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pg,.. a nice graphical time line would be fun to see. i think a series of wired like info porn on the subject would be great. [a histogram of growth rates] [a

by jdavid 18y ago

pg,.. a nice graphical time line would be fun to see. i think a series of wired like info porn on the subject would be great. [a histogram of growth rates] [a histogram of round based success] [a histogram of general margins] - burn vs. profit [an aggregate timeline of all companies] - maybe something like this http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/23/movies/20080223_REVENUE_GRAPHIC.html# http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/02/23/movies/2008022...

SwellJoe 18y ago
pg doesn't actually really have that data. He doesn't sit on the board of any YC companies, and all he knows is what he's told. So, you asking YC companies directly for the data would probably be as effective as asking pg to build such a chart for you. pg has a general idea of the relative successes of YC companies because he chats with them every few weeks or months...but he's not the accountant for any of them. And, of course, disclosing that data for private companies is probably unwise. All YC companies have competitors (if it's a good idea, somebody is already working on it or will be by the time you launch), and having the laundry aired in public is probably a bad idea. The ones who want to talk about aspects of their business, generally talk on their blogs.
- jdavid 18y ago
  i do not really want individual stats. that would be like asking the companies to reveal their secret sauce. i am curious about the trend data that YC has generated. example: (startup life expediency) @month 0: 80 companies @month 1: 80 companies ..... @month 36: 4 companies example: (won a series A) @month 0: 0 companies ... @month 4: ~5 companies ... @month 12: ~7 companies a final comparative time line histogram could be made of variable percentages of YC companies vs. some measured goal so you could have histogram timelines of VC age vs. having angel funds, or YC vs. VC funds. or YC vs. liquidity, which might lead to the following example: example:(YC age vs. liquidity) @month 0: 0 companies @month 12: 1% companies @month 24: 5% companies @month 36: 10% companies @month 48: 10% companies graphs like these could lead to some interesting metrics about the measurable success of going through the YC process. Its a great way to study groups and to begin the comparison between group 1 and group 2 or YC vs. non YC. It should help build a case that getting into YC might improve your chance of success by say 10% or 50%. A lot of what pg talks about is how he feels that YC will improve your chance of success by more than 6%. I think at this point pg could present a fairly empirical case to prove that. I sense that many of us believe that to be true, but I have talked to some ex-startup vets here in Wisconsin who are not so convinced and others that are. I just think it would be great data to think about.
  - SwellJoe 18y ago
    "but I have talked to some ex-startup vets here in Wisconsin" I see what you did there. Nobody lives in Wisconsin. Seriously, though, while I'm sure such metrics would be useful to someone, I don't think pg needs to convince people that YC provides value. YC gets hundreds (possibly even thousands) of applicants for every program. If you need a chart to prove to yourself that there's value in YC, go for it.
    - jdavid 18y ago
      swell, there are a number of silicon valley startup vets from the 70s retiring here. it beautiful and we think traffic means it takes 20 min to get to work, rather than 15min. i also think in milwaukee we have the best beer in the world. in madison, milwaukee, and chicago the startup communities are growing fast in web tech, but even faster in biotech. i know in the valley most of you don't see it, but here there are new hospitals going up all of the time. we have one of the first telerobotic heart surgery terminals in the world. in this area, we have GE, Abbott, and Baxter; its pretty much like having google, microsoft and yahoo in your bio-tech back door. when the baby-boomer are aging and using medical care that money will fall through this state at some point. don't forget that we have 2 of the worlds largest financial processors, fiserv, and metavante. wisconsin is on a great path to take advantage of chicago's resources too. since 9/11 chicago has passed new york in trading value, and chicago is the 4th largest fiscal market in the world, with $460 billion in production value, where SF is 15th on that same list. and don't forget our schools where UW Madison and UIUC take the 9th, and 6th position in CS school ranking. if only we had the risky VCs that the valley had, i suspect that many of the world largest computer companies would have stuck here in the midwest, near their alma mater. also, do not discount our work ethic, one day we should eclipse the west coast in tech companies all together. ps. who do you think will build the nanotech manufacturing economy too?
  - Alex3917 18y ago
    You might like the book High Tech Startup by Nessheim. It's basically a collection of statistics about startups.

