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Startups that launched at Y Combinator S16 Demo Day 1

155 points by runesoerensen 10y ago

untilHellbanned 10y ago
YC would do well with a hiatus. Less is more. Frankenstein-accelerator. Paul Graham had the right throughput.
- Permit 10y ago
  FWIW pg often spoke of his desire to scale YC and benefit more startups. As I understand it that's one of Sam Altman's primary goals.
  - untilHellbanned 10y ago
    yep, and I'd argue its not working.
  - tarr11 10y ago
    This echoes 500 Startups thesis.
  - paulcole 10y ago
    >benefit more startups I call it buying more lottery tickets and it's not a sound investment strategy.
    - dagw 10y ago
      For whom? YC or the people applying to YC?
      - garry 10y ago
        I don't even work at YC anymore but care about it deeply. The deal is actually a good one because it's not like getting money from someplace where you get some advice once in awhile and that's it. It's a huge community that helps each other, and that makes it work. You learn things from people that nobody would ever share on a forum or conference or put in a blog post, and it's that secret knowledge that helps startups go from zero to one. I wouldn't be here without that community, and a lot of successful founders feel the same way.
    - igf 10y ago
      If my lottery tickets had anything like the rate of return of YC's, then buying more would be an extremely sound investment strategy.
    - jomamaxx 10y ago
      "I call it buying more lottery tickets and it's not a sound investment strategy." It is definitely a 'lottery ticket' strategy and it is definitely worth expanding. If YC can establish itself as 'the place you do seed funding' in America, and can get kind of a monopoly on deal-flow ... then they should invest in anything and everything that even makes sense. I'd argue the program is too big now to offer any really special value on an individual basis, it's a 'filter' with 'access'. Like getting into Harvard is maybe more important than anything you actually do there. The H-bomb is what opens doors, just like the YC-bomb. I personally think that YC companies are on average decent, but most of them are not particularly interesting. Nor do I buy that most of them could reach a $100M+ market. That said, most of the 'successes' will be acquisitions by big companies paying often massive multiples for future earnings and 'strategic value' and the projects will go nowhere once absorbed.
      - garry 10y ago
        You seem to be ignoring the simple fact that YC has invested in startups now worth over $80B in market value and the closest comparable is more than 10X less. You're right that most have difficulty getting to $100M but frankly that is most of them. That's how the power law works. Investors who don't make money in VC spend all their time trying to avoid making mistakes. The best investors make sure they don't miss the billion dollar startups. Your last statement is factually incorrect as well. Most of the YC portfolio value is from large standalone businesses on track for IPO. There are exits that are large and notable through acquisition but if you read PG's writings and talk to YC partners, acquisition is never encouraged. At other places that's the only chance they stand at returning their funds even 2X. Harsh but true.
        jomamaxx 10y ago
        I'm definitely not ignoring the fact that YC has invested in startups 'worth $80B'. However - my last statement is correct. Most YC businesses will NOT IPO, not even close. Most of the 'success stories' from YC will come from acquisitions, you can hardly deny this. Sure - most of the valuation may derive from YC businesses that (eventually) do an IPO, but they are very small in number, so I think it would be disingenuous to use an $80B valuation, which is derived from a tiny number of companies (mostly one: AirBnB) - to describe 'successful YC companies'. Also, to be fair, as far as I am aware, in the entire history of YC, none of their companies have done an IPO. So, there's that.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
dawhizkid 10y ago
startup era of 2009-2014 is long over.
- 1_listerine_pls 10y ago
  What do you mean?
  - dawhizkid 10y ago
    Startups thrived then because mobile technology was just getting big and bigger tech companies were largely late to the party (including FB, GOOG) giving startups a chance to hit it big (IG, SC, Messaging apps, etc.). Now these giants are innovating as fast if not faster than most small startups and the small guy barely stands a chance. I can't think of a startup that started in the last 3 years that has really "made it." Snapchat is 5 years old, Lyft 4, Uber 6, Airbnb 7+, Reddit 10+.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - teej 10y ago
      Or maybe it takes 3-5 years to "make it".
    - paul 10y ago
      You can't think of a startup started in the last 3 years that has really "made it" because it takes years for a startup to "really make it"! If you disagree, please find the 5 year old hn thread where people say that snapchat is the next big thing.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
    - kayoone 10y ago
      Slack comes to mind, i think it was released in 2013.
    - 10y ago
1_listerine_pls 10y ago
Every idea you have will be done by a better prepared YC startup, eventually. Makes me sad...
- razvanr 10y ago
  Go on being that better prepared YC startup then.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- brandnewlow 10y ago
  Your sadness is based on incomplete information. Many YC companies flame out every year far all sorts of reasons, even with all the advantages that come from participating in the program. If you want to make your thing work badly enough you can make it work, competition or no.
  - roasm 10y ago
    Right. There are still more "successful" companies that are _not_ YC than those that are. While there are some advantages to YC, there are advantages to other incubators, or other angels, or completely bootstrapping, etc.
- 20yrs_no_equity 10y ago
