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This is bullshit. I fund my startup by consulting 1-2 months per year at 40k/month. Zero people think it is impressive. But $25k of Obama cereal makes a better
by dustingetz 8y ago
This is bullshit. I fund my startup by consulting 1-2 months per year at 40k/month. Zero people think it is impressive. But $25k of Obama cereal makes a better story.
- krn 8y ago2008 Democratic National Convention was 10 years ago. At the time, startups, as we know them today, were a rarity. Funding yourself to start one, even more so. Hacker News itself was only 1 year-old.
- amitutk 8y agoStartups were a rarity in 2008?
- krn 8y agoRelatively, yes. Sure, startups have existed for decades, but their popularity now is at a completely different level. Y Combinator, for instance, had 43 startups funded in 2008, and 274 in 2018. I am not even talking about the growth of the entire startup ecosystem, including angel investors and VCs. In 2008, startups were mostly only a thing in the US. Now there are tens of startup hubs across the entire world.
- lmeyerov 8y agoThat's rewriting history, including a lot of hard work by a lot of people. YC disrupted the model, it didn't start it. PG repeatedly describes YC as a startup in changing how this works, so mistaking their growth with the industry misses what's happening. The dotcom era had incubators through models like "I have access to capital but no one good idea; let me start a bunch and pick which to go". VCs regularly host EIRs (entrepreneur-in-residence). More dominant, many universities, corporates, and in gov, SBIR. Not sure how the numbers of SBIR compare to YC, but given SBIR is based on a % of each US dept's budget... ;-) The "startup accelerator" changed the model: more $ to more varied entrepreneurs, structured program with educational eco-system, made VC capital more attractive, etc.
- krn 8y agoThere are no questions about the history. What I am claiming, is that startups became much more widespread in the years since 2005, after the YC model was introduced.
- maxwell 8y agoAnd that claim is false. https://www.inc.com/magazine/201505/leigh-buchanan/the-vanishing-startups-in-decline.html https://www.inc.com/magazine/201505/leigh-buchanan/the-vanis...
- krn 8y agoThe U.S. Startup Barometer paints an entirely different view[1]. Nevertheless, I am talking about the entire world, not a single country. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/startup-barometer/ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/startup-barometer/
- maxwell 8y agoThanks for sharing the link.
- pjc50 8y agoThis version of history doesn't account for the first dotcom boom: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble
- kevstev 8y ago2005 was still a period of massive hangover for tech startups after the .com collapse. To say that startups as a concept weren't a thing, is misunderstanding the situation. Like the rest of the tech industry, the startup scene has matured and grown.
- maxxxxx 8y ago" At the time, startups, as we know them today, were a rarity. Funding yourself to start one, even more so. " Come on! Never heard of the dotcom bubble? It was all about startups. And people have been self funding businesses throughout history. Airbnb did what a lot of other people had been doing since eternity. Nothing new.
- krn 8y agoI am writing from a European perspective, but my impression is, that even in 2007 starting a startup or working for one was still not as common as it is today for a recent graduate in the US[1]. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html
- badcede 8y agoA better story is better marketing.
- stillsut 8y agoIt is an impressive accomplishment; but like GPA, not an indicator-of-success in venture.