3 ms·

That doesn't discount the idea of fashion. YC attracts a certain crowd of applicants that tend to be younger and more closely tied into the emergent technology

That doesn't discount the idea of fashion. YC attracts a certain crowd of applicants that tend to be younger and more closely tied into the emergent technology trends. If they have the time to take X months off of their jobs and their families, they also probably have time to learn new technologies that they didn't use in school or at work. I'm young enough but with a busy full time job and a toddler, learning new technologies (to the point of extreme proficiency) is not high on my list. For me it came down to what I could build most rapidly given my skillset. I had experience in Java and C#/.NET and my partner (my husband, not my co-founder) could mostly only help in C#/.NET. So it really was a question of getting something built in 3 months versus 6 (or maybe not at all if I got discouraged and it took too long to market). The licensing fees are the things that weigh on my mind, but if my business is successful, I will be able to pay them or even re-write the application using the profits. I know better than to expect to converse about our MS technology with the HN crowd, though.

cschep 16y ago
I totally hear this, "using what you know" is really powerful. Be careful here though ... > I know better than to expect to converse about our MS technology with the HN crowd, though. Lots of positive posts, even in this thread!
- AmberShah 16y ago
  That's true and I think Stack Overflow actually did a lot for making it more acceptable in startupland. And for good reason - if it's good enough for them...
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    The Linux advantage really starts to show when you enter the dozen+ server range. Licenses add up quickly and planning gets more and more complicated. If you run a small group of machines and you know what you are doing, Windows could be just fine for you. The worst that can happen is you succeed and need to migrate your software to another platform. edit: actually the worst that could happen is that you hit a technical problem the closed nature of Windows prevents you from solving and you have to port before you become profitable.
pg 16y ago
I think you misunderstood me. evo_ is saying that it's unfashionable to talk about it when you use Microsoft software. I replied that in my experience the reason startups don't talk about Microsoft stuff is that they're not using it, not that they are and are embarrassed to say so. It may well be that YC-funded startups consistently differ from the average startup. But that doesn't mean that such differences are due to fashion. The kind of people we fund are more consistent in knowing what they're doing than in being young. So if as a group they differ from the norm on technical matters, the more likely hypothesis is that the norm is lagging.
- AmberShah 16y ago
  I would think that the majority of startups aren't using MS products, but I understand that the ones that are might prefer not to talk about it for fear of ridicule by the hacker community. I'm comfortable assuming that the YC startups are above the average, but that doesn't mean they aren't also affected by the demographic that would most benefit and be able to participate in the YC program. In no way am I implying that YC would select someone younger for admission over someone more qualified - just that the nature of the program self-selects. In my case, I'm still young but having a toddler puts me in a similar situation to a typical older entrepreneur. It would be incredibly difficult for me to take an X month block away from my family or to uproot my family. And a $10K investment doesn't mean to me what it does to a college grad, because I can make that in a couple of bonuses or consulting gigs. The thing I miss most in a program like YC is the mentorship, but for me it's not worth the aforementioned hardship. It's not that I'm not interested in new technologies, I do tinker, but it's just a matter of priorities. Given that, you're probably right that the "norm" would be lagging in terms of using the newest and coolest technology. I don't think that equates to generally worse companies, just less fashionable, to tie back to the original point.
chc 16y ago
> I know better than to expect to converse about our MS technology with the HN crowd, though. I'm not sure why. People talk about Clojure and Haskell and I'd bet good money that those are even less common for startups — heck, probably fewer people here can even read them. I don't personally like the Microsoft stack overall, but I do think some of the stuff they make is pretty compelling and it would be interesting to hear how it's used outside of a BigCo. That could just be me, though.
- AmberShah 16y ago
  It's not the frequency - it's the dismissive attitude in some OSS or other non-MS circles that's very active in the online dev community.

cschep 16y ago

I totally hear this, "using what you know" is really powerful. Be careful here though ... > I know better than to expect to converse about our MS technology with the HN crowd, though. Lots of positive posts, even in this thread!

AmberShah 16y ago
That's true and I think Stack Overflow actually did a lot for making it more acceptable in startupland. And for good reason - if it's good enough for them...
- rbanffy 16y ago
  The Linux advantage really starts to show when you enter the dozen+ server range. Licenses add up quickly and planning gets more and more complicated. If you run a small group of machines and you know what you are doing, Windows could be just fine for you. The worst that can happen is you succeed and need to migrate your software to another platform. edit: actually the worst that could happen is that you hit a technical problem the closed nature of Windows prevents you from solving and you have to port before you become profitable.

pg 16y ago

I think you misunderstood me. evo_ is saying that it's unfashionable to talk about it when you use Microsoft software. I replied that in my experience the reason startups don't talk about Microsoft stuff is that they're not using it, not that they are and are embarrassed to say so. It may well be that YC-funded startups consistently differ from the average startup. But that doesn't mean that such differences are due to fashion. The kind of people we fund are more consistent in knowing what they're doing than in being young. So if as a group they differ from the norm on technical matters, the more likely hypothesis is that the norm is lagging.

AmberShah 16y ago
I would think that the majority of startups aren't using MS products, but I understand that the ones that are might prefer not to talk about it for fear of ridicule by the hacker community. I'm comfortable assuming that the YC startups are above the average, but that doesn't mean they aren't also affected by the demographic that would most benefit and be able to participate in the YC program. In no way am I implying that YC would select someone younger for admission over someone more qualified - just that the nature of the program self-selects. In my case, I'm still young but having a toddler puts me in a similar situation to a typical older entrepreneur. It would be incredibly difficult for me to take an X month block away from my family or to uproot my family. And a $10K investment doesn't mean to me what it does to a college grad, because I can make that in a couple of bonuses or consulting gigs. The thing I miss most in a program like YC is the mentorship, but for me it's not worth the aforementioned hardship. It's not that I'm not interested in new technologies, I do tinker, but it's just a matter of priorities. Given that, you're probably right that the "norm" would be lagging in terms of using the newest and coolest technology. I don't think that equates to generally worse companies, just less fashionable, to tie back to the original point.

chc 16y ago

> I know better than to expect to converse about our MS technology with the HN crowd, though. I'm not sure why. People talk about Clojure and Haskell and I'd bet good money that those are even less common for startups — heck, probably fewer people here can even read them. I don't personally like the Microsoft stack overall, but I do think some of the stuff they make is pretty compelling and it would be interesting to hear how it's used outside of a BigCo. That could just be me, though.

AmberShah 16y ago
It's not the frequency - it's the dismissive attitude in some OSS or other non-MS circles that's very active in the online dev community.