  I was delighted to discover one of the startups is doing what I'm about to be doing. So they are ahead of me and they have gone thru YC. So they are primed for success, while I'm still busting my butt to get to the point where I can apply to the next round of accelerators. But they have taken what I consider to be the wrong approach, and seem to be missing a tidal wave of disruption. They are aiming for a where the puck is going to be in a year, not where it's going to be in 5 years (the first one is a lot easier than the second) Plus going thru YC and getting on that SV ... path ... has its own costs and risks. Taking VC starts a clock and limits your options and in some ways, opportunity, to what the VC can see. For example how much revenue you have in a year has a huge impact with whether you can raise revenue a year from now. If you really have a better view of the market and future and technology than VCs and Accelerator Mentors (and you should, after all, because you're an expert in this area- and if you aren't you will be in 6 months) those limitations are not to your advantage. In my experience in an accelerator so many of the companies were still trying to figure things out. They didn't know things well enough to confidently know the difference between the good and bad advice they were getting from the mentors. (mentors even giving good advice can be wrong, simply because their expertise isn't what you're doing-- if it were, the market you're attacking would already be taken.) In the case of the competitor to what I'm starting, I can see how they have made some bad choices already (just from the TechCrunch article, haven't even clicked thru to their site) because they are already practicing the cargo cult dance, building paper maché airplanes hoping for VC money to rain down from the sky. That's fine, they may win that way, but I still like my chances. If you read these articles every demo day and watch the YC and TechStars startups, eventually you get to where you can tell which ones have something and which ones don't (though of course there are some outliers.) None of these companies have it made, so don't lose heart.
venning 10y ago
Honest question: have the specific funding goals of YC changed to accommodate more pedestrian "lifestyle" businesses? A number of these companies look like they could make viable businesses turning out respectable multi-million-dollar-a-year profits without ever being a target for a billion-dollar acquisition. (My understanding is that YC specifically targets opportunities that have hundred-million- to billion-dollar potential, so perhaps my underlying assumption is wrong here.) Does this mean YC is hedging their bets, or are they amenable to funding "low" potential companies now? That would seem to jive with their recent public statements about wanting to expand, since not all viable businesses see huge exits.
- lacker 10y ago
  YC's goals haven't changed. The conventional wisdom on what startups make sense to fund is changing though - the whole "software is eating the world" logic suggests that many traditionally non-software businesses are ripe for disruption as well. Think Dollar Shave Club.
  - venning 10y ago
    That's not quite my question. I'm not referring to the divide between "pure software" businesses and, well, everything else. I'm referring to the divide between $10MM/year gross profit and $1B exit. Dollar Shave Club had a $1B exit. Is YC willing to fund the former?
  - mtviewdave 10y ago
    It's not just that they're "non-software" business. They're not really even technology businesses, in the traditional Silicon Valley (HP, Intel, Apple, Atari, Synopsys, Netscape, Google, Facebook, Snapchat) sense. Both DSC and Casper are innovative companies, but (as far as I can tell) they don't innovate in technology, they instead use technology to leverage innovation in other areas. Casper could have been founded 30 years ago. But would NEA and Norwest have invested in 1986 in a version of Casper that used late-night TV ads and a 1-800 number? My guess is probably not. So what does it mean that they do now? Does this mean that the current fashion in VC is shifting away from technology innovation? If so, does this mean that pure technology ventures may soon find it hard to find funding?
vowelless 10y ago
> JustRide – Getaround for India Just curious, is that image of a bridge in India?
- SwaroopH 10y ago
  Of course not, the cars & their license plates also give it away.
- robertnealan 10y ago
  That's actually from the Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco — tower on the right is 1 Rincon (there's already a few more next to it going up now). Curious if this was a case of "just throw up something that looks halfway decent" or if they're intentionally trying to appeal with the US car culture?
tomjen3 10y ago
Cool. Really looking forward to that calorie counting thing. If that works and can be hooked up to beeminder and corporate welfare programs, that could potentially be a game changer in terms of obesity.
- dreeves 10y ago
  Thanks for the implicit Beeminder plug! And funny Freudian slip there with "corporate welfare" instead of "corporate wellness". :)
jedc 10y ago
How many startups presented off-the-record?
- BinaryIdiot 10y ago
  None...I thought. Right? Do they do that?
  - argonaut 10y ago
    Yes, they have definitely done that in past demo days (meaning, reporters at Demo Day can't write about these startups).
    - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
      Interesting I never knew they did that. Now I'm curious what compan(ies) they've done that with, why and if they are still in a "stealth" mode.
      - argonaut 10y ago
        What I heard is that often the startup feels it isn't ready to launch yet, so it wants to wait before doing a press blitz.
wsgolfer 10y ago
FYI, Venning, I don't believe parent is PG. It's a different Paul. PG's user account is https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pg https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pg
- venning 10y ago
