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Conway's $150k YC offer

We emailed the 250 members of the Open Angel Forum and asked them for feedback on the stunning news. Nine of them are off the record, Dave McClure went on the record. My thoughts are at the end (I love the news and would do the same if I was flush with Facebook shares :-).

royrod 16y ago
Very interesting set of takes, thanks Jason. I think "LP without the fees" is the most provocative...
- jasonmcalacanis 16y ago
  I liked that one as well..... maybe I can blindly offer $10,000 to each startup. At least I've got 100k+ followers, This Week in STartups and the @LAUNCH conference to promote folks. I don't think Yuri's even on twitter. :-) Seriously, I'm super happy for any startup to get free money from two very powerful and successful people. It's a stunning turn of events.
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zipstudio 16y ago
I wish this investment had come from an American source. The large returns generated by start-ups are one of the ways the US economy can get back on it's feet. Siphoning this value creation off to other countries is not the way to get back to the top.
- VladRussian 16y ago
  you don't get it. It is the value, ie. money, generated somewhere are coming to America as an investment. Humongous amount of money in the world is trying to find any investment worth investing. Think why a Russian investor invests in San Francisco Silicon Valley instead of, for example, Russian government promoted "Russian Silicon Valley" :) "The large returns generated by start-ups " Don't worry - these large returns, in the form of high paying jobs, technologies, experienced teams, and large share of profits reinvested - the things all other countries are scramble for - it will be left here, in the Silicon Valley.
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dshankar 16y ago
5. Valley Power-angel: "An important part of being a first-time entrepreneur is the struggle of getting someone great to believe in you. I don't think that's true. Getting into YC is "getting someone great to believe in you." And with this offer, getting into YC just became more competitive, and more rewarding. The YC "stamp of approval" is now more powerful as PG & crew have to evaluate more applicants with a closer eye.
- creativemind 16y ago
  I have to disagree,the emphasis on entering these incubators is overhyped at best.I know plenty of ambitious and driven entrepreneurs with resourceful ideas and business plan that bother never to enter into these programs.Simply because the process they utilize to choose a certain party to enter into the program is flawed in many degrees.
arepb 16y ago
If $150k makes you somehow feel like you won and can ease off the gas, I don't think you were made to win anyway. For the few (maybe 1/4, more?) of the YC teams that this does make fat and happy, it's just cost of doing business for Milner to access the other teams. It's a brilliant move by Milner/Conway.

royrod 16y ago

Very interesting set of takes, thanks Jason. I think "LP without the fees" is the most provocative...

jasonmcalacanis 16y ago
I liked that one as well..... maybe I can blindly offer $10,000 to each startup. At least I've got 100k+ followers, This Week in STartups and the @LAUNCH conference to promote folks. I don't think Yuri's even on twitter. :-) Seriously, I'm super happy for any startup to get free money from two very powerful and successful people. It's a stunning turn of events.
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zipstudio 16y ago

I wish this investment had come from an American source. The large returns generated by start-ups are one of the ways the US economy can get back on it's feet. Siphoning this value creation off to other countries is not the way to get back to the top.

VladRussian 16y ago
you don't get it. It is the value, ie. money, generated somewhere are coming to America as an investment. Humongous amount of money in the world is trying to find any investment worth investing. Think why a Russian investor invests in San Francisco Silicon Valley instead of, for example, Russian government promoted "Russian Silicon Valley" :) "The large returns generated by start-ups " Don't worry - these large returns, in the form of high paying jobs, technologies, experienced teams, and large share of profits reinvested - the things all other countries are scramble for - it will be left here, in the Silicon Valley.

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dshankar 16y ago

5. Valley Power-angel: "An important part of being a first-time entrepreneur is the struggle of getting someone great to believe in you. I don't think that's true. Getting into YC is "getting someone great to believe in you." And with this offer, getting into YC just became more competitive, and more rewarding. The YC "stamp of approval" is now more powerful as PG & crew have to evaluate more applicants with a closer eye.

creativemind 16y ago
I have to disagree,the emphasis on entering these incubators is overhyped at best.I know plenty of ambitious and driven entrepreneurs with resourceful ideas and business plan that bother never to enter into these programs.Simply because the process they utilize to choose a certain party to enter into the program is flawed in many degrees.

arepb 16y ago

If $150k makes you somehow feel like you won and can ease off the gas, I don't think you were made to win anyway. For the few (maybe 1/4, more?) of the YC teams that this does make fat and happy, it's just cost of doing business for Milner to access the other teams. It's a brilliant move by Milner/Conway.