13 ms·

I don't mean to belittle I Move You in making this comment, but would companies like this exist (as companies, not side projects) if they didn't have programs l

by rjett 16y ago

I don't mean to belittle I Move You in making this comment, but would companies like this exist (as companies, not side projects) if they didn't have programs like ycombinator to catapult them into the spotlight? It seems to me that without the adrenaline shot that is ycombinator + techcrunch, one would have an incredibly difficult time successfully bootstrapping an idea like this that depends so much on the network effect.

tsetse-fly 16y ago
Yes, there are plenty of companies out there that very much depend on a network effect and aren't Y Combinator-funded: Digg, Facebook, Quora or Stack Overflow, to name a few.
- fookyong 16y ago
  those are all horrible examples. all venture-funded, and therefore were news-worthy (in the tech news blog sense) from the very beginning. I think the question the above poster was asking is: If I Move You was being bootstrapped, would it be major-blog news-worthy? I'm not here to answer that question though ;) what's deemed as "news-worthy" jumps violently up and down on any given day in the tech blog world... (zing)
  - tansey 16y ago
    Additionally, 3 of the 4 had major PR behind them. Kevin Rose was on ZDTV/TechTV where he publicly talked about (and where I first heard about) Digg; the Quora guys got famous as the "ex-FB executives" who left to form their company; and Stack Overflow was huge because Joel is one of the most famous programmer-bloggers in the world.
  - rooshdi 16y ago
    Probably not. I'm currently bootstrapping a search sharing network at Seekier.com and it's extremely tough to gain any sort of traction without any previous exposure or network, which unfortunately results in me making replies such as this. The only alternative is to implement Facebook, Twitter, and/or Google Connect integration to help spread the word organically through those networks.
    - jaybol 16y ago
      I think you are absolutely right...it will be extremely tough to gain instant traction without a previous network. However, as fast as the tech world moves, I think taking a bit of an old world approach can really pay off. Take a step back and think about forging real friendships and loyalties, and letting it happen slowly. You can build a lot of social capital by just doing favors for other people...but obviously try not to be Don Vito Corleone "Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me, and you won't refuse" So, I want to encourage you to start building that network now that will become your 'previous exposure or network' by fostering genuine relationships with people you want to meet and even your current competition.
  - contagionhealth 16y ago
    Hey fookyong - We actually had some 'major-blog news-worthy' coverage pre YCombinator, pre TechCrunch, and pre name change, while we were bootstrapped. Here's a piece in the Huffington Post by Esther Dyson (5 months BEFORE she invested in us): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-dyson/health-not-health-care_b_510830.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-dyson/health-not-health... The first, prototypical YC TechCrunch launch article doesn't always tell the whole story behind a company's history and founding (in our case there wouldn't be room ;).
drlisp 16y ago
Obviously not. These are just a couple MIT/Ivy/Stanford kids who PG liked and decided to give 20k to spend time at summer camp. No one could bootstrap this. The technology inst hard to copy, so if it could be bootstrapped we see a lot of them. Also, it over relies peoples use of Facebook, Twitter.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- mahmud 16y ago
  Can you not be dismissive of others' efforts and accomplishments in this manner? They have just launched. They haven't had any news, good or bad yet. PR and 20k is nothing. You could get that streaking a football game on national TV and selling some of your stuff. If you think media attention is worth something, you don't know anybody who has been famous and broke. Let these people perform on their own merit before you write them off so callously.
  - drlisp 16y ago
    Youre right. I wish them well. Hope they make millions. I just think these talented individuals would have done better for themselves had they not focused on a trendy/hipster social network site (do we need another?) and more on "bootstrappable" software businesses.
    - shazow 16y ago
      Is it really that trendy? We're trying to move online behaviour to real life. This is something that hasn't been done much, short of Groupon. But definitely hasn't been done much in the name of healthy actions. Our next step is to build in sensors like Nike+ and do verified activities, which should be pretty cool but hardly trendy/hipster.
      - drlisp 16y ago
        You should have a points system, where people earn points when the partner verifies the activity was accomplished. Win prizes, etc.
jaybol 16y ago
I don't think your comment necessarily has to be viewed as belittling them...obviously a big part of getting into ycombinator (or any other credible incubator) for startups is the opportunity to get access and credibility (and getting into the program to begin with says something as well because it is competitive and the idea does happen to have the potential to be a homerun due to the so-called network effect, especially with some sort of groupon like approach to monetizing these activities). To those who say someone got it just because PG liked them, of course the charisma/leadership of a founder is a major factor in success, and the ability to forge strategic partnerships (friends of your business) is huge. Bootstrapping and owning the whole pie is great, but of course you have to have some knack for marketing your idea and figuring out creative PR because no one is going to find you hiding in your garage (ie to actually see your service and signup). Ycomb and techcrunch are two great 'shortcuts' so to speak but obviously aren't the only ones. So in reference to your question about whether they could actually exist as companies rather than hobbies without Ycomb and techcrunch, I'd say 1) it's a good thing they have those avenues to take a shot at succeeding with their idea and 2) i'd love to hear from other users what they view as some of the other top blogs and incubators that can make or break a young startup at an early stage. PS the first thing i thought when i read about this idea is that i'd love to find a local activity with my wife as we've just had our first child and need to drop some ice cream related pounds :)
- contagionhealth 16y ago
  Thanks jaybol. Actually I'm pretty sure PG hates me (jk). As a female, non-tech biz/dev founder, I don't fit the typical YC mold. Andrey (my cofounder) is the amazing developer behind the entire product, and before we accepted YC money we bootstrapped the company for 6 months. I'd bootstrapped the company as an LLC for a year before that. As our rate of growth started to accelerate, and we had more opportunities for revenue-generating deals (phenomenal as a 2 person team) we saw YC as the perfect opportunity to expand more quickly. Could we do Contagion successfully as a bootstrapped firm? Sure. But we were also in a unique position to go after a larger opportunity. We analyzed the 37signals approach, weighed the risks, benefits, and resources at hand, and decided to go with YC, a TechCrunch launch, and raising a seed round. As for those ice cream related pounds, Andrey and I would be happy to help you move them off :).
contagionhealth 16y ago
Hi rjett - No worries, we don't view this as belittling. I actually bootstrapped the company for a year, did the go into debt thing, give up possessions etc. before my cofounder Andrey joined up. We also closed our first revenue deal at 600 users, pre YCombinator. We discussed the benefits of YC in great detail before applying, and again before accepting the invite. In between, I met with 10 of the YC alum founders to learn what value they extracted from/redistributed into the program. We went through a similar values clarification session before we accepted angel/seed money. The funding we've taken to date is convertible debt and will allow us to grow at a faster rate than a smaller, bootstrapped, 2 person 'lifestyle' business. Pre TC launch, we were growing at a steady rate month/month with no effort/cost to acquire users, but we decided we'd like to catalyze the company with the adrenaline shot you mention. As you said, the network effect is very challenging to generate with bootstrapped resources. When we saw the opportunity to grow at a faster rate, we went for it, and it's been a great ride so far.