  I know: https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/y-c-switches-up-its-management-as-altman-shifts-focus/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/y-c-switches-up-its-manage... Edit: I didn't provide much context. He is Paul Buchheit, a (the?) managing partner at YC Core.
  - runesoerensen 10y ago
    Yep Paul Buchheit runs YC Core. Here's a more in-depth article about the "new" structure: http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-paul-buchheit-ali-roghawni-on-revamped-y-combinator-2016-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-paul-buchheit-ali-... I also enjoyed reading this interview: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/03/y-combinator-latest-batch-was-a-record-but-bigger.html http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/03/y-...
- dang 10y ago
  I know you were being helpful but it's probably best if we detach this from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12341440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12341440 and mark it off-topic.
NhanH 10y ago
Simbi (the bartering marketplace) looks interesting. Wouldn't it be functionally equivalent to building something that allows people to trade their skill for money directly? Also, does the user on Simbi pay ... taxes right now? It would be interesting if they don't and Simbi becomes big, cause IRS is really the one government agency you won't ever fight and win.
- puranjay 10y ago
  I had the exact same idea which I just sat around on...more along the lines of open requests ("I will do X in exchange for Y") Oh well, good for them - they executed
  - ebalit 10y ago
    It looks a lot like LETS [1], those non-profit through which you can exchange services with other members. There is often a social aspect in these systems and the exchange rate is more related to efforts than to the economical value. 1 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system
    - ojosilva 10y ago
      My wife ran a Time-based currency market in Madrid 6 years ago, it even got the attention of the press. It's a slightly different model from LETS since time is the currency and different tasks are, therefore, all valued the same. I was the one to install and maintain the software behind it (called Cyclos, project.cyclos.org). I'm glad someone can turn that into a business, people really love to get help from others and/or offer their own services. Although my feeling is that there's considerable churn in both supply and demand.
      - ebalit 10y ago
        Turning it into a profitable business could increase this type of market by investing in the software infrastructure and promoting this type of trade. But I wonder how they plan to extract a part of the value that is traded on this market. It's not really possible to take fees.
angryasian 10y ago
https://getexponent.com/ https://getexponent.com/ Does anyone know definitively but doesn't react native have issues with performance on android ?
- ccheever 10y ago
  React Native on Android has gotten way better over the last year. In general, Android phones just have worse performance than iPhones (even when they have better specs -- I'm not totally sure why) regardless of whether you're dealing with React Native or not. Sometimes you might have to spend some time wrangling your code to get the performance results you want, but that's usually the case in building software. Check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=st.li.listapp https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=st.li.listapp . It is built with Exponent/React Native and has pretty great performance. Got featured in the Play Store.
  - misiti3780 10y ago
    was the ios app for list created with exponent also ?
    - jameside 10y ago
      The iOS app was made with UIKit. Exponent could be a good fit for companies in similar positions who have just an app for just one platform (more often iOS) and want to build an Android version but find it hard to hire that talent.
dschiptsov 10y ago
Strange, almost no data-economy (collecting and selling user's data - the way "social" is monetized) or data-science startups. A thin layer of encryption over cloud storages is a clever idea! And this is exactly how tech entrepreneurship should be - even if the project would fail due to non-technical reasons, the technology being developed could be reused and sold. "Lifestyle startup" meme is crap.
- BenderV 10y ago
  I was also surprised. Almost no "machine learning" or "AI" startups. Maybe they are trying to regroup startups sector in theme, so maybe tomorrow?
- joelg236 10y ago
  > Today’s startups were focused on consumer, developer tools, security, hardware, marketplaces, and non-profit. We’ll see a different set tomorrow concentrated around enterprise, B2B, biotech, edtech, and fintech From the article
ignasl 10y ago
It seems startups are coming to consumer goods. It's likely that dollar shaving club's success initiated a new trend. All that knowledge from previous startups about lean development, marketing, growth hacking etc will be passed together with contacts and influential backers. Even here we see Tampons! (which I though is ridiculous first). Interesting how it will pan out. PG and similar companies should be at least a little bit worried.
soufron 10y ago
Wow, so many "lifestyle" BS.
ekianjo 10y ago
> Those tiny seat-back screens cost airlines a fortune because of installation and the weight they add, and they make you feel trapped on the plane. Skylights has developed its own VR headsets and software so passenger can strap in and watch 2D and 3D movies on a giant virtual screen How is a headset less heavy than a screen on a seat? On top of that, good luck for the hostess when trying to serve you a drink or dinner and you are fully absorbed somewhere else.
- igf 10y ago
  Building in an interrupt "Hey, pay attention to the real world now" feature would seem important. On the other hand, it'd still be awkward when you had to climb over someone to go to the toilet or something. I'd be interested to try inflight VR. It could be really good, or it could just be a one-way ticket to airsickness. What I'd really love would be a feature that lets me see the scenery currently around me, as if I were flying in the air without the plane. You could just use Google Maps data at first, but if someday they installed a few cameras on the exterior...
