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At it's core, YCombinator is a Venture Capital firm. A very different one, but still — they give money, advice and connections for equity in hopes of a return o

by kneath 16y ago

At it's core, YCombinator is a Venture Capital firm. A very different one, but still — they give money, advice and connections for equity in hopes of a return on their investment. You make returns on your investment by companies getting acquired (other methods are extremely rare). I can't see why a VC firm would argue against a huge exit that makes everyone a ton of money and leaves the founders working on the same product they built and love.

pchristensen 16y ago
I know, I know, I know. I don't begrudge anyone their well-deserved rewards in this exit. I just don't like seeing awesome stuff go away, which is what I fear will happen here.
- 10ren 16y ago
  IIRC pg has somewhere said that it would be in YC's interest for their startups to become massively profitable (and IPO or whatever), instead of getting bought out early. That is, YC's slice of $20 million is a fantastic outcome for YC... but a slice of $200 million etc would be even better. This led into a discussion that YC's policy is to just do what is in the startup's interest - if they want an exit, then YC will support that. And after slaving your guts out, pretty soon $20 million in the hand is starting to look pretty dang good! pg mentioned that instead of trying to calculate exactly what is in YC's interest, with so many startups going, the simplest approach is just to do what's in the startup's interest. I think everyone - including pg and future candidates - also feel a lot more comfortable with this approach. But I have to say: $20 million! That's freakin awesome! It's presumptuous of me, but I feel really proud of you guys. Go go go! And thanks also for posting a figure; that's usually secret.
- andreyf 16y ago
  which is what I fear will happen here I have little doubt that it will. Will Motorola ever care as much about their platform as Apple does?
  - fragmede 16y ago
    They just said they do, to the tune of 20 million dollars. The obvious fit within their existing lineup would be for Motorola to relaunch-their-existing/make-a-new phone OS with superb Cappuccino support.

by kneath 16y ago

pchristensen 16y ago

I know, I know, I know. I don't begrudge anyone their well-deserved rewards in this exit. I just don't like seeing awesome stuff go away, which is what I fear will happen here.

10ren 16y ago
IIRC pg has somewhere said that it would be in YC's interest for their startups to become massively profitable (and IPO or whatever), instead of getting bought out early. That is, YC's slice of $20 million is a fantastic outcome for YC... but a slice of $200 million etc would be even better. This led into a discussion that YC's policy is to just do what is in the startup's interest - if they want an exit, then YC will support that. And after slaving your guts out, pretty soon $20 million in the hand is starting to look pretty dang good! pg mentioned that instead of trying to calculate exactly what is in YC's interest, with so many startups going, the simplest approach is just to do what's in the startup's interest. I think everyone - including pg and future candidates - also feel a lot more comfortable with this approach. But I have to say: $20 million! That's freakin awesome! It's presumptuous of me, but I feel really proud of you guys. Go go go! And thanks also for posting a figure; that's usually secret.
andreyf 16y ago
which is what I fear will happen here I have little doubt that it will. Will Motorola ever care as much about their platform as Apple does?
- fragmede 16y ago
  They just said they do, to the tune of 20 million dollars. The obvious fit within their existing lineup would be for Motorola to relaunch-their-existing/make-a-new phone OS with superb Cappuccino support.