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Y Combinator announces two new partners, Paul Buchheit and Harj Taggar
- fearless 16y agoDoes this mean YC will be able to fund more startups in the future as you add more partners?
- pg 16y agoWe should be able to, yes.
- johnrob 16y agoAt this point, you guys have seen a significant slice of the startup world. Has YC ever thought about how large your batches could become? You've said several times that the only real limit is the number of quality teams... but have you ever thought about how big that number really is?
- pg 16y agoWe've always approached that question the way hackers approach scaling software: we don't know where the limits will be; they'll probably turn out to be higher than we'd expect; the only way to find them will be to repeatedly expand, and hit and remove bottlenecks. So while we often hypothesize about what YC would look like if we funded e.g. 10x more startups, we know better than to plan to. It's a question to be decided empirically.
- mrduncan 16y agoCongrats all around!
- markbao 16y agoCongratulations to Paul, Harj, and YC. Really glad to see important things like Y Combinator grow, since even a small change at YC results in a huge effect on the industry given the influence that YC has.
- paul 16y agoThanks! I believe YC is one of the most innovative places in silicon valley and has the potential to truly change the world by helping to create hundreds of new tech companies. It's exciting to be a part of that.
- brlewis 16y agoTo expand on harscoat's comment, it's exciting to me (and I imagine to many others) that you'll be part of it, and I expect YC to be even more world-changing now.
- harscoat 16y agoAwesome
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- michaelelliot 16y agoReally glad to hear that you've decided to join YC Paul. Especially in this "Golden Age" (http://goo.gl/RESDb http://goo.gl/RESDb) of startups. A great addition to the YC team. :)
- maxklein 16y agoWhat does it mean to be a 'partner'? Do they then get some percentage share of the company?
- pg 16y agoYes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_liability_company
- rokhayakebe 16y agoIs YC an LLC?
- nivertech 16y agoIs YC structured as an LLC? I thought funds are generally LPs.
- gaborcselle 16y agoYes, YC is an LLC.
- adammichaelc 16y agoUsually in a VC firm each "raise" from limited partners is structured as a separate LLC. One VC might have a dozen different LLC's, each one associated with a different fundraising period.
- harscoat 16y agoWill Paul take part in the interview/selection process? Will he participate more than the mentors dinner? & Congrats.
- pg 16y agoYes, he's going to do everything we do. Kate Courteau is arranging for us to get a new, longer table for interviews right now.
- kylecordes 16y agoComments like this are an essential and incredibly fun part of the appeal of Hacker News and of YC. We don't get a bunch of marketspeak blather. We get straight answers like "Yes" and more partners --> longer table.
- harscoat 16y agoBecause he is leaving Facebook at the same time! http://venturebeat.com/2010/11/12/y-combinator-paul-graham-harj-taggar/ http://venturebeat.com/2010/11/12/y-combinator-paul-graham-h... Talent leave Google to FB. Now "one of the world's best hackers" leaves FB for YC.
- maxwell 16y agoY Combinator is the next Facebook.
- pg 16y agoIt's nice of you to say that, but it's impossible. The portfolio effect means that no investment firm ever ends up as big as the most successful individual startups. Nothing beats putting all your eggs in one basket, and having that basket turn out to be an outlier.
- stevenj 16y agoWhat about Berkshire Hathaway? Though, it's a pretty focused portfolio. Perhaps YC will acquire companies in the future?
- rokhayakebe 16y agoI do not know who HT is but it is nice to see 'promotion' from within (being that he previously co-founded a YC company and exited).
- mattyb 16y agohttp://ycombinator.posterous.com/welcome-harj http://ycombinator.posterous.com/welcome-harj
- redorb 16y agoI think it speaks to the character of YC to promote Harj based on the job he has done; when I think a lot of others companies would have kept him where they hired him in at.
- davidu 16y agoYou don't have to promote people to show them they are doing a great job. Now, I'm sure Harj wanted the promotion, it's a big win for him, but promotions aren't the answer all the time. There are lots of people who do NOT want a promotion, and you shouldn't feel you have to give them one. Often you can give them something more meaningful to them in the form of more compensation, bonuses, internal/external recognition, equity, etc. When it comes to engineers, many prefer to keep writing code, not managing people, and simply want more recognition, equity or comp.
- BrandonM 16y agoReceiving a promotion does not always require a significant shift in roles. Good tech companies allow engineers to climb the ladder while maintaining their propensity for writing code.
- known 16y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harjeet_Taggar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harjeet_Taggar
- staunch 16y agoI just can't believe it took so long. PB has always seemed (from the outside) like a de facto partner. This can only make YC better. Congrats PB, Harj, and YC.
- jdp23 16y agocongrats to Y Combinator, Paul, and Harj. it's an interesting choice to reinforce the demographic biases rather than trying to counter them. when you decided to add two partners, did you consider any women?
- YuriNiyazov 16y agoI don't think that's how it works. YC didn't decide that 'its time to add two partners' and then start looking for candidates. What actually happened is that there were people who were already acting like partners in everything but title, and this is just a formalization of that.