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    > What I'd really love would be a feature that lets me see the scenery currently around me, as if I were flying in the air without the plane. You could just use Google Maps data at first, but if someday they installed a few cameras on the exterior... Wouldn't that make you sick by itself though ? :)
thatfrenchguy 10y ago
"Flex – The modern tampon" You mean menstrual cups, that are worth like 20 bucks and you can keep for more than a year ?
- MatthewMcDonald 10y ago
  It's tough to give an in-depth description of a product with a short blurb. It sounds like Flex is significantly different from a traditional menstrual cup: http://www.themacro.com/articles/2016/08/the-flex-company/ http://www.themacro.com/articles/2016/08/the-flex-company/
  - mkolodny 10y ago
    From the interview: > ...they don’t like the fact that you have to rinse and reuse a menstrual cup. Plus, they’re difficult to insert and remove. I guess that's how Flex is different from a menstrual cup. Not being a woman, I can't say how important those things are. I'd guess that they're not worth the extra $20/month, but maybe they are.
yfhsjjskc 10y ago
Idea: a marketing/e-commerce company that takes existing unbranded consumer products, invents generic startup names for them (Noun & Noun), and resells each on its own simple, well-designed site with hipster aesthetic. Piggyback on Amazon fulfillment. Get better margin by reusing the same tech and overhead on each site. Employ low-paid "founders" who can tell a good story but don't have any particular business skill to create some marketing material to try to build buzz for "their" startup. The 2016 version of the dropshipping hustle.
forgetsusername 10y ago
A bit of a stretch to make claims like "growing 13% per week!" and "20% margins!" on tiny businesses.
- garry 10y ago
  You misunderstand. Most folks don't even do that. If you can't grow from small numbers then it will be impossible to grow at large numbers. These stats are table stakes.
misiti3780 10y ago
Exponent - ROR for React Native sounds really interesting - anyone using it ?
aacook 10y ago
Really dig Go Go Grandparent. About a month ago my 93 year old Grandpa was hospitalized for pneumonia. His license was taken for 30 days (either by his doctor's recommendation, or by mandate, I'm not sure) so he was house bound. My Grandpa's daily routine starts by getting out of the house. After a couple weeks being stuck in the house it was really starting to get to him. He doesn't really like asking people for favors, so, he resorted to calling up the local cab company and having the cab take him to the bank, grocery store, and his 2nd bank. Feels like Go Go Grandparent could exist for many other things besides rides, like placing an order for groceries or submitting a prescription.
- icebraining 10y ago
  +1, it's the most interesting of the lot. On the other hand, it seems to assume proficiency with those automated voice menus, which my grandparents can't use either. I wonder if "fully human" system would be profitable.
ThomPete 10y ago
If I was to invest in any of these it would be http://www.aptonomy.com/ http://www.aptonomy.com/ I have often thought about this myself. There are som really interesting problems to tackle (like drone clustering and continued surveillance and tracking of intruders using a series of drones (as they run out of energy) Their challenge is going to be legislative more than anything else but things are working in their direction.
- ohitsdom 10y ago
  Agreed, I too had this same idea! So many security guards are paid to patrol parking lots. This could be cheaper and way more effective.
  - ThomPete 10y ago
    Could even be used as first responder to even figure out if you needed to send someone. With infared and camera it would be very easy.
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    Security guards are paid to patrol parking lots because experience has shown that the presence of human security guards patrolling the parking lots reduces crime, even compared to comprehensive and visible remote monitoring with obvious (and advertised) cameras. I'm not sure putting the cameras on drones changes the psychology that leads to this effect.
    - nickpsecurity 10y ago
      On top of that, I wonder if its effectiveness will be impacted by the fact that destroying a drone and attacking/killing a human have different, legal consequences. Crooks sabotage equipment a lot more than they attack people. Quite a few ways to shoot down or disrupt drones appearing online. Might go from hearing how crooks spraypainted cameras to how they paintballed the slow-moving, predictable drone.
    - ThomPete 10y ago
petra 10y ago
Sixa, has an intriguing pitch:"your powerful computer on the cloud , fit for virtual reality , with just 10ms latency". Does anybody knows how does it work ? And is there a free 10ms in the VR latency budget ?
- nickpsecurity 10y ago
  I'm not sure but I did like one of their features: ensuring your proof-of-concept will work for your client evaluating it as well as it does for you via same box. Previously, I'd have recommended virtualization or simply mailing them a demo appliance if profits justify it. The virtualization software usually is a heavy install requiring admins that digs all into the system. The second option costs a box per evaluator plus they have to put it together on their end. There's also containers these days as evolution of virtualization approach that similarly require configuration and training. I think a simple solution for two people using the same desktop and configuration with low-latency is a powerful alternative. I could see all kinds of users wanting that combo of convenience and effectiveness for $0.45/hr [assuming no hidden fees]. Potential for lots of growth.
elmar 10y ago
I see DSC every on this thread, looks like the acquisition of Dollar Shave Club is going to do to the Consumer packaged goods (CPG) the same Netscape IPO did to internet companies.

