3 ms·

it's not about the % YC or any venture capital. it's about your judgment of what's added to your startups value. of all the startups applying, being select etc

by ubu 17y ago

it's not about the % YC or any venture capital. it's about your judgment of what's added to your startups value. of all the startups applying, being select etc a few become hits. the question is how much of it was do to the founders and the work they put in, how much with the idea and how much with SPECIFIC things that YC brings in. Not the hype. Also can it be brought in otherwise and would it have become a sucess without YC. I would ask the same thing about veture capital. sure it feels good when someone hands you lots of $$$$ and say here work on your idea but I wouldn't take it if it's not going to be usefull or need. if you think about its kind of ironic because YC understands this and so gives only few dollars to start. it realy isn't needed at that stage but then neither is YC. by the way if I had even 1% of google I'd be so rich :)

dpritchett 17y ago
From pg: "Financially, a startup is like a pass/fail course. The way to get rich from a startup is to maximize the company's chances of succeeding, not to maximize the amount of stock you retain. So if you can trade stock for something that improves your odds, it's probably a smart move." [1] If your startup succeeds, you've got more time and money to start another one and either retain more stock or raise the value of the stock you keep next time around. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html
- lsc 17y ago
  I think the important part here is to not take on things that will make you /less/ likely to succeed. Giving ownership to the wrong people will kill the company faster than anything else. Hell, even just taking on debit can change a company from one where you can learn from your mistakes to a failure after you make your first big mistake. (now, YC is probably the right people to give ownership to for some types of companies; I imagine if your revenue model is to sell the company to some silicon valley VC, the increased access to people wanting to buy is probably worth the 5%. It's probably a bad idea, though, for other sorts; It probably would not have helped my company much. (well, at least my company would have become something entirely different from what it is.)

by ubu 17y ago

dpritchett 17y ago

From pg: "Financially, a startup is like a pass/fail course. The way to get rich from a startup is to maximize the company's chances of succeeding, not to maximize the amount of stock you retain. So if you can trade stock for something that improves your odds, it's probably a smart move." [1] If your startup succeeds, you've got more time and money to start another one and either retain more stock or raise the value of the stock you keep next time around. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html

lsc 17y ago
I think the important part here is to not take on things that will make you /less/ likely to succeed. Giving ownership to the wrong people will kill the company faster than anything else. Hell, even just taking on debit can change a company from one where you can learn from your mistakes to a failure after you make your first big mistake. (now, YC is probably the right people to give ownership to for some types of companies; I imagine if your revenue model is to sell the company to some silicon valley VC, the increased access to people wanting to buy is probably worth the 5%. It's probably a bad idea, though, for other sorts; It probably would not have helped my company much. (well, at least my company would have become something entirely different from what it is.)