- jdp23 16y agoin other words, they didn't bother to think about the risks of reinforcing their blindspots (or the opportunities to counter). a couple of guys were there and doing the job so they formalized it.
- YuriNiyazov 16y agoNope, not "in other words". That's not even remotely close to what I said.
- jodrellblank 16y agoIt looks very close to what you said, (it just adds the claim that they didn't consider acting otherwise).
- jdp23 16y agoaccording to the interview with Paul B in the LA Times, "Paul Graham had mentioned it several years back but I was looking to start FriendFeed at the time. It’s hard to do anything else when you are trying to start a start-up. He mentioned it again this summer and it got me thinking again." So it sounds like they actually _did_ seek out at least one candidate.
- SteveMorin 16y agoCongratz to YC and Harj another step forward
- bretthellman 16y agoCongrats - That's great news for everyone
- jgervin 16y agoCongrates Paul and Harj.
- gaborcselle 16y agoDoes this mean that PB is leaving Facebook?
- rokhayakebe 16y agohttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1898669 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1898669
- why112 16y agoOk great, but why? Is there more to hacker news than the frontpage? How many people are needed to maintain it?
- mrduncan 16y agoI assume this was a serious comment - HN is merely a small part of YCombinator. See: http://ycombinator.com/ http://ycombinator.com/
- hrabago 16y agoIn case you're not trolling... There is more to YCombinator than Hacker News. HN is just the social news website intended to serve the YCombinator crowd. Your best bet to learn more is to go to the YCombinator website; you know, the one without the "news" in the url: http://ycombinator.com/ http://ycombinator.com/ Reactions like this (when genuine) bring more attention to the fact that HN has grown waaay beyond the YC participants.
- why112 16y agoThanks, tried actually that but no page loaded, therefore the comment. Page loaded fine now though.
- why112 16y agoOk great, but why? Is there more to hacker news than the frontpage? How many people are needed to maintain it?
- pchaso 16y agoIncredible announcement, 3 days before (rumors say) Facebook opening their "gmail killer". I am reading this like a fat slap on zuckenberg's face(book hehe) Big thumbs up for PG for messing in facebook vs google brains war. (edit: seems I wasnt able to explain I was trying to congratulate YC for being able to play in the big league where such companies are punching each other. I think this speaks a lot about how YC name is growing.)
- dmoney 16y ago> ..."gmail killer". I am reading this like a fat slap on zuckenberg's face(book hehe) Maybe Paul just didn't want to participate in killing his own brainchild.
- pchaso 16y agoDidn't meant (I realise how unfortunate writing the comment I was) it was PG objective crushing anyone. Its only I can not imagine a worst moment for an engineer with so huge webmail background like this one, moving out of fb only 3 days from launch (the rest was buggy literature)
- cool-RR 16y agoI've been wondering for a long time, and this might be a good opportunity to ask: How do you pronounce "Buchheit"?
- uuilly 16y agoI toggle between b-yew-kite and b-yew-shay followed by, "you know, the gmail guy."
- ivankirigin 16y agoBoo height
- cynicalkane 16y agoLooks German. Buch = 'bookh', similar to 'ach' or 'Bach'. Some Germans will pronounce this closer to 'boosh' Heit = 'height', as in 'Gesundheit'
- kyro 16y agoPaul
- PaulJoslin 16y agoCongrats to YC, Paul and Harj! I'd love to sit down with Harj one day and see how much he's changed since our school days. I'm really inspired by how much he's accomplished. Although, he's obviously worked very hard for it and it's well deserved!
- Harj 16y agoha i'd seen you on HN and dismissed the possibility you were the same Paul Joslin from school, that's funny you actually are. hope you've been well!
- PaulJoslin 16y agoIt definitely is a small world! I work as a software developer for a UK software consultancy, but dabble in my spare time on personal projects. Techcrunch / HN / Reddit has been on my daily reading list for years. It's definitely been interesting seeing your story unfold. If I'm ever over in Silicon Valley, I'll have to drop you a message as it'd be great to have a catch up and laugh about the old BGS times. Congratulations again!
- citizenkeys 16y agoThis, along with other things, feels like we're headed into a new renaissance period in silicon valley. There's talk everywhere about fundamental changes to how venture capital is done. There's ycombinator, 500startups, founder institute, etc. Paul Graham's goal is obviously to be the valley's biggest patron for starving artists, err, hackers. All of this is very fresh and exciting.
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- jnw2 16y agoLooks like http://ycombinator.com/people.html http://ycombinator.com/people.html doesn't list Paul Buchheit yet.
- rams 16y agoNow these are all fine people.Maybe it's time to add some color and character to YC.How about a James Bondish cat stroking villain type as partner,who sits in a dark corner of the room during the interview.Meow - Make stuff people want.
- zandorg 16y agoThat's either Elon Musk or Peter Thiel for bond-villainy.
- danbmil99 16y agoI thought it was "do no evil", not "don't be evil". Subtle difference, but not the same thing.
- tung 16y agoNo, the submission has it right (AFAIK). My guess as to why so many people use the former instead of the latter is because they get their wires crossed with the whole "see no evil, hear no evil, do no evil" saying, which has a different source.