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All 60 startups that launched at Y Combinator Winter 2016 Demo Day 1

175 points by BinaryIdiot 11y ago

danieltillett 11y ago
The thing I found most interesting about this batch is they are all pretty advanced. Although YC has not said otherwise it looks like "build a business from an idea in 3 months is dead".
- giarc 11y ago
  Another way of looking at it is that maybe the tools available to entrapreneurs have advanced to the point where a lot more is possible in 3 months. Therefore a 3 month old company today looks like a 12 month company of 3 years ago.
  - danieltillett 11y ago
    What I was saying is a bit ambiguous. I wasn't suggesting that you can't build a business from an idea in 3 months, just that it appears that YC is not accepting teams with basically just an idea anymore. All the companies presenting looked to be pretty advanced going into YC. I don't blame YC for this as it is just a reflection of the great pool of candidates they get to choose from.
BinaryIdiot 11y ago
I'm curious as to how safe Nurx is. Some birth control can cause serious health issues if your background and / or current health are not taken into account. Is an app that asks questions "good enough" to remove the liability of a doctor prescribing something that could hurt / kill someone? Or am I just way off base? If anyone can elaborate it would be helpful :)
- smt88 11y ago
  > One of our doctors will review your request right away. If she needs more information or has relevant advice, she may call you before writing your prescription. [1] 1. http://www.nurx.co/howitworks.html http://www.nurx.co/howitworks.html
  - BinaryIdiot 11y ago
    I read that. The part that concerned me was not being there and looking at the patient. Birth control can cause some serious side affects. Granted it's a small portion of the population if I recall correctly but even so the patients are not doctors and may not understand the seriousness of answering a question incorrectly (or may not realize they are or their health could have changed since the last time they, say, had their blood pressure checked). Hence I'm curious what type of liability this opens them up to. Like I said maybe it's nothing / not a big deal but I was hoping if someone knew they could comment.
    - ghshephard 11y ago
      Presumably a doctor would know all this, and would take appropriate precautions prior to prescribing any medication. And, there is also such a thing as acceptable risk. Incorrectly used, even over the counter medicine such as aspirin can result in fatalities (Reye's syndrome)
      - danieltillett 11y ago
        Aspirin does not have to be incorrectly used to be a problem. Give something to enough people and someone will have a bad reaction.
        ghshephard 11y ago
        I call out Aspirin specifically, because you have to be very careful with children/teenagers who have flu-like symptoms or are recovering from chickenpox. This is a drug that can kill in fairly well known situations, but is available over the counter. Just because a drug is dangerous to certain people, doesn't mean that it can't, or shouldn't be prescribed by a doctor electronically.
eruditely 11y ago
This is a good batch, a few interesting things that caught my eye http://www.uplabs.com/ http://www.uplabs.com/ UI Resources for developers http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/10/function-of-beauty-backed-by-y-combinator-offers-customized-shampoo-and-conditioner/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/10/function-of-beauty-backed-b... > Personalized hair products I'm thinking about purchasing this right now, or am going to rather http://www.shypmate.com/ http://www.shypmate.com/ > Reduces shipping costs from Africa --> America by a factor of 10 apparently in their example, sounds like something fundamental and necessary. http://www.alphaflow.com/ http://www.alphaflow.com/ Beautiful UI, manage real estate investments. UI is really coming in everywhere isn't it? Beautiful. https://www.truebill.com/ https://www.truebill.com/ I REALLY need something like this, it helps you manage your subscription payments and I always get charged an extra time or two. Gosh I hate it -_-. I've lost so much money this way. That's it for me at first pass.
- maaaats 11y ago
  > This is a good batch A bit many "X for Y", though.
- scottkduncan 11y ago
  Shypmate idea is great but there are some obvious risks, like unwittingly becoming a drug mule. I wonder how they counteract that.
  - giarc 11y ago
    From their FAQ >Shypmate does not process requested items until it has been paid for. Once payment is confirmed, Shypmate will purchase item(s) within 24 hours and have it mailed directly to a Shypmate Traveler. So it looks like the products come from established online retailers and not from "my buddy is going to drop off a package to your house, don't open it, just deliver it".
