unconventional/lean (though I understand the decision and I'm not sure I'd do anything different in their shoes). If they hired a young/good writer whose job it was to maintain and curate a list and profile page for each company as well as post "where are they now?" posts for the 6 month survivors who want to be profiled, it would be a nice SEO/awareness boon for the young companies. It would also be a good/easy reservoir of reporter-targets (anything that helps reporters be lazy is good, IMO). Of course, that content/awareness/traffic would also help spread the word about YC. I'm still stunned at how many geeks I talk to who have never heard of it.

wensing 17y ago
I'm still stunned at how many geeks I talk to who have never heard of it. This hit me when Drew (Houston, Dropbox) had to tell geeks about it here as if it were still 2005: http://vimeo.com/9100565 http://vimeo.com/9100565
theycallmemorty 17y ago
If they hired a young/good writer whose job it was to maintain and curate a list and profile page for each company as well as post "where are they now?" posts for the 6 month survivors who want to be profiled Doesn't this very website serve that purpose?
iamwil 17y ago
On that last point, YC has no shortage of applicants. I'm not sure that I'd worry about spreading the word if I were them either.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- webwright 17y ago
  Really? Then I don't think you'd be running it very effectively. That's like Apple saying, "we're selling tons of iPhones. Let's stop marketing them." Or a better analogy is Harvard saying, "we have a lot of applicants this season-- let's not market or recruit". If Harvard said that, they'd slowly watch the quality and quantity of their applicant pool drift towards the other ivy-league schools that WERE marketing. YC has a HUGE marketing advantage in PG (and his amazing and linkworthy essays), Jessica (and her amazing book) and the success of the portfolio. But it's not an unassailable position. edit: Duh-- news.yc is another incredible marketing asset that YC has!
  - iamwil 17y ago
    I'm not saying don't market at all. Just perhaps there's not a need to market in the way that you mentioned in the previous post about portfolio pages, given pg & co can only look after so many startups per batch. But apparently not, since pg replied saying he was working on a portfolio page and jl is working on blog posts. I concede.
pg 17y ago
Actually Jessica is trying to post more stories about YC funded startups in the YC blog lately. And I'm working on a portfolio page for our site.

wensing 17y ago

I'm still stunned at how many geeks I talk to who have never heard of it. This hit me when Drew (Houston, Dropbox) had to tell geeks about it here as if it were still 2005: http://vimeo.com/9100565 http://vimeo.com/9100565

theycallmemorty 17y ago

If they hired a young/good writer whose job it was to maintain and curate a list and profile page for each company as well as post "where are they now?" posts for the 6 month survivors who want to be profiled Doesn't this very website serve that purpose?

iamwil 17y ago

On that last point, YC has no shortage of applicants. I'm not sure that I'd worry about spreading the word if I were them either.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
webwright 17y ago
Really? Then I don't think you'd be running it very effectively. That's like Apple saying, "we're selling tons of iPhones. Let's stop marketing them." Or a better analogy is Harvard saying, "we have a lot of applicants this season-- let's not market or recruit". If Harvard said that, they'd slowly watch the quality and quantity of their applicant pool drift towards the other ivy-league schools that WERE marketing. YC has a HUGE marketing advantage in PG (and his amazing and linkworthy essays), Jessica (and her amazing book) and the success of the portfolio. But it's not an unassailable position. edit: Duh-- news.yc is another incredible marketing asset that YC has!
- iamwil 17y ago
  I'm not saying don't market at all. Just perhaps there's not a need to market in the way that you mentioned in the previous post about portfolio pages, given pg & co can only look after so many startups per batch. But apparently not, since pg replied saying he was working on a portfolio page and jl is working on blog posts. I concede.

pg 17y ago

Actually Jessica is trying to post more stories about YC funded startups in the YC blog lately. And I'm working on a portfolio page for our site.