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"There are thousands of dumb startups" This. Most of the blame is cast on the big companies (Twitter, Facebook etc) but the reality is that there are hundreds

"There are thousands of dumb startups" This. Most of the blame is cast on the big companies (Twitter, Facebook etc) but the reality is that there are hundreds of smaller companies choosing SF and the valley in general. And again I say, until companies allow people to work from wherever this will be fueled more. Finding talent is getting ever more difficult already, if you expand your search area to the entire country/world there's a better chance you'd find people no?

ryanSrich 11y ago
They don't need talent. They need mindless drones to work from 10am to 9pm in cramped co-working spaces. There is nothing interesting or challenging about the "problems" these startups are "solving".
- EC1 11y ago
  Exactly. Read my latest post - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10976903 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10976903. I hate the culture/environment of co-working spaces. I don't understand why people are so opposed to working from home, they automatically assume everyone is a child that can't manage themselves. Now I have to waste YEARS of my life getting to an office.
drawkbox 11y ago
I like SV and do wish it would spread around more. But it does seem like companies aren't considered a startup anymore unless you are paying some of the highest rents in the country in SF. Something doesn't compute, high rent is not the best decision for early stage companies except in SV, unless there is some other angle like maybe you own the building/real estate. Maybe in the end lots of VC is real-estate plays parallel to product development.
deleted 11y ago
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mikeryan 11y ago
"There are thousands of dumb startups" This is a feature not a bug. The whole VC model the Bay Area thrives on is based on the premise of hitting on only a small percentage of successful startups and you never know what's going to be a hit. Many successful startups have pivoted out of "stupid" ideas. I'm sure at one point "Blogging 140 characters at a time" was considered a stupid idea.
- avitzurel 11y ago
  "Blogging 140 characters at a time" was considered a stupid idea. I struggle with this all the time I try to put myself in the shoes of VCs hearing AirBNB, Uber, Twitter and other pitches. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't give them money. (and then, I would post on HN saying "How I missed AirBNB. Including email threads with the founders and beating myself up). This is indeed the premise of VCs but even with that in mind, some startups being funded are just ridiculous.
  - Avshalom 11y ago
    It's worth remembering that at the time it wasn't "blogging 140 characters at a time" it was "SMS blogging" which is a much easier idea to pitch in that the use case is more obvious (being on the go) and the character limit isn't arbitrary.
- Avshalom 11y ago
  Twitter is well funded. Whether it's a successful business depends on when you bought in.
  - mikeryan 11y ago
    If we're talking about the VC's who funded they made out just fine ;-)
- matzipan 11y ago
  Tell you what, hard engineering problems are never not a hit. But nobody cares, because they require so much money and so much hard work... Same with bio-engineering, and whatnot. No, let's just make yet another app which brings insignificant incremental deveopment to calendar viewing apps. Be serious.

ryanSrich 11y ago

They don't need talent. They need mindless drones to work from 10am to 9pm in cramped co-working spaces. There is nothing interesting or challenging about the "problems" these startups are "solving".

EC1 11y ago
Exactly. Read my latest post - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10976903 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10976903. I hate the culture/environment of co-working spaces. I don't understand why people are so opposed to working from home, they automatically assume everyone is a child that can't manage themselves. Now I have to waste YEARS of my life getting to an office.

drawkbox 11y ago

I like SV and do wish it would spread around more. But it does seem like companies aren't considered a startup anymore unless you are paying some of the highest rents in the country in SF. Something doesn't compute, high rent is not the best decision for early stage companies except in SV, unless there is some other angle like maybe you own the building/real estate. Maybe in the end lots of VC is real-estate plays parallel to product development.

deleted 11y ago

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mikeryan 11y ago

"There are thousands of dumb startups" This is a feature not a bug. The whole VC model the Bay Area thrives on is based on the premise of hitting on only a small percentage of successful startups and you never know what's going to be a hit. Many successful startups have pivoted out of "stupid" ideas. I'm sure at one point "Blogging 140 characters at a time" was considered a stupid idea.

avitzurel 11y ago
"Blogging 140 characters at a time" was considered a stupid idea. I struggle with this all the time I try to put myself in the shoes of VCs hearing AirBNB, Uber, Twitter and other pitches. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't give them money. (and then, I would post on HN saying "How I missed AirBNB. Including email threads with the founders and beating myself up). This is indeed the premise of VCs but even with that in mind, some startups being funded are just ridiculous.
- Avshalom 11y ago
  It's worth remembering that at the time it wasn't "blogging 140 characters at a time" it was "SMS blogging" which is a much easier idea to pitch in that the use case is more obvious (being on the go) and the character limit isn't arbitrary.
Avshalom 11y ago
Twitter is well funded. Whether it's a successful business depends on when you bought in.
- mikeryan 11y ago
  If we're talking about the VC's who funded they made out just fine ;-)
matzipan 11y ago
Tell you what, hard engineering problems are never not a hit. But nobody cares, because they require so much money and so much hard work... Same with bio-engineering, and whatnot. No, let's just make yet another app which brings insignificant incremental deveopment to calendar viewing apps. Be serious.