myroon5 11y ago
I love the idea of QueueHop. Pretty simple idea that shouldn't be too expensive and should save stores lots of money and people a bit of time.
- skewart 11y ago
  I'm not sure if it will save stores money or not. A lot of stores don't want it to be too easy to check out and leave. Getting to the cashier and waiting in line increases the chances that you'll make another purchase. Stores focused more on high volume convenience-driven purchasesprobably think about things differently though, and maybe they'd be more interested in something like this. Maybe the bigger possibility is that it allows stores to present and sell their goods in afar more decentralized way that gets them closer to where consumers are. If on-demand workers, or drones, could restock inventory, and shoppers just needed an app to make purchases, then shopping malls could disolve into the surrounding cityscape.
  - durga 11y ago
    Just like how google's predecessors were not keen on search relevance so that users didn't find what they were searching for quickly - leading to them spending more time on the website and increasing ad revenue. We know where that logic led those companies to ;-)
    - tim333 11y ago
      There is a similar no queue technology in the UK. It's been quite successful. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/11472142/How-I-stole-my-shopping-from-Waitrose.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/11472142/Ho...
    - blackskad 11y ago
      IKEA, on the other hand, designed their stores specifically to keep customers inside as long as possible. If you don't know the shortcuts (or don't notice them), you have to wander through the whole showroom & marketplace. And just about everyone leaves with more than what they initially planned.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
ccallebs 11y ago
I had a watercooler discussion with a buddy of mine where we came up with PetCube. Apparently we're not as clever as we thought. :) I only saw two pure-social apps in the list. Is that atypical for a batch?
- jedberg 11y ago
  > I only saw two pure-social apps in the list. Is that atypical for a batch? Keep in mind that this only the first half. There's a second group tomorrow.
jeremy_k 11y ago
As a former Track & Field athlete I thought Trac (https://www.tracchicago.com/ https://www.tracchicago.com/) was really interesting. To have the ability to get automatic timing / splits in practice would have been amazing. I can remember the distance coach always having to run around and yell splits to everyone; I'm sure he wouldn't have minded focusing on other parts of the workout besides time. I wonder how well it would handle people running distance and sprinters running on the track at the same time? Also the fact that they have disposable chips used for races at $1 each would have given my HS (this was rural Oregon in a HS of ~250 kids) the ability to have automatic timing at our hosted meet(s). Really cool stuff for a sport that doesn't get a lot of attention.
- JimmyAustin 11y ago
  Potentially silly idea, but could this be (cheaply) replicated by a phone with a slow motion camera pointed across the finish line and an armband with a QR code on it facing towards the camera?
  - Cyph0n 11y ago
    I think RFID chips guarantee higher precision and much more reliable. If a leaf falls in front of the camera, or something suddenly changes in the background, that could easily distort the image.
  - nl 11y ago
    Plenty of QR based timing apps for fun runs around. ParkRun uses something like that. It isn't reliable enough for real races though.
- 1123581321 11y ago
  I had the opportunity to be a judge at a "shark tank" style event Trac pitched at last summer. Their presentation and product were outstanding and it sounded like they were already getting some good traction. I'm happy to see they've made it into YC.
pen2l 11y ago
Oooh, some are pretty cool. Here's a silly question: I'm just some random dude with zero experience or history of investing. When and how might I be able to invest in any of the startups listed in this page?
- myroon5 11y ago
  You may need to be an accredited investor, in which case you either need at least a million in assets or an income of more than 200k. I believe this restriction is in the process of being removed eventually though.
  - ericd 11y ago
    A small clarification, that's a million in assets not including your primary residence. Something about that being a reasonable proxy for the sophistication to understand the risks involved and the business (or maybe just wealthy enough to hire a reasonable lawyer to review the docs?)
- tlrobinson 11y ago
  The short answer is you'll need lots of money (typically minimum investment per company of $25K), and/or connections + be able to add value in other ways (as an advisor, etc). Alternatively, you may be able to find some of these companies on AngelList Syndicates, FundersClub, etc, though I think you'll still need to be an accredited investor.
