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YC is surprisingly unambitious. They have access to unlimited amounts of capital and do almost nothing with it. Maybe because they compare themselves to the tru
by staunch 9y ago
YC is surprisingly unambitious. They have access to unlimited amounts of capital and do almost nothing with it. Maybe because they compare themselves to the truly terrible investors they're surrounded by, and so it feels ambitious by comparison?
This announcement should be about a new $1 billion fund that they're going to use to deputize and train a thousand new angel investors. Or at least something big enough to move the needle.
Observing YC's evolution is a bit like watching someone take over Philip II of Macedon's empire and using it to march around Greece in circles.
- GraffitiTim 9y agoI would argue YC is extremely ambitious, especially under Sam Altman. However, ambition doesn't have to mean immediately investing billions of dollars in new areas. Huge ambitions can start as small experiments to see what's promising. That's how YC itself started too. Like a startup.
- staunch 9y agoYC's mission is ostensibly to create more startups than would otherwise exist. So how many startups would not exist in 2018 if YC didn't exist? A hundred maybe? The number can't be large because they don't do anything at scale yet. And yet there's potential for thousands of new startups to exist each year. Most people don't believe this, maybe not even YC, but that's what I'd call lack of ambition. When ICOs (equity crowdfunding) comes into its own we will have a measure of how unambitious Silicon Valley has been. I predict it will be a shocking revelation.
- bflesch 9y agoThat's an interesting viewpoint, I appreciate you sharing your opinion on this.