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All his stuff are fluff pieces, it's like listening to a pitch coach. I have no idea why people see him as an authoritative figure in this space, when all he ha

All his stuff are fluff pieces, it's like listening to a pitch coach. I have no idea why people see him as an authoritative figure in this space, when all he had was 1 failed start up.

kolbe 8y ago
I know it's not his fault per se, but YC has had a horrible track record since he joined, too.
- pen2l 8y ago
  Do you think it would have been any different if pg was in charge? I don't. I think it's rather that the 'low hanging fruit' are all gone. The whole mood has changed. It's become harder. Notice for example that YC places a lot of importance on growth when evaluating applicants, I think in early stages you could've had practically zero users of your product and they would have considered you -- now, not so much. Secondly, there hasn't been enough time to see what his track record really is, we'll need a few years to really see.
  - kolbe 8y ago
    That's fair. The seed industry itself has been really tough, and that's exacerbated since much of the growth since then has been in China. YC certainly has had a hand in a few of the companies that have done well, but it doesn't look good. I think people are mostly interested in hearing advice from very successful entrepreneurs and investors.
  - wtvanhest 8y ago
    They are just part of the signaling echo chamber now. No gutsy calls. When I started reading HN in 2010, it was all information about early stage tech. PG was saying that founders can lead companies all the way and that founders should have the power. Now they do... YC is just an average investor now with more scale. The next gutsy call or intuition is simply not there with the current team. HN is a news site and I enjoy it for that, but the community has been moved to a private network and the current YC team is more focused on looking good than doing anything innovative.
    - smcquade 8y ago
      What is the name of the private network?
      - wtvanhest 8y ago
        IDK, all the CEOs of their companies have a separate platform.
      - captain_perl 8y ago
        It's called BookFace, and is a private social network-style platform for YC alumni.
    - tim333 8y ago
      In some ways they are more gutsy now. Under PG it was mostly people writing some software. Now they have supersonic jets and nuclear fusion. How that works out I don't know. Also Flexport's good. Think they're under Altman?
      - wtvanhest 8y ago
        The businesses they fund have been interesting (in flexport's case great), but far from gutsy given that they are only putting $150ksh per business. What I mean by gutsy is having a view that is at least slightly contrarian and then executing on that view. There is nothing contrarian about making power law investments. That is standard for any large seed/angel/A series investor. The ones that don't do that don't make any money.
fermienrico 8y ago
I don't know much about him. What I do know is that listening stories directly from the founders is much more authoritative, informative and educational than listening to it from the investor's standpoint. Founders go through the stuff. Of course, investor's have their own stories which can be informative if they talk about specifics, not abstract things. I just wish there was a way for people to share about their failed startups. Now, THAT would be truly educational. Majority of failed startups disappear without founders sharing their learnings and that knowledge is forever lost.
qume 8y ago
Because he has had a privileged view of more modern style tech startups than almost anyone else writing about the subject.
jonbarker 8y ago
I like that he is willing to offer generalized advice, even though that is his job. He has one failure, that's one more failure than most of the people listening to his advice, and counts as experience.

All his stuff are fluff pieces, it's like listening to a pitch coach. I have no idea why people see him as an authoritative figure in this space, when all he had was 1 failed start up.

kolbe 8y ago

I know it's not his fault per se, but YC has had a horrible track record since he joined, too.

pen2l 8y ago
Do you think it would have been any different if pg was in charge? I don't. I think it's rather that the 'low hanging fruit' are all gone. The whole mood has changed. It's become harder. Notice for example that YC places a lot of importance on growth when evaluating applicants, I think in early stages you could've had practically zero users of your product and they would have considered you -- now, not so much. Secondly, there hasn't been enough time to see what his track record really is, we'll need a few years to really see.
- kolbe 8y ago
  That's fair. The seed industry itself has been really tough, and that's exacerbated since much of the growth since then has been in China. YC certainly has had a hand in a few of the companies that have done well, but it doesn't look good. I think people are mostly interested in hearing advice from very successful entrepreneurs and investors.
- wtvanhest 8y ago
  They are just part of the signaling echo chamber now. No gutsy calls. When I started reading HN in 2010, it was all information about early stage tech. PG was saying that founders can lead companies all the way and that founders should have the power. Now they do... YC is just an average investor now with more scale. The next gutsy call or intuition is simply not there with the current team. HN is a news site and I enjoy it for that, but the community has been moved to a private network and the current YC team is more focused on looking good than doing anything innovative.
  - smcquade 8y ago
    What is the name of the private network?
    - wtvanhest 8y ago
      IDK, all the CEOs of their companies have a separate platform.
    - captain_perl 8y ago
      It's called BookFace, and is a private social network-style platform for YC alumni.
  - tim333 8y ago
    In some ways they are more gutsy now. Under PG it was mostly people writing some software. Now they have supersonic jets and nuclear fusion. How that works out I don't know. Also Flexport's good. Think they're under Altman?
    - wtvanhest 8y ago
      The businesses they fund have been interesting (in flexport's case great), but far from gutsy given that they are only putting $150ksh per business. What I mean by gutsy is having a view that is at least slightly contrarian and then executing on that view. There is nothing contrarian about making power law investments. That is standard for any large seed/angel/A series investor. The ones that don't do that don't make any money.

fermienrico 8y ago

I don't know much about him. What I do know is that listening stories directly from the founders is much more authoritative, informative and educational than listening to it from the investor's standpoint. Founders go through the stuff. Of course, investor's have their own stories which can be informative if they talk about specifics, not abstract things. I just wish there was a way for people to share about their failed startups. Now, THAT would be truly educational. Majority of failed startups disappear without founders sharing their learnings and that knowledge is forever lost.

qume 8y ago

Because he has had a privileged view of more modern style tech startups than almost anyone else writing about the subject.

jonbarker 8y ago

I like that he is willing to offer generalized advice, even though that is his job. He has one failure, that's one more failure than most of the people listening to his advice, and counts as experience.