- giarc 11y ago
  The rules have changed in Canada. There's a crowd sourced equity fundraiser called SeedUps.ca (I have no affiliation). You can read about the changes in Canadian laws here (http://www.crowdcapital.ca/2015/11/14/new-capital-raising-rules-for-canadians/ http://www.crowdcapital.ca/2015/11/14/new-capital-raising-ru...).
- sbierwagen 11y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor
kriro 11y ago
What is YC's policy (or ethical guideline) about accepting multiple companies in the same domain? I know (some) VCs enforce an ethics guideline where they only back one player per domain (A16Z does). Obviously it isn't always easy because you can't know in advance what startups morph into. Seems like Prompt and Chatfuel are fairly similar right now though. Any comments on this from YC and/or the Prompt/Chatfuel founders would be welcome :) Was this discussed at all when the decision to accept these two into the batch was made? Really curious how these situations are handled because it seems like it could be an even bigger issue for an accelerator like YC that takes more companies into the funnel than a typical later stage investor. A16Z mentions the limit to one player/domain as one of the more interesting constraints on their overall business model. I believe it's roughly on the same level as partner bandwidth.
- tim333 11y ago
  https://www.ycombinator.com/faq/#q8 https://www.ycombinator.com/faq/#q8 """Will you fund multiple startups working on the same idea? Yes. If you fund as many companies as we do it's unavoidable you'll end up with some overlap. Even if you tried not to accept competing companies, you'd still get overlap because startups' ideas morph so much. The way we deal with it is that when two startups are working on related stuff, we don't talk to one about what the other's doing. In practice it has not turned out to be a problem, because most big markets have room for several slightly different solutions, and it's unlikely that two startups would do precisely the same thing. """
- argonaut 11y ago
  This is not true at the seed stage. The back one player per domain rule is something usually only followed at series A and beyond. a16z, for example, does not have a policy of only backing one player at the seed stage. In fact, they scaled back seed investing years ago because despite this stated policy people still had this misconception. http://www.strictlyvc.com/2013/10/20/andreessen-horowitz-backs-seed-investing/ http://www.strictlyvc.com/2013/10/20/andreessen-horowitz-bac...
zby 11y ago
Looks like another illustration for 'software eating the world'.
Nadya 11y ago
If Function of Beauty's product is even 1/4th as good as their customer service was - I can see them doing very well. I saw their thread a while back and was looking to buy new hair product anyway - so went with them since what they're selling is about the same cost as what I was buying anyways. First things first, I purposefully broke their form when it asked me for my name (entered some Japanese). It was a small matter, but that's what made it stand out to me. They could have just left it blank or went with the name they had on file for me but instead they emailed me asking what the name should be. Then they messaged me on a Saturday to clarify one of my "goals" since it was contradicting my "hair profile". Slightly bigger matter to have my catered formula you know... actually catered to my hair and goals. Again, they could have just took my submission at its word rather than clarify with me but they chose to reach out. If the product itself is good, they've already won me over.
- giarc 11y ago
  I didn't look at the site but the idea does seem pretty cool (this coming from a guy with short hair and a no name shampoo bottle that last 4 months). Are they teaming up with hair salon's at all? Those are where customers that want to spend $30 on a bottle of shampoo are located. Partner with the salons and give them a cut. They could even provide a "training session" with stylists that can then work through the profile with their customer. The stylist becomes a brand ambassador.
asb 11y ago
Are Poppy childminders exclusively women? I found it interesting there's not even a token man in their graphics https://www.meetpoppy.com/caregivers https://www.meetpoppy.com/caregivers
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago
  Childcare is a very heavy female industry. It's a role that's highly feminized and the bias still carries very strongly today so yeah I'm not surprised at all. In fact I'd be willing to bet the amount of men they actually have in the network is less than a percentage point. Due to the perceived biases I too would probably only use graphics with women in it. I'm not saying it's right by any means but ultimately they're here to build a company and while they can certainly, very slowly, help the situation being overt may not be the best idea today.
