3 ms·

Several years ago I used to read pg old articles (also Joel S, pgreenspun) without realizing who he was or know what YC was. It clicked with my nerds mindset. I

Several years ago I used to read pg old articles (also Joel S, pgreenspun) without realizing who he was or know what YC was. It clicked with my nerds mindset. I had an impression that he was a champion for the underdog, nerds like me who is smart enough (but not genius), willing to work hard and live frugal. I also had the understanding that ambition to be a unicorn not necessary, it is much more important to be ramen profitable. Success will come if you work hard and persevere, but not blinded by ambition. I also thought that success did not require social capital, eg ivy league degree, FAANG connections, etc. I filled up YC applications last year, but not sure how to answer question whether my idea is worth a billion. I will be satisfied if my SAAS business can make $5k MRR. If I have more than that, it will be a blessing. Should YC remove questions that favors those social capital? I mean, YC can have a simple leetcode question to prove you are smart enough. Then, run a lucky draw to pick which ones selected.

danenania 6y ago
I don't think pg or the YC partners more generally have anything at all against bootstrapping or smaller scale businesses. But they're a business too and have their own investors to answer to. Billion dollar exits are what make their business work. $5k MRR is a great goal, but you shouldn't expect investors to give you money if you there's no potential upside for them.
- swyx 6y ago
  there's definitely some jockeying for "the YC of bootstrappers" among the indie hacker crowd now
vikramkr 6y ago
Ramen profitable does not mean the company isn't worth a billion dollars. People aren't suggesting that your endgoal is to be ramen profitable - the mindset is to get ramen profitable as fast as possible so you have a foundation to build a billion dollar business. Venture capital does not have use for companies that make $5k a month. That doesn't mean it's a bad company, but I suggest taking another look at the PG essay about black swan farming to understand what they are looking for as venture capitalists. For $5k a month MRR, I think that's really only able to be funded via bootstrapping and friends/family if you're privileged enough to have access to the latter.
dencodev 6y ago
PG has posted on HN before that the bar for intelligence to be successful as a startup is not very high. He was specifically responding to someone who was doubting whether they were smart enough, and his response was "if you're reading this then you're likely smart enough". I think the premise being that if you're already on HN and reading about these topics you've met the bar.

danenania 6y ago

I don't think pg or the YC partners more generally have anything at all against bootstrapping or smaller scale businesses. But they're a business too and have their own investors to answer to. Billion dollar exits are what make their business work. $5k MRR is a great goal, but you shouldn't expect investors to give you money if you there's no potential upside for them.

swyx 6y ago
there's definitely some jockeying for "the YC of bootstrappers" among the indie hacker crowd now

vikramkr 6y ago

Ramen profitable does not mean the company isn't worth a billion dollars. People aren't suggesting that your endgoal is to be ramen profitable - the mindset is to get ramen profitable as fast as possible so you have a foundation to build a billion dollar business. Venture capital does not have use for companies that make $5k a month. That doesn't mean it's a bad company, but I suggest taking another look at the PG essay about black swan farming to understand what they are looking for as venture capitalists. For $5k a month MRR, I think that's really only able to be funded via bootstrapping and friends/family if you're privileged enough to have access to the latter.

dencodev 6y ago

PG has posted on HN before that the bar for intelligence to be successful as a startup is not very high. He was specifically responding to someone who was doubting whether they were smart enough, and his response was "if you're reading this then you're likely smart enough". I think the premise being that if you're already on HN and reading about these topics you've met the bar.