3 ms·

What in your view, distinguishes a typical VC from YC?

throwawaybbq1 9y ago
Maximizing return to investors.
vthallam 9y ago
The application process, number of deals they do and the community across YC companies which is not so great in the typical VC firms.
willholloway 9y ago
What I got from reading Paul Graham's own writing on the genesis of YC, was that his key insight was that VC's should be funding more companies, and earlier, and giving founder's much more control. The other key innovation was funding in batches, in classes. This created a close-knit ad hoc community with shared goals, and one in which teams whose ideas were not finding traction could join teams whose ideas were.
- Danihan 9y ago
  Paul Graham's own writing and advice is not really followed by YC though. As an easy example, look at his recent post about naming your startup, versus the names of the companies allowed through in a recent round of seed funding. http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/22/y-combinator-demo-day-summer-2016/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/22/y-combinator-demo-day-summ...
- erikpukinskis 9y ago
  Are the batches really that tight still? Seems nice just as a way to structure the curriculum, but is it more than that?
dieselz 9y ago
I'd say this is pretty awesome: https://blog.ycombinator.com/research https://blog.ycombinator.com/research I don't think it's common for a VC to hand out free money. The best part is that with the data they get from these experiments, combined with the vast experience of starting and growing companies, they'll likely be able to find business models that are successful financially while simultaneously achieving the goals of what they are researching. I'm no rocket surgeon, but off the top of my head, they could determine the personal financial implications of not having to worry about keeping a head over your kids' head and food on the table. If you give someone a basic income, what do they do with it? does someone use time to become more marketable and be able to earn more in the long-run instead of have to focus on a minimum wage job to feed their kids? Maybe there's a business model in using yourself as collateral. I've seen personal examples of this happening - high net worth individuals that meet exceptional people and give them a basic income so that they can focus on big ideas, not affording rent. Maybe through the data YC is collecting, they'll be able to find a scalable form of that.

Maximizing return to investors.

The application process, number of deals they do and the community across YC companies which is not so great in the typical VC firms.

willholloway 9y ago

What I got from reading Paul Graham's own writing on the genesis of YC, was that his key insight was that VC's should be funding more companies, and earlier, and giving founder's much more control. The other key innovation was funding in batches, in classes. This created a close-knit ad hoc community with shared goals, and one in which teams whose ideas were not finding traction could join teams whose ideas were.

Danihan 9y ago
Paul Graham's own writing and advice is not really followed by YC though. As an easy example, look at his recent post about naming your startup, versus the names of the companies allowed through in a recent round of seed funding. http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html http://www.paulgraham.com/name.html https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/22/y-combinator-demo-day-summer-2016/ https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/22/y-combinator-demo-day-summ...
erikpukinskis 9y ago
Are the batches really that tight still? Seems nice just as a way to structure the curriculum, but is it more than that?

dieselz 9y ago

I'd say this is pretty awesome: https://blog.ycombinator.com/research https://blog.ycombinator.com/research I don't think it's common for a VC to hand out free money. The best part is that with the data they get from these experiments, combined with the vast experience of starting and growing companies, they'll likely be able to find business models that are successful financially while simultaneously achieving the goals of what they are researching. I'm no rocket surgeon, but off the top of my head, they could determine the personal financial implications of not having to worry about keeping a head over your kids' head and food on the table. If you give someone a basic income, what do they do with it? does someone use time to become more marketable and be able to earn more in the long-run instead of have to focus on a minimum wage job to feed their kids? Maybe there's a business model in using yourself as collateral. I've seen personal examples of this happening - high net worth individuals that meet exceptional people and give them a basic income so that they can focus on big ideas, not affording rent. Maybe through the data YC is collecting, they'll be able to find a scalable form of that.