  - josephmx 11y ago
    And what would your reaction be if a SV start up didn't even have a token woman in their graphics?
    - BinaryIdiot 11y ago
      Considering I never noticed that this was only females (nor did I care) I guess I probably wouldn't notice that as well.
- danieltillett 11y ago
  Given their size most like yes. Until you solve the perception that all men who want to work with children are pedophiles this is not going to change.
- giarc 11y ago
  This company, and many like it will suffer from the 'Homejoy' problem. Poppy is a middleman that is easily replaced with a text message.
shubhamjain 11y ago
Coming from India, I really wish Kisan Network becomes a success. Farmers rarely get the market price for the harvest and sometimes they are forced to sell their crop for pennies because there is no other way. I think the biggest hurdle in selling is lack of infrastructure for storing and transportation, both of which this startup seems to be trying to solve.
- ensignavenger 11y ago
  In the US, this problem is largely tackled by the formation of Farmer's cooperatives. Does anything similar exist in India?
mkohlmyr 11y ago
Perhaps I'm not giving the batch enough credit (there are some incredibly interesting companies in there) but it strikes me there is still a lot of fluff in between the gems. I can't help but think YC would see that, so - unless they expect those companies to be acquired quickly - other than if it is an attempt to corner the incubator market (once they are in every deal, they have all the leverage over both startups and VCs) I fail to understand why they need their batches to be this large. They could have a batch half the size or smaller and pour more gasoline on fewer (better) fires. A few of the companies seem like ones that could have bootstrapped or funded via kickstarter. They don't strike me as businesses that will make venture capitalists back their money in any considerable way. All that being said I absolutely love the shift toward hard tech and Africa. But I can't believe there's another 60 to come...
- danieltillett 11y ago
  I agree. There are a lot of great businesses in this group, but not too many potential unicorns. I really hope this signals a VC shift towards backing real businesses.
- ramykhuffash 11y ago
  A lot of today's big tech companies looked like "fluff" in the beginning. I assume YC picked the companies based on more than what their current product offering is.
  - ryanSrich 11y ago
    I think "fluff" is the wrong word. However I find it extremely difficult to imagine some of these companies earning > $1bn, which is what VCs are looking for. If you're not gunning for > $1bn in valuation you're essentially killing your company by giving away equity to VCs.
  - mkohlmyr 11y ago
    I think if you add the word "profitable" to the first sentence, the "a lot" changes to "some". But I will give you that "some" :) Fluff was probably the wrong word. When the perception you want to build around your incubator is about massive, life-improving, world-changing businesses (or at least that's my impression). There are some ideas I would consider leaving on the table for other investors and incubators. - plush phones for toddlers / really loud speakers (kickstarter). - Slack or Zapier acquisition targets. - Chatroulette for phonecalls. - The next Whisper / Secret / YikYak / Gossup / Babbly / Cloaq - Yet another live streaming service. - A meal subscription service which makes me buy an oven to join? No offense intended to any founders or investors. If I'm wrong that's great!
devit 11y ago
" UnnyWorld – A mobile League Of Legends clone: [...] While cloning popular games might not be prestigious, bringing the League Of Legends experience to mobile could be quite lucrative. " Doesn't sound like the best advertising...
- needz 11y ago
  Aside from that mobile already has a very popular MOBA, Vain Glory.
  - orliesaurus 11y ago
    Yeah - it was quite sad to see that company in the batch being the only one in the esport /videogames field
betimsl 11y ago
One of the good things I saw is that stabilized camera: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/revl-arc-the-first-stabilized-4k-action-camera--3#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/revl-arc-the-first-stabil... So cool.
vijithpad 11y ago
Not even a single marijuana industry startup ?
- orliesaurus 11y ago
  good point!
awqrre 11y ago
I like Deako but if they would add an electric outlet to the list of products that can be remotely controlled, it would be nice (maybe even with a kill-a-watt meter feature).
tangled_zans 11y ago
Does anyone have data for how many companies from the previous batches have survived so far and what their valuation is?