155 points by runesoerensen 10y ago

untilHellbanned 10y ago

YC would do well with a hiatus. Less is more. Frankenstein-accelerator. Paul Graham had the right throughput.

Permit 10y ago
FWIW pg often spoke of his desire to scale YC and benefit more startups. As I understand it that's one of Sam Altman's primary goals.
- untilHellbanned 10y ago
  yep, and I'd argue its not working.
- tarr11 10y ago
  This echoes 500 Startups thesis.
- paulcole 10y ago
  >benefit more startups I call it buying more lottery tickets and it's not a sound investment strategy.
  - dagw 10y ago
    For whom? YC or the people applying to YC?
    - garry 10y ago
      I don't even work at YC anymore but care about it deeply. The deal is actually a good one because it's not like getting money from someplace where you get some advice once in awhile and that's it. It's a huge community that helps each other, and that makes it work. You learn things from people that nobody would ever share on a forum or conference or put in a blog post, and it's that secret knowledge that helps startups go from zero to one. I wouldn't be here without that community, and a lot of successful founders feel the same way.
  - igf 10y ago
    If my lottery tickets had anything like the rate of return of YC's, then buying more would be an extremely sound investment strategy.
  - jomamaxx 10y ago
    "I call it buying more lottery tickets and it's not a sound investment strategy." It is definitely a 'lottery ticket' strategy and it is definitely worth expanding. If YC can establish itself as 'the place you do seed funding' in America, and can get kind of a monopoly on deal-flow ... then they should invest in anything and everything that even makes sense. I'd argue the program is too big now to offer any really special value on an individual basis, it's a 'filter' with 'access'. Like getting into Harvard is maybe more important than anything you actually do there. The H-bomb is what opens doors, just like the YC-bomb. I personally think that YC companies are on average decent, but most of them are not particularly interesting. Nor do I buy that most of them could reach a $100M+ market. That said, most of the 'successes' will be acquisitions by big companies paying often massive multiples for future earnings and 'strategic value' and the projects will go nowhere once absorbed.
    - garry 10y ago
      You seem to be ignoring the simple fact that YC has invested in startups now worth over $80B in market value and the closest comparable is more than 10X less. You're right that most have difficulty getting to $100M but frankly that is most of them. That's how the power law works. Investors who don't make money in VC spend all their time trying to avoid making mistakes. The best investors make sure they don't miss the billion dollar startups. Your last statement is factually incorrect as well. Most of the YC portfolio value is from large standalone businesses on track for IPO. There are exits that are large and notable through acquisition but if you read PG's writings and talk to YC partners, acquisition is never encouraged. At other places that's the only chance they stand at returning their funds even 2X. Harsh but true.
      - jomamaxx 10y ago
        I'm definitely not ignoring the fact that YC has invested in startups 'worth $80B'. However - my last statement is correct. Most YC businesses will NOT IPO, not even close. Most of the 'success stories' from YC will come from acquisitions, you can hardly deny this. Sure - most of the valuation may derive from YC businesses that (eventually) do an IPO, but they are very small in number, so I think it would be disingenuous to use an $80B valuation, which is derived from a tiny number of companies (mostly one: AirBnB) - to describe 'successful YC companies'. Also, to be fair, as far as I am aware, in the entire history of YC, none of their companies have done an IPO. So, there's that.
- deleted 10y ago
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dawhizkid 10y ago

startup era of 2009-2014 is long over.

1_listerine_pls 10y ago
What do you mean?
- dawhizkid 10y ago
  Startups thrived then because mobile technology was just getting big and bigger tech companies were largely late to the party (including FB, GOOG) giving startups a chance to hit it big (IG, SC, Messaging apps, etc.). Now these giants are innovating as fast if not faster than most small startups and the small guy barely stands a chance. I can't think of a startup that started in the last 3 years that has really "made it." Snapchat is 5 years old, Lyft 4, Uber 6, Airbnb 7+, Reddit 10+.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - teej 10y ago
    Or maybe it takes 3-5 years to "make it".
  - paul 10y ago
    You can't think of a startup started in the last 3 years that has really "made it" because it takes years for a startup to "really make it"! If you disagree, please find the 5 year old hn thread where people say that snapchat is the next big thing.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
  - kayoone 10y ago
    Slack comes to mind, i think it was released in 2013.
  - 10y ago

1_listerine_pls 10y ago

Every idea you have will be done by a better prepared YC startup, eventually. Makes me sad...

