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I suspect that in times of crisis people tend to play it safe and start more 'simple' companies, with safer business models, instead of swinging for the fences

by Janteh 17y ago

I suspect that in times of crisis people tend to play it safe and start more 'simple' companies, with safer business models, instead of swinging for the fences with experimental ideas that have no clear future or business model. Still, there are some very interesting companies in this batch that are not particularly sexy but might have great potential.

axod 17y ago
I don't think these are safe business model companies. Call me a cynic, but it may be more of a case of "built for investors/acquirers in SV".
- pg 17y ago
  It's not so much that you're cynical as that you haven't thought about where the descriptions of these startups came from. They came from an event where startups presented to investors in SV. So of course the descriptions sound like they'd be appealing to that audience; that's what they were trying to do.
  - thaumaturgy 17y ago
    Honest question: would tech-savvy investors' opinions of a short blurb really be that different from other technical businesspeople? Or, to put it another way: would it really require two completely different statements to appear attractive to both groups? And more critically: I realize that this is your baby, and you have had a large amount of involvement and personal investment in these projects over the last several months. However, you're coming off as both very defensive, and very dismissive of the criticism so far. It's surprising to me that YC would unveil its next batch of startups, and get such a "meh" reaction from the audience. That indicates a problem worth investigating, either in the community here, or in the specific projects that were funded this time 'round, or in YC's goals (specifically whether those goals might be diverging from those of the HN community).
    - pg 17y ago
      Yes, you want a different type of description for investors: you want to err on the side of explaining it in terms of stuff they already know. In fact, I explicitly tell YC startups to explain themselves to investors as "the x of y" whenever possible. See point 14: http://www.paulgraham.com/investors.html http://www.paulgraham.com/investors.html The reason I've been so contemptuous of some of the comments on this thread is that I've been seeing the identical comments on web forums for 5 years. That's how I can be sure they're not a sign of a problem. They're just the same type of people making the same type of comments that always get made about newly launched startups.
    - lloydarmbrust 17y ago
      Were you there? I was and didn't see this "meh" reaction you're talking about.

by Janteh 17y ago

axod 17y ago

I don't think these are safe business model companies. Call me a cynic, but it may be more of a case of "built for investors/acquirers in SV".

pg 17y ago
It's not so much that you're cynical as that you haven't thought about where the descriptions of these startups came from. They came from an event where startups presented to investors in SV. So of course the descriptions sound like they'd be appealing to that audience; that's what they were trying to do.
- thaumaturgy 17y ago
  Honest question: would tech-savvy investors' opinions of a short blurb really be that different from other technical businesspeople? Or, to put it another way: would it really require two completely different statements to appear attractive to both groups? And more critically: I realize that this is your baby, and you have had a large amount of involvement and personal investment in these projects over the last several months. However, you're coming off as both very defensive, and very dismissive of the criticism so far. It's surprising to me that YC would unveil its next batch of startups, and get such a "meh" reaction from the audience. That indicates a problem worth investigating, either in the community here, or in the specific projects that were funded this time 'round, or in YC's goals (specifically whether those goals might be diverging from those of the HN community).
  - pg 17y ago
    Yes, you want a different type of description for investors: you want to err on the side of explaining it in terms of stuff they already know. In fact, I explicitly tell YC startups to explain themselves to investors as "the x of y" whenever possible. See point 14: http://www.paulgraham.com/investors.html http://www.paulgraham.com/investors.html The reason I've been so contemptuous of some of the comments on this thread is that I've been seeing the identical comments on web forums for 5 years. That's how I can be sure they're not a sign of a problem. They're just the same type of people making the same type of comments that always get made about newly launched startups.
  - lloydarmbrust 17y ago
    Were you there? I was and didn't see this "meh" reaction you're talking about.