175 points by BinaryIdiot 11y ago

The thing I found most interesting about this batch is they are all pretty advanced. Although YC has not said otherwise it looks like "build a business from an idea in 3 months is dead".

giarc 11y ago
Another way of looking at it is that maybe the tools available to entrapreneurs have advanced to the point where a lot more is possible in 3 months. Therefore a 3 month old company today looks like a 12 month company of 3 years ago.
- danieltillett 11y ago
  What I was saying is a bit ambiguous. I wasn't suggesting that you can't build a business from an idea in 3 months, just that it appears that YC is not accepting teams with basically just an idea anymore. All the companies presenting looked to be pretty advanced going into YC. I don't blame YC for this as it is just a reflection of the great pool of candidates they get to choose from.

BinaryIdiot 11y ago

I'm curious as to how safe Nurx is. Some birth control can cause serious health issues if your background and / or current health are not taken into account. Is an app that asks questions "good enough" to remove the liability of a doctor prescribing something that could hurt / kill someone? Or am I just way off base? If anyone can elaborate it would be helpful :)

smt88 11y ago
> One of our doctors will review your request right away. If she needs more information or has relevant advice, she may call you before writing your prescription. [1] 1. http://www.nurx.co/howitworks.html http://www.nurx.co/howitworks.html
- BinaryIdiot 11y ago
  I read that. The part that concerned me was not being there and looking at the patient. Birth control can cause some serious side affects. Granted it's a small portion of the population if I recall correctly but even so the patients are not doctors and may not understand the seriousness of answering a question incorrectly (or may not realize they are or their health could have changed since the last time they, say, had their blood pressure checked). Hence I'm curious what type of liability this opens them up to. Like I said maybe it's nothing / not a big deal but I was hoping if someone knew they could comment.
  - ghshephard 11y ago
    Presumably a doctor would know all this, and would take appropriate precautions prior to prescribing any medication. And, there is also such a thing as acceptable risk. Incorrectly used, even over the counter medicine such as aspirin can result in fatalities (Reye's syndrome)
    - danieltillett 11y ago
      Aspirin does not have to be incorrectly used to be a problem. Give something to enough people and someone will have a bad reaction.
      - ghshephard 11y ago
        I call out Aspirin specifically, because you have to be very careful with children/teenagers who have flu-like symptoms or are recovering from chickenpox. This is a drug that can kill in fairly well known situations, but is available over the counter. Just because a drug is dangerous to certain people, doesn't mean that it can't, or shouldn't be prescribed by a doctor electronically.

eruditely 11y ago

This is a good batch, a few interesting things that caught my eye http://www.uplabs.com/ http://www.uplabs.com/ UI Resources for developers http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/10/function-of-beauty-backed-by-y-combinator-offers-customized-shampoo-and-conditioner/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/10/function-of-beauty-backed-b... > Personalized hair products I'm thinking about purchasing this right now, or am going to rather http://www.shypmate.com/ http://www.shypmate.com/ > Reduces shipping costs from Africa --> America by a factor of 10 apparently in their example, sounds like something fundamental and necessary. http://www.alphaflow.com/ http://www.alphaflow.com/ Beautiful UI, manage real estate investments. UI is really coming in everywhere isn't it? Beautiful. https://www.truebill.com/ https://www.truebill.com/ I REALLY need something like this, it helps you manage your subscription payments and I always get charged an extra time or two. Gosh I hate it -_-. I've lost so much money this way. That's it for me at first pass.

maaaats 11y ago
> This is a good batch A bit many "X for Y", though.
scottkduncan 11y ago
Shypmate idea is great but there are some obvious risks, like unwittingly becoming a drug mule. I wonder how they counteract that.
- giarc 11y ago
  From their FAQ >Shypmate does not process requested items until it has been paid for. Once payment is confirmed, Shypmate will purchase item(s) within 24 hours and have it mailed directly to a Shypmate Traveler. So it looks like the products come from established online retailers and not from "my buddy is going to drop off a package to your house, don't open it, just deliver it".

