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Why? There's nothing special about YC, they're venture capitalists like any other. No surprise that they want to make shitloads of cash through whatever dubiou

Why? There's nothing special about YC, they're venture capitalists like any other. No surprise that they want to make shitloads of cash through whatever dubious, underhanded means they think they can get away with.

jacquesm 6y ago
What's surprising is that until that moment and a certain other moment which I've linked to enough about the source of funds YC was strictly speaking 'the good guys'. After that they turned into 'just like the rest, possibly worse'. That said, if you want to do a funded start-up and you're in the United States nothing will come close to beating YC for effectiveness, even today.
- yc_yuck 6y ago
  It's somewhat reminiscent of Google's disingenuous "don't be evil" pledge, quietly discarded when it simply wasn't a believable slogan any more.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    I don't think YC ever had a slogan to that effect.
- dang 6y ago
  > After that they turned into 'just like the rest, possibly worse'. If that were true, wouldn't there be a lot more Installmonetizers to berate? I feel like the fact that you guys are talking about one startup from 8 years ago has to count for something. YC has funded thousands of startups since then. I don't know anything about the backstory to that case but YC has turned down many startups for ethical reasons, so I always wondered what else was going on there. Perhaps they changed what they were doing after they got funded? That happens a lot. YC is not perfect by any means but the absolutist denunciation of the GP seems a bit excessive.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    I distinctly recall PGs comments regarding installmonetizer. I also recall the interaction with Fred Wilson regarding the source of funding. Those two stand out because they are things that should have never happened. Being clever does not equal having a good ethical model and YC has something of a problem in this respect. The social impact of companies like AirBNB and other YC investments - to me - clearly illustrates that there is no guideline about what kind of lines will not be crossed in order to make a couple of billion. That's fine by me, as I wrote, they are just like the rest in that respect. But YC isn't holy, not by a long shot. I agree with you though that it is not as if they seek out underhanded ways of making money. But they also don't rule them out a-priori and will not call companies to task - as far as I'm aware of - when certain lines are crossed. Fortunately there is Watsi to balance out the most horrible cases. As for why those companies stand out to me: I knew the initial batches quite closely, these days there are so many YC backed companies it is impossible to keep track of them and I'm simply no longer trying.

jacquesm 6y ago

What's surprising is that until that moment and a certain other moment which I've linked to enough about the source of funds YC was strictly speaking 'the good guys'. After that they turned into 'just like the rest, possibly worse'. That said, if you want to do a funded start-up and you're in the United States nothing will come close to beating YC for effectiveness, even today.

yc_yuck 6y ago
It's somewhat reminiscent of Google's disingenuous "don't be evil" pledge, quietly discarded when it simply wasn't a believable slogan any more.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  I don't think YC ever had a slogan to that effect.
dang 6y ago
> After that they turned into 'just like the rest, possibly worse'. If that were true, wouldn't there be a lot more Installmonetizers to berate? I feel like the fact that you guys are talking about one startup from 8 years ago has to count for something. YC has funded thousands of startups since then. I don't know anything about the backstory to that case but YC has turned down many startups for ethical reasons, so I always wondered what else was going on there. Perhaps they changed what they were doing after they got funded? That happens a lot. YC is not perfect by any means but the absolutist denunciation of the GP seems a bit excessive.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  I distinctly recall PGs comments regarding installmonetizer. I also recall the interaction with Fred Wilson regarding the source of funding. Those two stand out because they are things that should have never happened. Being clever does not equal having a good ethical model and YC has something of a problem in this respect. The social impact of companies like AirBNB and other YC investments - to me - clearly illustrates that there is no guideline about what kind of lines will not be crossed in order to make a couple of billion. That's fine by me, as I wrote, they are just like the rest in that respect. But YC isn't holy, not by a long shot. I agree with you though that it is not as if they seek out underhanded ways of making money. But they also don't rule them out a-priori and will not call companies to task - as far as I'm aware of - when certain lines are crossed. Fortunately there is Watsi to balance out the most horrible cases. As for why those companies stand out to me: I knew the initial batches quite closely, these days there are so many YC backed companies it is impossible to keep track of them and I'm simply no longer trying.