by rjett 16y ago

tsetse-fly 16y ago

Yes, there are plenty of companies out there that very much depend on a network effect and aren't Y Combinator-funded: Digg, Facebook, Quora or Stack Overflow, to name a few.

fookyong 16y ago
those are all horrible examples. all venture-funded, and therefore were news-worthy (in the tech news blog sense) from the very beginning. I think the question the above poster was asking is: If I Move You was being bootstrapped, would it be major-blog news-worthy? I'm not here to answer that question though ;) what's deemed as "news-worthy" jumps violently up and down on any given day in the tech blog world... (zing)
- tansey 16y ago
  Additionally, 3 of the 4 had major PR behind them. Kevin Rose was on ZDTV/TechTV where he publicly talked about (and where I first heard about) Digg; the Quora guys got famous as the "ex-FB executives" who left to form their company; and Stack Overflow was huge because Joel is one of the most famous programmer-bloggers in the world.
- rooshdi 16y ago
  Probably not. I'm currently bootstrapping a search sharing network at Seekier.com and it's extremely tough to gain any sort of traction without any previous exposure or network, which unfortunately results in me making replies such as this. The only alternative is to implement Facebook, Twitter, and/or Google Connect integration to help spread the word organically through those networks.
  - jaybol 16y ago
    I think you are absolutely right...it will be extremely tough to gain instant traction without a previous network. However, as fast as the tech world moves, I think taking a bit of an old world approach can really pay off. Take a step back and think about forging real friendships and loyalties, and letting it happen slowly. You can build a lot of social capital by just doing favors for other people...but obviously try not to be Don Vito Corleone "Some day, and that day may never come, I will call upon you to do a service for me, and you won't refuse" So, I want to encourage you to start building that network now that will become your 'previous exposure or network' by fostering genuine relationships with people you want to meet and even your current competition.
- contagionhealth 16y ago
  Hey fookyong - We actually had some 'major-blog news-worthy' coverage pre YCombinator, pre TechCrunch, and pre name change, while we were bootstrapped. Here's a piece in the Huffington Post by Esther Dyson (5 months BEFORE she invested in us): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-dyson/health-not-health-care_b_510830.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/esther-dyson/health-not-health... The first, prototypical YC TechCrunch launch article doesn't always tell the whole story behind a company's history and founding (in our case there wouldn't be room ;).