myroon5 11y ago

I love the idea of QueueHop. Pretty simple idea that shouldn't be too expensive and should save stores lots of money and people a bit of time.

skewart 11y ago
I'm not sure if it will save stores money or not. A lot of stores don't want it to be too easy to check out and leave. Getting to the cashier and waiting in line increases the chances that you'll make another purchase. Stores focused more on high volume convenience-driven purchasesprobably think about things differently though, and maybe they'd be more interested in something like this. Maybe the bigger possibility is that it allows stores to present and sell their goods in afar more decentralized way that gets them closer to where consumers are. If on-demand workers, or drones, could restock inventory, and shoppers just needed an app to make purchases, then shopping malls could disolve into the surrounding cityscape.
- durga 11y ago
  Just like how google's predecessors were not keen on search relevance so that users didn't find what they were searching for quickly - leading to them spending more time on the website and increasing ad revenue. We know where that logic led those companies to ;-)
  - tim333 11y ago
    There is a similar no queue technology in the UK. It's been quite successful. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/11472142/How-I-stole-my-shopping-from-Waitrose.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/11472142/Ho...
  - blackskad 11y ago
    IKEA, on the other hand, designed their stores specifically to keep customers inside as long as possible. If you don't know the shortcuts (or don't notice them), you have to wander through the whole showroom & marketplace. And just about everyone leaves with more than what they initially planned.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

ccallebs 11y ago

I had a watercooler discussion with a buddy of mine where we came up with PetCube. Apparently we're not as clever as we thought. :) I only saw two pure-social apps in the list. Is that atypical for a batch?

jedberg 11y ago
> I only saw two pure-social apps in the list. Is that atypical for a batch? Keep in mind that this only the first half. There's a second group tomorrow.

jeremy_k 11y ago

As a former Track & Field athlete I thought Trac (https://www.tracchicago.com/ https://www.tracchicago.com/) was really interesting. To have the ability to get automatic timing / splits in practice would have been amazing. I can remember the distance coach always having to run around and yell splits to everyone; I'm sure he wouldn't have minded focusing on other parts of the workout besides time. I wonder how well it would handle people running distance and sprinters running on the track at the same time? Also the fact that they have disposable chips used for races at $1 each would have given my HS (this was rural Oregon in a HS of ~250 kids) the ability to have automatic timing at our hosted meet(s). Really cool stuff for a sport that doesn't get a lot of attention.

JimmyAustin 11y ago
Potentially silly idea, but could this be (cheaply) replicated by a phone with a slow motion camera pointed across the finish line and an armband with a QR code on it facing towards the camera?
- Cyph0n 11y ago
  I think RFID chips guarantee higher precision and much more reliable. If a leaf falls in front of the camera, or something suddenly changes in the background, that could easily distort the image.
- nl 11y ago
  Plenty of QR based timing apps for fun runs around. ParkRun uses something like that. It isn't reliable enough for real races though.
1123581321 11y ago
I had the opportunity to be a judge at a "shark tank" style event Trac pitched at last summer. Their presentation and product were outstanding and it sounded like they were already getting some good traction. I'm happy to see they've made it into YC.

pen2l 11y ago

Oooh, some are pretty cool. Here's a silly question: I'm just some random dude with zero experience or history of investing. When and how might I be able to invest in any of the startups listed in this page?

myroon5 11y ago
You may need to be an accredited investor, in which case you either need at least a million in assets or an income of more than 200k. I believe this restriction is in the process of being removed eventually though.
- ericd 11y ago
  A small clarification, that's a million in assets not including your primary residence. Something about that being a reasonable proxy for the sophistication to understand the risks involved and the business (or maybe just wealthy enough to hire a reasonable lawyer to review the docs?)
tlrobinson 11y ago
The short answer is you'll need lots of money (typically minimum investment per company of $25K), and/or connections + be able to add value in other ways (as an advisor, etc). Alternatively, you may be able to find some of these companies on AngelList Syndicates, FundersClub, etc, though I think you'll still need to be an accredited investor.
giarc 11y ago
The rules have changed in Canada. There's a crowd sourced equity fundraiser called SeedUps.ca (I have no affiliation). You can read about the changes in Canadian laws here (http://www.crowdcapital.ca/2015/11/14/new-capital-raising-rules-for-canadians/ http://www.crowdcapital.ca/2015/11/14/new-capital-raising-ru...).
sbierwagen 11y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accredited_investor

