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If you're managing your money reasonably well, and you're in your 30s, you probably have $15,000 in the bank in cash. I've never applied to YC because I've alw
by lzw 16y ago
If you're managing your money reasonably well, and you're in your 30s, you probably have $15,000 in the bank in cash. I've never applied to YC because I've always had an order of magnitude more cash than YC typically invests.
People right out of college, or early in their careers who know they want to do a startup, and who haven't had the time to put aside this level of capital are the prime target for YC, and they are also likely to be younger.
- danhak 16y agoMy understanding is that most people do not apply to YC for the money
- tptacek 16y agoAnd 35 year olds don't apply because they don't want to spend 1-3 years making 30-40k/yr. It's not complicated.
- danhak 16y agoI'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you suggesting that older individuals are less willing to take financial risk? I agree with that, but where is your 30-40K number coming from?
- replicatorblog 16y agoWhen you think about it though, Plenty of 28-30 year olds take on $100K in debt and forfeit as much or more in lost wages to get an MBA. Through that lens YC and an angel round seems like a great deal relative to the network and opportunity you get.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- tptacek 16y agoVery few 35-40 year olds are going to give up 75% of their income for any reason. Nobody's criticizing YC here though; we're all just making the obvious point that YC trends young because people with established careers in tech make a lot more money in a year than many YC participants will see in several.
- jon_dahl 16y agoOn the other hand, a majority of YC companies over the last year or two raise significant funding pretty quickly. A modest angel round can support a spouse/kids/mortgage lifestyle.
- swolchok 16y agoI used to be under the impression that one was obliged to take a low salary while employed by or founding an early-stage startup. Your seemingly sincere comment and an anecdote from a friend who was offered a quite competitive salary are starting to change my mind.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoJust remember that 100K/yr is "low" to the guys giving you your $10M series A.
- tptacek 16y agoI can sum up your odds of pulling down a 10MM A round by saying "you are not going to get a 10MM A round".
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoI've worked at 3 consecutive startups that each had $10M+ series A rounds...
- tptacek 16y agoI'm sorry to have written something that could be misconstrued as saying "there are no startups that get 10MM A rounds", but I was actually making a more subtle point.
- maxawaytoolong 16y agoI'm really stupid... what was your point?
- crcarlson 16y agoA lot of people ask me why I applied to Y-Combinator in my 30's with cash in the bank. For me it was because YC offers big picture perspective on internet companies I could not get for a better price anywhere else. I also guessed that the community would be good to know, like a business school class. Now having been through a YC batch I can say the money provided was the least significant benefit and that the advice and community turned out significantly better than I had ever anticipated.
- jacquesm 16y agoWhich company was that? Did you succeed at your goals?
- didip 16y agoTo my understanding the point of going to YC is to earn the connections, getting hooked up with really good business lawyer, free PR from TechCrunch, and maybe finding a capable tech co-founder. $15,000 is just too little money to make fuss about. The free PR alone is probably as valuable as the $15K.
- SkyMarshal 16y agoIt's also a pedigree, the web/Internet/startup industry equivalent of a Harvard degree. Even if your startup fails, the fact that you got accepted by a program known for screening quality of talent more than quality of the initial idea is valuable.