4 ms·

Interesting concept. I believe there are more than a handful of regulars on this site that feel the need for better organization, and given how busy pg is (and

Interesting concept. I believe there are more than a handful of regulars on this site that feel the need for better organization, and given how busy pg is (and he admits it), it makes sense to just take a stab. But do differentiate. Your project is in the right direction, but I agree it doesn't need to cater specifically towards YC rejects. "YC rejects" is probably the most exclusive group after "YC teams" (jk, well, you get me). Also see http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=16211 http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=16211 I dunno the overlap or similarity in vision, but it just seemed logical to ref it here. The 5 points you list above sum to something greater than just those points. It's like a huge funded, connected marketing machine of experienced hackers. Camaraderie is an interesting point; in YC it's very easy to get everybody "on the same boat." YC invests in you, you deliver. They work for you, their investments, you work for them, your vision. The guys next door are also in the same situation. It's actually like a moderately sized company running parallel production pipelines. This setup is difficult to replicate because not only do you need the right people, you need the right money, and the right money and the right people. Which means to do something similar, you cannot lack any of the points (wonders how Techstars and Highland are planning). Consider holding events (remember mydreamapp.com?); gathering a dozen or so beta-stage teams from here should be enough to throw something noticeable. A gallery kind of function, or project profile sorting by category and such, might also be good high-priority tasks. After all, your hosted teams are looking for investors/buyers.

nostrademons 20y ago
You mean the "4 main reasons to go with yCombinator" and then listing 5, or was there something more substantive?
- whacked_new 20y ago
  haha, yes, that; it's a silly mistake to make in writing, which is why I didn't want to point it out. While trivial, that alone got me wondering how much you planned out your analysis.
  - nostrademons 20y ago
    I wrote it at 3:00 AM. And there initially were only 4 points: I had put advice & connections together, but realized that advice was important enough to list separately.
nostrademons 20y ago
"This setup is difficult to replicate because not only do you need the right people, you need the right money, and the right money and the right people." I'm not really trying to replicate YC. As you mention, there's already Techstars, Highland, and YEurope for that, and any attempt to replicate YCombinator runs up against the fact that they're simply better at what they do. Heck, even if this site was successful, I'd still probably prefer YC funding. However, YC doesn't scale. So there are hundreds, probably thousands of other startups out there with worthy ideas that won't make the cut. Simply because it's a numbers game. Some of those are going to start up anyway, and probably apply either to a later YC round or to local angels. That's our plan, for our "real" startup. But many more of them will give up because they think nobody's watching and nobody cares. I don't think that's a reflection on their character, I think it's the rational thing to do. Thing is, everybody loses out because those startups don't get started. So the goal here is to provide an environment where the 90% of us who don't get YC/Techstars/YEurope funding continue with our startups, and have something we can show local angel groups. As I understand it, the main problem facing angels is they're afraid founders will give up and send the angel's money down the tubes. This would give founders a place to develop and test their ideas in the critical probably-a-flop-but-could-be-useful stage before taking it to an angel.

nostrademons 20y ago

You mean the "4 main reasons to go with yCombinator" and then listing 5, or was there something more substantive?

whacked_new 20y ago
haha, yes, that; it's a silly mistake to make in writing, which is why I didn't want to point it out. While trivial, that alone got me wondering how much you planned out your analysis.
- nostrademons 20y ago
  I wrote it at 3:00 AM. And there initially were only 4 points: I had put advice & connections together, but realized that advice was important enough to list separately.

nostrademons 20y ago

"This setup is difficult to replicate because not only do you need the right people, you need the right money, and the right money and the right people." I'm not really trying to replicate YC. As you mention, there's already Techstars, Highland, and YEurope for that, and any attempt to replicate YCombinator runs up against the fact that they're simply better at what they do. Heck, even if this site was successful, I'd still probably prefer YC funding. However, YC doesn't scale. So there are hundreds, probably thousands of other startups out there with worthy ideas that won't make the cut. Simply because it's a numbers game. Some of those are going to start up anyway, and probably apply either to a later YC round or to local angels. That's our plan, for our "real" startup. But many more of them will give up because they think nobody's watching and nobody cares. I don't think that's a reflection on their character, I think it's the rational thing to do. Thing is, everybody loses out because those startups don't get started. So the goal here is to provide an environment where the 90% of us who don't get YC/Techstars/YEurope funding continue with our startups, and have something we can show local angel groups. As I understand it, the main problem facing angels is they're afraid founders will give up and send the angel's money down the tubes. This would give founders a place to develop and test their ideas in the critical probably-a-flop-but-could-be-useful stage before taking it to an angel.