kriro 11y ago

What is YC's policy (or ethical guideline) about accepting multiple companies in the same domain? I know (some) VCs enforce an ethics guideline where they only back one player per domain (A16Z does). Obviously it isn't always easy because you can't know in advance what startups morph into. Seems like Prompt and Chatfuel are fairly similar right now though. Any comments on this from YC and/or the Prompt/Chatfuel founders would be welcome :) Was this discussed at all when the decision to accept these two into the batch was made? Really curious how these situations are handled because it seems like it could be an even bigger issue for an accelerator like YC that takes more companies into the funnel than a typical later stage investor. A16Z mentions the limit to one player/domain as one of the more interesting constraints on their overall business model. I believe it's roughly on the same level as partner bandwidth.

tim333 11y ago
https://www.ycombinator.com/faq/#q8 https://www.ycombinator.com/faq/#q8 """Will you fund multiple startups working on the same idea? Yes. If you fund as many companies as we do it's unavoidable you'll end up with some overlap. Even if you tried not to accept competing companies, you'd still get overlap because startups' ideas morph so much. The way we deal with it is that when two startups are working on related stuff, we don't talk to one about what the other's doing. In practice it has not turned out to be a problem, because most big markets have room for several slightly different solutions, and it's unlikely that two startups would do precisely the same thing. """
argonaut 11y ago
This is not true at the seed stage. The back one player per domain rule is something usually only followed at series A and beyond. a16z, for example, does not have a policy of only backing one player at the seed stage. In fact, they scaled back seed investing years ago because despite this stated policy people still had this misconception. http://www.strictlyvc.com/2013/10/20/andreessen-horowitz-backs-seed-investing/ http://www.strictlyvc.com/2013/10/20/andreessen-horowitz-bac...

zby 11y ago

Looks like another illustration for 'software eating the world'.

Nadya 11y ago

If Function of Beauty's product is even 1/4th as good as their customer service was - I can see them doing very well. I saw their thread a while back and was looking to buy new hair product anyway - so went with them since what they're selling is about the same cost as what I was buying anyways. First things first, I purposefully broke their form when it asked me for my name (entered some Japanese). It was a small matter, but that's what made it stand out to me. They could have just left it blank or went with the name they had on file for me but instead they emailed me asking what the name should be. Then they messaged me on a Saturday to clarify one of my "goals" since it was contradicting my "hair profile". Slightly bigger matter to have my catered formula you know... actually catered to my hair and goals. Again, they could have just took my submission at its word rather than clarify with me but they chose to reach out. If the product itself is good, they've already won me over.

giarc 11y ago
I didn't look at the site but the idea does seem pretty cool (this coming from a guy with short hair and a no name shampoo bottle that last 4 months). Are they teaming up with hair salon's at all? Those are where customers that want to spend $30 on a bottle of shampoo are located. Partner with the salons and give them a cut. They could even provide a "training session" with stylists that can then work through the profile with their customer. The stylist becomes a brand ambassador.

asb 11y ago

Are Poppy childminders exclusively women? I found it interesting there's not even a token man in their graphics https://www.meetpoppy.com/caregivers https://www.meetpoppy.com/caregivers

