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The interesting thing is unlike that group of Angels apparently in the bar PG's interests are less about helping himself, and more about helping entrepreneurs.
by jeromec 16y ago
The interesting thing is unlike that group of Angels apparently in the bar PG's interests are less about helping himself, and more about helping entrepreneurs. From an essay by PG entitled "Why YC":
The real reason we started Y Combinator is one probably only a hacker would understand. We did it because it seems such a great hack. There are thousands of smart people who could start companies and don't, and with a relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place, we can spring on the world a stream of new startups that might otherwise not have existed.
In a way this is virtuous, because I think startups are a good thing. But really what motivates us is the completely amoral desire that would motivate any hacker who looked at some complex device and realized that with a tiny tweak he could make it run more efficiently. In this case, the device is the world's economy, which fortunately happens to be open source.
http://paulgraham.com/whyyc.html http://paulgraham.com/whyyc.html
- qq66 16y agoI don't think anybody's stated interests should be taken as an indicator of their true interests. In this case, with PG, I do believe that his stated intentions are sincere. But there is often so little correlation between actual and stated intentions, that I don't take any such statement at face value.
- jeromec 16y agoI don't think anybody's stated interests should be taken as an indicator of their true interests. I agree. (actually I'd replace "taken as an indicator" with "taken as an absolute indicator") In this case, with PG, I do believe that his stated intentions are sincere. I agree.
- mhendrick 16y agoCorrect me if I'm wrong, but isn't it likely that the angels involved also make up a strong percentage of the people who invest on Demo Day in post-YC companies? How can it be a "PG vs Angels" situation when the parties involved are likely some of YC's portfolio companies biggest "supporters"?
- jeromec 16y agoCorrect me if I'm wrong, but isn't it likely that the angels involved also make up a strong percentage of the people who invest on Demo Day in post-YC companies? Yes, I believe so. How can it be a "PG vs Angels" situation when the parties involved are likely some of YC's portfolio companies biggest "supporters"? That question might be better put to those Angels in the bar...
- mhendrick 16y agoI'm not defending the angels involved by any means; I actually think it's a great thing that this has been exposed if it is indeed what's been going on. The easy access to YC companies may in fact be what emboldened them to act in this manner in the first place. Once this all plays out, I think it's safe to assume that at least a few of the angels in question are going to have to answer for their actions. Should be interesting to hear what they have to say.
- MediaSquirrel 16y agoYC is the seller, angels at Demo Day are the buyers. Just cuz you work with someone closely doesn't mean you won't or can't try to screw them.
- mhendrick 16y agoAgreed. It's possible they got a bit overconfident in their respective positions because of the easy access to so many well-vetted companies.
- redrobot5050 16y agoYeah. I mean, look at the JooJoo/CrunchPad Debacle. According the Mike A., that's exactly what happened.
- brc 16y agoOne of the outputs from the YC process is better educated founders who have a lot more guidance in negotiating through a deal. Even if the deal flow was exactly the same, just having the founders suffering less from information assymetry would be a stone in the shoe of the Angels. Think of it this way : if YC did all the same things, but also turned founders into being Angel patsies at dealtime, do you think they would be upset about it? I would guess it's the information about how to negotiate, and what a good deal looks like is the problem. I'm sure they love the concept of demo-day to go deal shopping, but would prefer it if the products didn't talk back.
- wensing 16y agoYC's greatest hack is identifying founder material based on technical rather than social proof (the YC app asks for an example of the coolest thing you've ever built, not an example of a cool person that thinks you are cool). This hack is possible thanks to a judges panel full of real nerds. How many super angels or VC's can claim to have the same?
- gruseom 16y agoI agree that YC are able to identify great hackers and great founders more easily because they are these things themselves. What's little recognized is how big a difference this is between YC and the other YC-like funds.
- wensing 16y agoYes. I had a colleague apply for TechStars and her takeaway from the interview was "he was really focused on where the business was." Doesn't seem in line with what I've heard about YC's primary interest (it's not the business model).
- gruseom 16y agoIt seems kind of obvious that most successful startups don't succeed via the business model they started with. And that great founders can change business models more easily than great business models can change founders. These things are so obvious that they're cliches, in fact, but that doesn't mean that they're common practice.