razvanr 10y ago
Go on being that better prepared YC startup then.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
brandnewlow 10y ago
Your sadness is based on incomplete information. Many YC companies flame out every year far all sorts of reasons, even with all the advantages that come from participating in the program. If you want to make your thing work badly enough you can make it work, competition or no.
- roasm 10y ago
  Right. There are still more "successful" companies that are _not_ YC than those that are. While there are some advantages to YC, there are advantages to other incubators, or other angels, or completely bootstrapping, etc.
20yrs_no_equity 10y ago
I was delighted to discover one of the startups is doing what I'm about to be doing. So they are ahead of me and they have gone thru YC. So they are primed for success, while I'm still busting my butt to get to the point where I can apply to the next round of accelerators. But they have taken what I consider to be the wrong approach, and seem to be missing a tidal wave of disruption. They are aiming for a where the puck is going to be in a year, not where it's going to be in 5 years (the first one is a lot easier than the second) Plus going thru YC and getting on that SV ... path ... has its own costs and risks. Taking VC starts a clock and limits your options and in some ways, opportunity, to what the VC can see. For example how much revenue you have in a year has a huge impact with whether you can raise revenue a year from now. If you really have a better view of the market and future and technology than VCs and Accelerator Mentors (and you should, after all, because you're an expert in this area- and if you aren't you will be in 6 months) those limitations are not to your advantage. In my experience in an accelerator so many of the companies were still trying to figure things out. They didn't know things well enough to confidently know the difference between the good and bad advice they were getting from the mentors. (mentors even giving good advice can be wrong, simply because their expertise isn't what you're doing-- if it were, the market you're attacking would already be taken.) In the case of the competitor to what I'm starting, I can see how they have made some bad choices already (just from the TechCrunch article, haven't even clicked thru to their site) because they are already practicing the cargo cult dance, building paper maché airplanes hoping for VC money to rain down from the sky. That's fine, they may win that way, but I still like my chances. If you read these articles every demo day and watch the YC and TechStars startups, eventually you get to where you can tell which ones have something and which ones don't (though of course there are some outliers.) None of these companies have it made, so don't lose heart.

venning 10y ago

Honest question: have the specific funding goals of YC changed to accommodate more pedestrian "lifestyle" businesses? A number of these companies look like they could make viable businesses turning out respectable multi-million-dollar-a-year profits without ever being a target for a billion-dollar acquisition. (My understanding is that YC specifically targets opportunities that have hundred-million- to billion-dollar potential, so perhaps my underlying assumption is wrong here.) Does this mean YC is hedging their bets, or are they amenable to funding "low" potential companies now? That would seem to jive with their recent public statements about wanting to expand, since not all viable businesses see huge exits.

lacker 10y ago
YC's goals haven't changed. The conventional wisdom on what startups make sense to fund is changing though - the whole "software is eating the world" logic suggests that many traditionally non-software businesses are ripe for disruption as well. Think Dollar Shave Club.
- venning 10y ago
  That's not quite my question. I'm not referring to the divide between "pure software" businesses and, well, everything else. I'm referring to the divide between $10MM/year gross profit and $1B exit. Dollar Shave Club had a $1B exit. Is YC willing to fund the former?
- mtviewdave 10y ago
  It's not just that they're "non-software" business. They're not really even technology businesses, in the traditional Silicon Valley (HP, Intel, Apple, Atari, Synopsys, Netscape, Google, Facebook, Snapchat) sense. Both DSC and Casper are innovative companies, but (as far as I can tell) they don't innovate in technology, they instead use technology to leverage innovation in other areas. Casper could have been founded 30 years ago. But would NEA and Norwest have invested in 1986 in a version of Casper that used late-night TV ads and a 1-800 number? My guess is probably not. So what does it mean that they do now? Does this mean that the current fashion in VC is shifting away from technology innovation? If so, does this mean that pure technology ventures may soon find it hard to find funding?

vowelless 10y ago

> JustRide – Getaround for India Just curious, is that image of a bridge in India?

SwaroopH 10y ago
Of course not, the cars & their license plates also give it away.
robertnealan 10y ago
That's actually from the Bay Bridge heading into San Francisco — tower on the right is 1 Rincon (there's already a few more next to it going up now). Curious if this was a case of "just throw up something that looks halfway decent" or if they're intentionally trying to appeal with the US car culture?

tomjen3 10y ago

Cool. Really looking forward to that calorie counting thing. If that works and can be hooked up to beeminder and corporate welfare programs, that could potentially be a game changer in terms of obesity.

dreeves 10y ago
Thanks for the implicit Beeminder plug! And funny Freudian slip there with "corporate welfare" instead of "corporate wellness". :)

jedc 10y ago

How many startups presented off-the-record?

BinaryIdiot 10y ago
None...I thought. Right? Do they do that?
- argonaut 10y ago
  Yes, they have definitely done that in past demo days (meaning, reporters at Demo Day can't write about these startups).
  - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
    Interesting I never knew they did that. Now I'm curious what compan(ies) they've done that with, why and if they are still in a "stealth" mode.
    - argonaut 10y ago
      What I heard is that often the startup feels it isn't ready to launch yet, so it wants to wait before doing a press blitz.

wsgolfer 10y ago

FYI, Venning, I don't believe parent is PG. It's a different Paul. PG's user account is https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pg https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=pg

venning 10y ago
I know: https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/y-c-switches-up-its-management-as-altman-shifts-focus/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/y-c-switches-up-its-manage... Edit: I didn't provide much context. He is Paul Buchheit, a (the?) managing partner at YC Core.
- runesoerensen 10y ago
  Yep Paul Buchheit runs YC Core. Here's a more in-depth article about the "new" structure: http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-paul-buchheit-ali-roghawni-on-revamped-y-combinator-2016-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-paul-buchheit-ali-... I also enjoyed reading this interview: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/03/y-combinator-latest-batch-was-a-record-but-bigger.html http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/techflash/2016/03/y-...
dang 10y ago
I know you were being helpful but it's probably best if we detach this from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12341440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12341440 and mark it off-topic.