BinaryIdiot 11y ago
Childcare is a very heavy female industry. It's a role that's highly feminized and the bias still carries very strongly today so yeah I'm not surprised at all. In fact I'd be willing to bet the amount of men they actually have in the network is less than a percentage point. Due to the perceived biases I too would probably only use graphics with women in it. I'm not saying it's right by any means but ultimately they're here to build a company and while they can certainly, very slowly, help the situation being overt may not be the best idea today.
- josephmx 11y ago
  And what would your reaction be if a SV start up didn't even have a token woman in their graphics?
  - BinaryIdiot 11y ago
    Considering I never noticed that this was only females (nor did I care) I guess I probably wouldn't notice that as well.
danieltillett 11y ago
Given their size most like yes. Until you solve the perception that all men who want to work with children are pedophiles this is not going to change.
giarc 11y ago
This company, and many like it will suffer from the 'Homejoy' problem. Poppy is a middleman that is easily replaced with a text message.

shubhamjain 11y ago

Coming from India, I really wish Kisan Network becomes a success. Farmers rarely get the market price for the harvest and sometimes they are forced to sell their crop for pennies because there is no other way. I think the biggest hurdle in selling is lack of infrastructure for storing and transportation, both of which this startup seems to be trying to solve.

ensignavenger 11y ago
In the US, this problem is largely tackled by the formation of Farmer's cooperatives. Does anything similar exist in India?

mkohlmyr 11y ago

Perhaps I'm not giving the batch enough credit (there are some incredibly interesting companies in there) but it strikes me there is still a lot of fluff in between the gems. I can't help but think YC would see that, so - unless they expect those companies to be acquired quickly - other than if it is an attempt to corner the incubator market (once they are in every deal, they have all the leverage over both startups and VCs) I fail to understand why they need their batches to be this large. They could have a batch half the size or smaller and pour more gasoline on fewer (better) fires. A few of the companies seem like ones that could have bootstrapped or funded via kickstarter. They don't strike me as businesses that will make venture capitalists back their money in any considerable way. All that being said I absolutely love the shift toward hard tech and Africa. But I can't believe there's another 60 to come...

danieltillett 11y ago
I agree. There are a lot of great businesses in this group, but not too many potential unicorns. I really hope this signals a VC shift towards backing real businesses.
ramykhuffash 11y ago
A lot of today's big tech companies looked like "fluff" in the beginning. I assume YC picked the companies based on more than what their current product offering is.
- ryanSrich 11y ago
  I think "fluff" is the wrong word. However I find it extremely difficult to imagine some of these companies earning > $1bn, which is what VCs are looking for. If you're not gunning for > $1bn in valuation you're essentially killing your company by giving away equity to VCs.
- mkohlmyr 11y ago
  I think if you add the word "profitable" to the first sentence, the "a lot" changes to "some". But I will give you that "some" :) Fluff was probably the wrong word. When the perception you want to build around your incubator is about massive, life-improving, world-changing businesses (or at least that's my impression). There are some ideas I would consider leaving on the table for other investors and incubators. - plush phones for toddlers / really loud speakers (kickstarter). - Slack or Zapier acquisition targets. - Chatroulette for phonecalls. - The next Whisper / Secret / YikYak / Gossup / Babbly / Cloaq - Yet another live streaming service. - A meal subscription service which makes me buy an oven to join? No offense intended to any founders or investors. If I'm wrong that's great!

devit 11y ago

" UnnyWorld – A mobile League Of Legends clone: [...] While cloning popular games might not be prestigious, bringing the League Of Legends experience to mobile could be quite lucrative. " Doesn't sound like the best advertising...

needz 11y ago
Aside from that mobile already has a very popular MOBA, Vain Glory.
- orliesaurus 11y ago
  Yeah - it was quite sad to see that company in the batch being the only one in the esport /videogames field

betimsl 11y ago

One of the good things I saw is that stabilized camera: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/revl-arc-the-first-stabilized-4k-action-camera--3#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/revl-arc-the-first-stabil... So cool.

vijithpad 11y ago

Not even a single marijuana industry startup ?

orliesaurus 11y ago
good point!

awqrre 11y ago

I like Deako but if they would add an electric outlet to the list of products that can be remotely controlled, it would be nice (maybe even with a kill-a-watt meter feature).

tangled_zans 11y ago

Does anyone have data for how many companies from the previous batches have survived so far and what their valuation is?