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Why is this a good thing? Shouldn't we be striving for a merit based system and not a system that benefits the few people that are able to get through the YC i

Why is this a good thing? Shouldn't we be striving for a merit based system and not a system that benefits the few people that are able to get through the YC interview process?

mathattack 11y ago
I am not an insider, but I view this as, "Starting something is hard. We make it a little easier for you. You make it a little easier for the next group." There are so many random things that can befall a startup, that any support network is great. This is no different than Steve Jobs mentoring people, because others mentored him.
Kinnard 11y ago
I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.
bobby_9x 11y ago
Seriously? Getting down voted for merely asking a question and trying to provoke actual thought? I've come to realize that the HN community is void of intellectual thought and discussion and is mostly an echo chamber. I feel like I've already outgrown it and I haven't even been a part of it that long. Eternal September?
- staunch 11y ago
  From the HN guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > Getting down voted for merely asking a question and trying to provoke actual thought? Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. > I feel like I've already outgrown it and I haven't even been a part of it that long. If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.
  - sroussey 11y ago
    How do things get down voted? I never see that as an option...
    - dang 11y ago
      Downvote links on comments (but not stories) appear when your account has more than 500 karma.
pjlegato 11y ago
I'm not sure what you are calling for here. The YC interview process is a merit-based system. It doesn't matter who you are, where you went to school, or what family connections you have. It's an open application available to anyone in the world to sell some venture capitalists on the merit of your ideas. How does it get any more merit-based than that?
- Kinnard 11y ago
  I'm sure those things do actually matter(family connections could turn into a Friend's and Family round; the school you went to could mean you learned how to hack when others didn't).

Why is this a good thing? Shouldn't we be striving for a merit based system and not a system that benefits the few people that are able to get through the YC interview process?

mathattack 11y ago

I am not an insider, but I view this as, "Starting something is hard. We make it a little easier for you. You make it a little easier for the next group." There are so many random things that can befall a startup, that any support network is great. This is no different than Steve Jobs mentoring people, because others mentored him.

Kinnard 11y ago

I don't think the two are mutually exclusive.

bobby_9x 11y ago

Seriously? Getting down voted for merely asking a question and trying to provoke actual thought? I've come to realize that the HN community is void of intellectual thought and discussion and is mostly an echo chamber. I feel like I've already outgrown it and I haven't even been a part of it that long. Eternal September?

staunch 11y ago
From the HN guidelines https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html > Getting down voted for merely asking a question and trying to provoke actual thought? Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. > I feel like I've already outgrown it and I haven't even been a part of it that long. If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a common semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.
- sroussey 11y ago
  How do things get down voted? I never see that as an option...
  - dang 11y ago
    Downvote links on comments (but not stories) appear when your account has more than 500 karma.

pjlegato 11y ago

I'm not sure what you are calling for here. The YC interview process is a merit-based system. It doesn't matter who you are, where you went to school, or what family connections you have. It's an open application available to anyone in the world to sell some venture capitalists on the merit of your ideas. How does it get any more merit-based than that?

Kinnard 11y ago
I'm sure those things do actually matter(family connections could turn into a Friend's and Family round; the school you went to could mean you learned how to hack when others didn't).