NhanH 10y ago

Simbi (the bartering marketplace) looks interesting. Wouldn't it be functionally equivalent to building something that allows people to trade their skill for money directly? Also, does the user on Simbi pay ... taxes right now? It would be interesting if they don't and Simbi becomes big, cause IRS is really the one government agency you won't ever fight and win.

puranjay 10y ago
I had the exact same idea which I just sat around on...more along the lines of open requests ("I will do X in exchange for Y") Oh well, good for them - they executed
- ebalit 10y ago
  It looks a lot like LETS [1], those non-profit through which you can exchange services with other members. There is often a social aspect in these systems and the exchange rate is more related to efforts than to the economical value. 1 : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system
  - ojosilva 10y ago
    My wife ran a Time-based currency market in Madrid 6 years ago, it even got the attention of the press. It's a slightly different model from LETS since time is the currency and different tasks are, therefore, all valued the same. I was the one to install and maintain the software behind it (called Cyclos, project.cyclos.org). I'm glad someone can turn that into a business, people really love to get help from others and/or offer their own services. Although my feeling is that there's considerable churn in both supply and demand.
    - ebalit 10y ago
      Turning it into a profitable business could increase this type of market by investing in the software infrastructure and promoting this type of trade. But I wonder how they plan to extract a part of the value that is traded on this market. It's not really possible to take fees.

angryasian 10y ago

https://getexponent.com/ https://getexponent.com/ Does anyone know definitively but doesn't react native have issues with performance on android ?

ccheever 10y ago
React Native on Android has gotten way better over the last year. In general, Android phones just have worse performance than iPhones (even when they have better specs -- I'm not totally sure why) regardless of whether you're dealing with React Native or not. Sometimes you might have to spend some time wrangling your code to get the performance results you want, but that's usually the case in building software. Check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=st.li.listapp https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=st.li.listapp . It is built with Exponent/React Native and has pretty great performance. Got featured in the Play Store.
- misiti3780 10y ago
  was the ios app for list created with exponent also ?
  - jameside 10y ago
    The iOS app was made with UIKit. Exponent could be a good fit for companies in similar positions who have just an app for just one platform (more often iOS) and want to build an Android version but find it hard to hire that talent.

dschiptsov 10y ago

Strange, almost no data-economy (collecting and selling user's data - the way "social" is monetized) or data-science startups. A thin layer of encryption over cloud storages is a clever idea! And this is exactly how tech entrepreneurship should be - even if the project would fail due to non-technical reasons, the technology being developed could be reused and sold. "Lifestyle startup" meme is crap.

BenderV 10y ago
I was also surprised. Almost no "machine learning" or "AI" startups. Maybe they are trying to regroup startups sector in theme, so maybe tomorrow?
joelg236 10y ago
> Today’s startups were focused on consumer, developer tools, security, hardware, marketplaces, and non-profit. We’ll see a different set tomorrow concentrated around enterprise, B2B, biotech, edtech, and fintech From the article

ignasl 10y ago

It seems startups are coming to consumer goods. It's likely that dollar shaving club's success initiated a new trend. All that knowledge from previous startups about lean development, marketing, growth hacking etc will be passed together with contacts and influential backers. Even here we see Tampons! (which I though is ridiculous first). Interesting how it will pan out. PG and similar companies should be at least a little bit worried.

soufron 10y ago

Wow, so many "lifestyle" BS.

ekianjo 10y ago

> Those tiny seat-back screens cost airlines a fortune because of installation and the weight they add, and they make you feel trapped on the plane. Skylights has developed its own VR headsets and software so passenger can strap in and watch 2D and 3D movies on a giant virtual screen How is a headset less heavy than a screen on a seat? On top of that, good luck for the hostess when trying to serve you a drink or dinner and you are fully absorbed somewhere else.

igf 10y ago
Building in an interrupt "Hey, pay attention to the real world now" feature would seem important. On the other hand, it'd still be awkward when you had to climb over someone to go to the toilet or something. I'd be interested to try inflight VR. It could be really good, or it could just be a one-way ticket to airsickness. What I'd really love would be a feature that lets me see the scenery currently around me, as if I were flying in the air without the plane. You could just use Google Maps data at first, but if someday they installed a few cameras on the exterior...
- ekianjo 10y ago
  > What I'd really love would be a feature that lets me see the scenery currently around me, as if I were flying in the air without the plane. You could just use Google Maps data at first, but if someday they installed a few cameras on the exterior... Wouldn't that make you sick by itself though ? :)

thatfrenchguy 10y ago

"Flex – The modern tampon" You mean menstrual cups, that are worth like 20 bucks and you can keep for more than a year ?

