4 ms·

That includes Hacker News, by the way. Now that "YCombinator China" is a thing, sooner or later YC is going to start getting gentle insinuations that they reall

That includes Hacker News, by the way. Now that "YCombinator China" is a thing, sooner or later YC is going to start getting gentle insinuations that they really ought to tone down the criticism of China on that forum site they run, if they want to keep doing business there. Then the insinuations will get not-so-gentle, and at that point either YC China or Hacker News will get the bullet.

leroy_masochist 7y ago
Meh...PG writing a blog post entitled "Why YC Is Quitting China" would cause plenty of tsoris in Beijing, and the Chinese certainly know this. I'd bet that PG/sama have thought about this set of issues, and they probably have their redlines drawn, but are probably also not advertising them, as is strategically prudent.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  > PG writing a blog post entitled "Why YC Is Quitting China" would cause plenty of tsoris in Beijing, and the Chinese certainly know this. Absolutely nobody but a very select few people would care. YC is not even on the radar of lots of tech start-ups or their founders, the world is a lot larger than what you might think from hanging out here. And that's with full knowledge of the sea change that YC has brought for founders and the absolutely incredible number of companies it has generated, there are still many more people - and founders - in the world that have never heard of YC compared to those that have.
  - leroy_masochist 7y ago
    > Absolutely nobody but a very select few people would care. Are you kidding me, it would be on the front page of the Journal. People would care after that.
    - jacquesm 7y ago
      The typical news cycle lasts about 48 hours. People have no problem remembering what 9/11 was all about because it was the top item for over a year. Now ask them in what year it was and see if you get the right answer. If YC has to stop doing business in China, it will be a very momentary blip and China will most definitely not change course because of a PG blogpost.
      - leroy_masochist 7y ago
        I think you're eliding the fact that technology development and specifically startup growth are current strategic priorities for the PRC, and making a straw man by framing my argument as "China will change course because of a PG blogpost". And also, do you really know multiple people who do not know what year 9/11 happened? C'mon
        jacquesm 7y ago
        > I think you're eliding the fact that technology development and specifically startup growth are current strategic priorities for the PRC, and making a straw man by framing my argument as "China will change course because of a PG blogpost". It's not a strawman when that is exactly what you wrote: >> Meh...PG writing a blog post entitled "Why YC Is Quitting China" would cause plenty of tsoris in Beijing, and the Chinese certainly know this. >> Absolutely nobody but a very select few people would care. > Are you kidding me, it would be on the front page of the Journal. People would care after that. YC is incredibly important to the start-up world but strategic priorities of the PRC aside if YC leaves China then that's not going to move any needles. If Google isn't powerful enough to make a play there you can just about forget what influence YC has there. To think that PG can influence Chinese policy with a blogpost is ridiculous. > And also, do you really know multiple people who do not know what year 9/11 happened? Yes. They typically know it was somewhere in the early 00's but not what specific year. It baffles me, but it is about as solid a fact as I have about this given that I've tried this many times now. Feel free to conduct your own little experiment and see what happens. I think in part it is because everybody always talks about 9/11 without adding the year. Edit: FWIW: I just checked one more person and they did not in fact remember what year it was, only be linking it to some event in their own life were they able to make the connection.
    - PhasmaFelis 7y ago
      I don't even know which "Journal" you're talking about. Paul Graham is not as well-known or influential as you think.
      - leroy_masochist 7y ago
        Wall Street Journal
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bjourne 7y ago
Paul Graham (owner of Hacker News) has stood up to bullies before https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/israeli-vc-un-invites-y-combinator-over-paul-grahams-tweets https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/israeli-vc-un-invites-y... If he didn't cave in to Israeli pressure he won't cave in to Chinese either.

leroy_masochist 7y ago

Meh...PG writing a blog post entitled "Why YC Is Quitting China" would cause plenty of tsoris in Beijing, and the Chinese certainly know this. I'd bet that PG/sama have thought about this set of issues, and they probably have their redlines drawn, but are probably also not advertising them, as is strategically prudent.

jacquesm 7y ago
> PG writing a blog post entitled "Why YC Is Quitting China" would cause plenty of tsoris in Beijing, and the Chinese certainly know this. Absolutely nobody but a very select few people would care. YC is not even on the radar of lots of tech start-ups or their founders, the world is a lot larger than what you might think from hanging out here. And that's with full knowledge of the sea change that YC has brought for founders and the absolutely incredible number of companies it has generated, there are still many more people - and founders - in the world that have never heard of YC compared to those that have.
- leroy_masochist 7y ago
  > Absolutely nobody but a very select few people would care. Are you kidding me, it would be on the front page of the Journal. People would care after that.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    The typical news cycle lasts about 48 hours. People have no problem remembering what 9/11 was all about because it was the top item for over a year. Now ask them in what year it was and see if you get the right answer. If YC has to stop doing business in China, it will be a very momentary blip and China will most definitely not change course because of a PG blogpost.
    - leroy_masochist 7y ago
      I think you're eliding the fact that technology development and specifically startup growth are current strategic priorities for the PRC, and making a straw man by framing my argument as "China will change course because of a PG blogpost". And also, do you really know multiple people who do not know what year 9/11 happened? C'mon
      - jacquesm 7y ago
        > I think you're eliding the fact that technology development and specifically startup growth are current strategic priorities for the PRC, and making a straw man by framing my argument as "China will change course because of a PG blogpost". It's not a strawman when that is exactly what you wrote: >> Meh...PG writing a blog post entitled "Why YC Is Quitting China" would cause plenty of tsoris in Beijing, and the Chinese certainly know this. >> Absolutely nobody but a very select few people would care. > Are you kidding me, it would be on the front page of the Journal. People would care after that. YC is incredibly important to the start-up world but strategic priorities of the PRC aside if YC leaves China then that's not going to move any needles. If Google isn't powerful enough to make a play there you can just about forget what influence YC has there. To think that PG can influence Chinese policy with a blogpost is ridiculous. > And also, do you really know multiple people who do not know what year 9/11 happened? Yes. They typically know it was somewhere in the early 00's but not what specific year. It baffles me, but it is about as solid a fact as I have about this given that I've tried this many times now. Feel free to conduct your own little experiment and see what happens. I think in part it is because everybody always talks about 9/11 without adding the year. Edit: FWIW: I just checked one more person and they did not in fact remember what year it was, only be linking it to some event in their own life were they able to make the connection.
  - PhasmaFelis 7y ago
    I don't even know which "Journal" you're talking about. Paul Graham is not as well-known or influential as you think.
    - leroy_masochist 7y ago
      Wall Street Journal

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

bjourne 7y ago

Paul Graham (owner of Hacker News) has stood up to bullies before https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/israeli-vc-un-invites-y-combinator-over-paul-grahams-tweets https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/israeli-vc-un-invites-y... If he didn't cave in to Israeli pressure he won't cave in to Chinese either.