drlisp 16y ago

Obviously not. These are just a couple MIT/Ivy/Stanford kids who PG liked and decided to give 20k to spend time at summer camp. No one could bootstrap this. The technology inst hard to copy, so if it could be bootstrapped we see a lot of them. Also, it over relies peoples use of Facebook, Twitter.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
mahmud 16y ago
Can you not be dismissive of others' efforts and accomplishments in this manner? They have just launched. They haven't had any news, good or bad yet. PR and 20k is nothing. You could get that streaking a football game on national TV and selling some of your stuff. If you think media attention is worth something, you don't know anybody who has been famous and broke. Let these people perform on their own merit before you write them off so callously.
- drlisp 16y ago
  Youre right. I wish them well. Hope they make millions. I just think these talented individuals would have done better for themselves had they not focused on a trendy/hipster social network site (do we need another?) and more on "bootstrappable" software businesses.
  - shazow 16y ago
    Is it really that trendy? We're trying to move online behaviour to real life. This is something that hasn't been done much, short of Groupon. But definitely hasn't been done much in the name of healthy actions. Our next step is to build in sensors like Nike+ and do verified activities, which should be pretty cool but hardly trendy/hipster.
    - drlisp 16y ago
      You should have a points system, where people earn points when the partner verifies the activity was accomplished. Win prizes, etc.

jaybol 16y ago

I don't think your comment necessarily has to be viewed as belittling them...obviously a big part of getting into ycombinator (or any other credible incubator) for startups is the opportunity to get access and credibility (and getting into the program to begin with says something as well because it is competitive and the idea does happen to have the potential to be a homerun due to the so-called network effect, especially with some sort of groupon like approach to monetizing these activities). To those who say someone got it just because PG liked them, of course the charisma/leadership of a founder is a major factor in success, and the ability to forge strategic partnerships (friends of your business) is huge. Bootstrapping and owning the whole pie is great, but of course you have to have some knack for marketing your idea and figuring out creative PR because no one is going to find you hiding in your garage (ie to actually see your service and signup). Ycomb and techcrunch are two great 'shortcuts' so to speak but obviously aren't the only ones. So in reference to your question about whether they could actually exist as companies rather than hobbies without Ycomb and techcrunch, I'd say 1) it's a good thing they have those avenues to take a shot at succeeding with their idea and 2) i'd love to hear from other users what they view as some of the other top blogs and incubators that can make or break a young startup at an early stage. PS the first thing i thought when i read about this idea is that i'd love to find a local activity with my wife as we've just had our first child and need to drop some ice cream related pounds :)

contagionhealth 16y ago
Thanks jaybol. Actually I'm pretty sure PG hates me (jk). As a female, non-tech biz/dev founder, I don't fit the typical YC mold. Andrey (my cofounder) is the amazing developer behind the entire product, and before we accepted YC money we bootstrapped the company for 6 months. I'd bootstrapped the company as an LLC for a year before that. As our rate of growth started to accelerate, and we had more opportunities for revenue-generating deals (phenomenal as a 2 person team) we saw YC as the perfect opportunity to expand more quickly. Could we do Contagion successfully as a bootstrapped firm? Sure. But we were also in a unique position to go after a larger opportunity. We analyzed the 37signals approach, weighed the risks, benefits, and resources at hand, and decided to go with YC, a TechCrunch launch, and raising a seed round. As for those ice cream related pounds, Andrey and I would be happy to help you move them off :).

contagionhealth 16y ago

Hi rjett - No worries, we don't view this as belittling. I actually bootstrapped the company for a year, did the go into debt thing, give up possessions etc. before my cofounder Andrey joined up. We also closed our first revenue deal at 600 users, pre YCombinator. We discussed the benefits of YC in great detail before applying, and again before accepting the invite. In between, I met with 10 of the YC alum founders to learn what value they extracted from/redistributed into the program. We went through a similar values clarification session before we accepted angel/seed money. The funding we've taken to date is convertible debt and will allow us to grow at a faster rate than a smaller, bootstrapped, 2 person 'lifestyle' business. Pre TC launch, we were growing at a steady rate month/month with no effort/cost to acquire users, but we decided we'd like to catalyze the company with the adrenaline shot you mention. As you said, the network effect is very challenging to generate with bootstrapped resources. When we saw the opportunity to grow at a faster rate, we went for it, and it's been a great ride so far.