MatthewMcDonald 10y ago
It's tough to give an in-depth description of a product with a short blurb. It sounds like Flex is significantly different from a traditional menstrual cup: http://www.themacro.com/articles/2016/08/the-flex-company/ http://www.themacro.com/articles/2016/08/the-flex-company/
- mkolodny 10y ago
  From the interview: > ...they don’t like the fact that you have to rinse and reuse a menstrual cup. Plus, they’re difficult to insert and remove. I guess that's how Flex is different from a menstrual cup. Not being a woman, I can't say how important those things are. I'd guess that they're not worth the extra $20/month, but maybe they are.

yfhsjjskc 10y ago

Idea: a marketing/e-commerce company that takes existing unbranded consumer products, invents generic startup names for them (Noun & Noun), and resells each on its own simple, well-designed site with hipster aesthetic. Piggyback on Amazon fulfillment. Get better margin by reusing the same tech and overhead on each site. Employ low-paid "founders" who can tell a good story but don't have any particular business skill to create some marketing material to try to build buzz for "their" startup. The 2016 version of the dropshipping hustle.

forgetsusername 10y ago

A bit of a stretch to make claims like "growing 13% per week!" and "20% margins!" on tiny businesses.

garry 10y ago
You misunderstand. Most folks don't even do that. If you can't grow from small numbers then it will be impossible to grow at large numbers. These stats are table stakes.

misiti3780 10y ago

Exponent - ROR for React Native sounds really interesting - anyone using it ?

aacook 10y ago

Really dig Go Go Grandparent. About a month ago my 93 year old Grandpa was hospitalized for pneumonia. His license was taken for 30 days (either by his doctor's recommendation, or by mandate, I'm not sure) so he was house bound. My Grandpa's daily routine starts by getting out of the house. After a couple weeks being stuck in the house it was really starting to get to him. He doesn't really like asking people for favors, so, he resorted to calling up the local cab company and having the cab take him to the bank, grocery store, and his 2nd bank. Feels like Go Go Grandparent could exist for many other things besides rides, like placing an order for groceries or submitting a prescription.

icebraining 10y ago
+1, it's the most interesting of the lot. On the other hand, it seems to assume proficiency with those automated voice menus, which my grandparents can't use either. I wonder if "fully human" system would be profitable.

ThomPete 10y ago

If I was to invest in any of these it would be http://www.aptonomy.com/ http://www.aptonomy.com/ I have often thought about this myself. There are som really interesting problems to tackle (like drone clustering and continued surveillance and tracking of intruders using a series of drones (as they run out of energy) Their challenge is going to be legislative more than anything else but things are working in their direction.

ohitsdom 10y ago
Agreed, I too had this same idea! So many security guards are paid to patrol parking lots. This could be cheaper and way more effective.
- ThomPete 10y ago
  Could even be used as first responder to even figure out if you needed to send someone. With infared and camera it would be very easy.
- dragonwriter 10y ago
  Security guards are paid to patrol parking lots because experience has shown that the presence of human security guards patrolling the parking lots reduces crime, even compared to comprehensive and visible remote monitoring with obvious (and advertised) cameras. I'm not sure putting the cameras on drones changes the psychology that leads to this effect.
  - nickpsecurity 10y ago
    On top of that, I wonder if its effectiveness will be impacted by the fact that destroying a drone and attacking/killing a human have different, legal consequences. Crooks sabotage equipment a lot more than they attack people. Quite a few ways to shoot down or disrupt drones appearing online. Might go from hearing how crooks spraypainted cameras to how they paintballed the slow-moving, predictable drone.
  - ThomPete 10y ago

petra 10y ago

Sixa, has an intriguing pitch:"your powerful computer on the cloud , fit for virtual reality , with just 10ms latency". Does anybody knows how does it work ? And is there a free 10ms in the VR latency budget ?

nickpsecurity 10y ago
I'm not sure but I did like one of their features: ensuring your proof-of-concept will work for your client evaluating it as well as it does for you via same box. Previously, I'd have recommended virtualization or simply mailing them a demo appliance if profits justify it. The virtualization software usually is a heavy install requiring admins that digs all into the system. The second option costs a box per evaluator plus they have to put it together on their end. There's also containers these days as evolution of virtualization approach that similarly require configuration and training. I think a simple solution for two people using the same desktop and configuration with low-latency is a powerful alternative. I could see all kinds of users wanting that combo of convenience and effectiveness for $0.45/hr [assuming no hidden fees]. Potential for lots of growth.

elmar 10y ago

I see DSC every on this thread, looks like the acquisition of Dollar Shave Club is going to do to the Consumer packaged goods (CPG) the same Netscape IPO did to internet companies.