by jdavid 18y ago

SwellJoe 18y ago

pg doesn't actually really have that data. He doesn't sit on the board of any YC companies, and all he knows is what he's told. So, you asking YC companies directly for the data would probably be as effective as asking pg to build such a chart for you. pg has a general idea of the relative successes of YC companies because he chats with them every few weeks or months...but he's not the accountant for any of them. And, of course, disclosing that data for private companies is probably unwise. All YC companies have competitors (if it's a good idea, somebody is already working on it or will be by the time you launch), and having the laundry aired in public is probably a bad idea. The ones who want to talk about aspects of their business, generally talk on their blogs.

jdavid 18y ago
i do not really want individual stats. that would be like asking the companies to reveal their secret sauce. i am curious about the trend data that YC has generated. example: (startup life expediency) @month 0: 80 companies @month 1: 80 companies ..... @month 36: 4 companies example: (won a series A) @month 0: 0 companies ... @month 4: ~5 companies ... @month 12: ~7 companies a final comparative time line histogram could be made of variable percentages of YC companies vs. some measured goal so you could have histogram timelines of VC age vs. having angel funds, or YC vs. VC funds. or YC vs. liquidity, which might lead to the following example: example:(YC age vs. liquidity) @month 0: 0 companies @month 12: 1% companies @month 24: 5% companies @month 36: 10% companies @month 48: 10% companies graphs like these could lead to some interesting metrics about the measurable success of going through the YC process. Its a great way to study groups and to begin the comparison between group 1 and group 2 or YC vs. non YC. It should help build a case that getting into YC might improve your chance of success by say 10% or 50%. A lot of what pg talks about is how he feels that YC will improve your chance of success by more than 6%. I think at this point pg could present a fairly empirical case to prove that. I sense that many of us believe that to be true, but I have talked to some ex-startup vets here in Wisconsin who are not so convinced and others that are. I just think it would be great data to think about.
- SwellJoe 18y ago
  "but I have talked to some ex-startup vets here in Wisconsin" I see what you did there. Nobody lives in Wisconsin. Seriously, though, while I'm sure such metrics would be useful to someone, I don't think pg needs to convince people that YC provides value. YC gets hundreds (possibly even thousands) of applicants for every program. If you need a chart to prove to yourself that there's value in YC, go for it.
  - jdavid 18y ago
    swell, there are a number of silicon valley startup vets from the 70s retiring here. it beautiful and we think traffic means it takes 20 min to get to work, rather than 15min. i also think in milwaukee we have the best beer in the world. in madison, milwaukee, and chicago the startup communities are growing fast in web tech, but even faster in biotech. i know in the valley most of you don't see it, but here there are new hospitals going up all of the time. we have one of the first telerobotic heart surgery terminals in the world. in this area, we have GE, Abbott, and Baxter; its pretty much like having google, microsoft and yahoo in your bio-tech back door. when the baby-boomer are aging and using medical care that money will fall through this state at some point. don't forget that we have 2 of the worlds largest financial processors, fiserv, and metavante. wisconsin is on a great path to take advantage of chicago's resources too. since 9/11 chicago has passed new york in trading value, and chicago is the 4th largest fiscal market in the world, with $460 billion in production value, where SF is 15th on that same list. and don't forget our schools where UW Madison and UIUC take the 9th, and 6th position in CS school ranking. if only we had the risky VCs that the valley had, i suspect that many of the world largest computer companies would have stuck here in the midwest, near their alma mater. also, do not discount our work ethic, one day we should eclipse the west coast in tech companies all together. ps. who do you think will build the nanotech manufacturing economy too?
- Alex3917 18y ago
  You might like the book High Tech Startup by Nessheim. It's basically a collection of statistics about startups.