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YC today is becoming the same as brand-name universities have. Their hype cycle as kingmaker now attracts 7000 applications for 141 slots. If you pick the best

YC today is becoming the same as brand-name universities have. Their hype cycle as kingmaker now attracts 7000 applications for 141 slots. If you pick the best and the brightest, your value add is debatable. Just like Ivy league schools - regardless of how good their program is, by virtue of picking the best, they have de-risked their brand dilution considerably. Mark Z didn't need Harvard or a degree to become a billionaire. If all the knowledge of YC gets democratized, anyone from anywhere can thrive at a business without going through YC

csomar 9y ago
> If all the knowledge of YC gets democratized, anyone from anywhere can thrive at a business without going through YC Hardly. Most of the knowledge is out there, and more. Here is how I think YC can rocketship you: - Access to capital. Suddenly, you are visible. - Legal advice from top experts. - Network of startups and guys that connect with you. - Massive interest from media (vs. if you were a noname out there) - Pressure to achieve. You are more pressured to give results along your peers. - Forcing you to move to the bay area. A good idea since the startup scene is still centralized.
shafyy 9y ago
To be fair, they do share a lot of their knowledge openly. Just check out their YouTube Channel and blog. There are no secrets or tricks. But I guess YC is more than knowledge. It has a strong signal effect, and the regular OH sessions you get with the partners potentially can help you a lot (even though you already might know what they telling you, but like a fitness coach, it helps you stay on track). Plus the alumni network, which I guess is especially valuable for B2B businesses and future partnerships. I didn't go through YC but know some people that have and I think that what it breaks down to.
DoreenMichele 9y ago
If all the knowledge of YC gets democratized, anyone from anywhere can thrive at a business without going through YC I doubt that. Knowledge alone is not what they provide. Additionally, even if it were, we often don't know what we know and trying to capture and convey our knowledge is incredibly challenging. What people soak up by being in the same room with those in the know and getting their feedback live and watching them model behavior is just not something you can actually convey by (say) writing a book. The book would be the tip of the iceberg, at best.
ForrestN 9y ago
On the contrary, I don't think there is much evidence at all that the Mark Zuckerberg's of the world have so much innate talent that circumstances don't matter. The more we learn about what explains individual success, it's clear that there are lots of factors pushing a given person towards being successful, and then a lot of other factors pushing that person toward being unsuccessful. There is no "best and brightest," there is a murky combination of talent, privilege, environment, education and luck. It's impossible to know if Mark Zuckerberg would be a billionaire if not for Harvard, for both easy reasons (maybe if he went to Yale, he would have slipped on a banana peel and then gotten hit by a bus) and deeper ones (how much did luck play a role in Zuckerberg's success, and did the network and prestige of Harvard help him capitalize on his good luck?) Zuckerberg had many more factors in his favor than just Harvard, that's for sure. Anyone who tries to explain his success by saying "oh, that's because he went to Harvard," is wrong. But it's also impossible and silly to claim that we can know that he is just so talented and intelligent that all contingency removed he still would have become a billionaire. This applies to the broader argument about Y Combinator. YC has a competitive advantage in that it attracts companies that have many positive factors behind them to apply. But that doesn't mitigate the possibility that YC itself is another positive factor, or that the only benefit to participating in YC is knowledge. From the outside, it seems like the applied knowledge expressed as case-specific advice and mentorship would be hard to "democratize," and that the intense amount of mutual support (start ups patronizing each other and becoming an instant, deep professional network for each other) are also not really expressible as knowledge. Access is an incredibly powerful resource that YC can provide its companies, and one that has absolutely no correlation to being "the best or the brightest." The reason there are so many successful white male founders is not because they are the "best and the brightest," but rather because they are culturally and ethnically connected to networks that provide them with access to business opportunities and conversations and platforms and education that aren't nearly as available to non-white non-men yet. There are countless "best and brightest" women of color who do not have all of the favorable circumstantial factors that made success easier for Mark Zuckerberg (and obviously made it easier for him to get into Harvard in the first place in various ways) and yet are equally brilliant and talented.

csomar 9y ago

> If all the knowledge of YC gets democratized, anyone from anywhere can thrive at a business without going through YC Hardly. Most of the knowledge is out there, and more. Here is how I think YC can rocketship you: - Access to capital. Suddenly, you are visible. - Legal advice from top experts. - Network of startups and guys that connect with you. - Massive interest from media (vs. if you were a noname out there) - Pressure to achieve. You are more pressured to give results along your peers. - Forcing you to move to the bay area. A good idea since the startup scene is still centralized.

shafyy 9y ago

To be fair, they do share a lot of their knowledge openly. Just check out their YouTube Channel and blog. There are no secrets or tricks. But I guess YC is more than knowledge. It has a strong signal effect, and the regular OH sessions you get with the partners potentially can help you a lot (even though you already might know what they telling you, but like a fitness coach, it helps you stay on track). Plus the alumni network, which I guess is especially valuable for B2B businesses and future partnerships. I didn't go through YC but know some people that have and I think that what it breaks down to.

DoreenMichele 9y ago

If all the knowledge of YC gets democratized, anyone from anywhere can thrive at a business without going through YC I doubt that. Knowledge alone is not what they provide. Additionally, even if it were, we often don't know what we know and trying to capture and convey our knowledge is incredibly challenging. What people soak up by being in the same room with those in the know and getting their feedback live and watching them model behavior is just not something you can actually convey by (say) writing a book. The book would be the tip of the iceberg, at best.

ForrestN 9y ago

On the contrary, I don't think there is much evidence at all that the Mark Zuckerberg's of the world have so much innate talent that circumstances don't matter. The more we learn about what explains individual success, it's clear that there are lots of factors pushing a given person towards being successful, and then a lot of other factors pushing that person toward being unsuccessful. There is no "best and brightest," there is a murky combination of talent, privilege, environment, education and luck. It's impossible to know if Mark Zuckerberg would be a billionaire if not for Harvard, for both easy reasons (maybe if he went to Yale, he would have slipped on a banana peel and then gotten hit by a bus) and deeper ones (how much did luck play a role in Zuckerberg's success, and did the network and prestige of Harvard help him capitalize on his good luck?) Zuckerberg had many more factors in his favor than just Harvard, that's for sure. Anyone who tries to explain his success by saying "oh, that's because he went to Harvard," is wrong. But it's also impossible and silly to claim that we can know that he is just so talented and intelligent that all contingency removed he still would have become a billionaire. This applies to the broader argument about Y Combinator. YC has a competitive advantage in that it attracts companies that have many positive factors behind them to apply. But that doesn't mitigate the possibility that YC itself is another positive factor, or that the only benefit to participating in YC is knowledge. From the outside, it seems like the applied knowledge expressed as case-specific advice and mentorship would be hard to "democratize," and that the intense amount of mutual support (start ups patronizing each other and becoming an instant, deep professional network for each other) are also not really expressible as knowledge. Access is an incredibly powerful resource that YC can provide its companies, and one that has absolutely no correlation to being "the best or the brightest." The reason there are so many successful white male founders is not because they are the "best and the brightest," but rather because they are culturally and ethnically connected to networks that provide them with access to business opportunities and conversations and platforms and education that aren't nearly as available to non-white non-men yet. There are countless "best and brightest" women of color who do not have all of the favorable circumstantial factors that made success easier for Mark Zuckerberg (and obviously made it easier for him to get into Harvard in the first place in various ways) and yet are equally brilliant and talented.