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PG is rewriting history here. The story that "Airbnb was on its last legs... They’d try this Y Combinator thing, and if the company still didn’t take off, they’

PG is rewriting history here. The story that "Airbnb was on its last legs... They’d try this Y Combinator thing, and if the company still didn’t take off, they’d give up" isn't exactly true. Just before entering YC, they had a handshake agreement with an angel investor for their seed round[0]. The YC partners convinced the AirBnBs to back out of that deal and have YC do the full round instead. [0] https://arenavc.com/2015/07/airbnb-my-1-billion-lesson/ https://arenavc.com/2015/07/airbnb-my-1-billion-lesson/

mritchie712 6y ago
handshake agreement != money in the bank
- thesausageking 6y ago
  I don't fault YC for what they did and, to his credit, neither does Paige Craig if you read the full post. It's the kind of selling and deal maneuvering all VCs do. But the idea that Airbnb was "on its last legs" and YC was their one last chance because "investors didn’t think much of the idea" isn't true.
  - borski 6y ago
    I dno, it definitely reads like investors didn’t think much of the idea, in general: “I was one of the few investors who actively pursued this deal from August through October 2008, and the only among them to agree on a term sheet.” “Over those extra weeks, however, the other investors who had been circling all dropped out of the deal…instead of a handful of us coming together as I expected, I was the one lone dude writing a check for the entire seed round. But ultimately that was fine by me — I was good to move ahead.” It’s not like they had a particularly oversubscribed round or anything
  - hn_grenade 6y ago
    A message for all the negative comments: When one is elevated, Quick! We must find ways to dismiss their success and try to drag them down in our perspective None above the herd! I know it's hard times in the world right now, but better to face that emotion in your own situation and feel better by doing better, than trying to feel better by pretending others are worse. The stories of others success raise anger and fear in hard times, but do you want to be successful? What would the Airbnbs do? Get angry and revise others success to failure to feel better? Or would they build? Please convert your emotion to constructive useful output If you don't have that success attitude, you don't have the right to judge others success, nor even be angry with your own lack, if you won't do what works to get it yourselves. Choice, how you react to this comment, is the first step of your new path. Which way will you choose to go?
staunch 6y ago
I believe they were not random applicants either, but had been walked in by a YC founder. So no points to YC for choosing them out of the applicant pool on their own merits. The Airbnb founders seem to be good at Making Friends and Influencing People. Which is clearly a valuable trait in Silicon Valley but not all that admirable. Neither is the business they built, which has caused perhaps as much misery in the world as it has eliminated. YC set out to create the next generation of tech companies like Google/Microsoft/Apple. Instead, YC has only helped to launch some pretty mediocre companies that will be hardly be footnotes in history. Sure, they made money, but they were already rich. The Airbnb and DoorDash IPOs are evidence of YC's failure to achieve its real mission rather than evidence that it succeeded. If it had succeeded, we'd all be talking about the Google-killer or Apple-killer they launched, and not these super boring room rental and food delivery services they're left with as a consolation prizes. It'd be awesome to see YC's original mission fulfilled. It was a grand idea and would be great for the world.
- dang 6y ago
  I don't know what "walked in" means, but having been introduced by a YC founder didn't get them into YC. It would at most have helped them get an interview.
  - staunch 6y ago
    Edit: I Googled it and it was Michael Siebel that helped them get into YC. You can debate what "walked in" means but I think it's safe to say the story of Airbnb getting into YC is one of Winning Friends and Influencing People rather than any brilliant ideas or work they did on their actual startup, which is precisely what the blog post is saying. Edit2: just saw on Twitter that @paulg posted the email that got Airbnb an interview. It's hard to imagine a stronger attempt at walking them in than they received. They got very special treatment from friends with connections. https://mobile.twitter.com/paulg/status/1337011619268882432 https://mobile.twitter.com/paulg/status/1337011619268882432
    - sillysaurusx 6y ago
unityByFreedom 6y ago
Someone else also mentioned revisionism, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25380961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25380961

mritchie712 6y ago

handshake agreement != money in the bank

thesausageking 6y ago
I don't fault YC for what they did and, to his credit, neither does Paige Craig if you read the full post. It's the kind of selling and deal maneuvering all VCs do. But the idea that Airbnb was "on its last legs" and YC was their one last chance because "investors didn’t think much of the idea" isn't true.
- borski 6y ago
  I dno, it definitely reads like investors didn’t think much of the idea, in general: “I was one of the few investors who actively pursued this deal from August through October 2008, and the only among them to agree on a term sheet.” “Over those extra weeks, however, the other investors who had been circling all dropped out of the deal…instead of a handful of us coming together as I expected, I was the one lone dude writing a check for the entire seed round. But ultimately that was fine by me — I was good to move ahead.” It’s not like they had a particularly oversubscribed round or anything
- hn_grenade 6y ago
  A message for all the negative comments: When one is elevated, Quick! We must find ways to dismiss their success and try to drag them down in our perspective None above the herd! I know it's hard times in the world right now, but better to face that emotion in your own situation and feel better by doing better, than trying to feel better by pretending others are worse. The stories of others success raise anger and fear in hard times, but do you want to be successful? What would the Airbnbs do? Get angry and revise others success to failure to feel better? Or would they build? Please convert your emotion to constructive useful output If you don't have that success attitude, you don't have the right to judge others success, nor even be angry with your own lack, if you won't do what works to get it yourselves. Choice, how you react to this comment, is the first step of your new path. Which way will you choose to go?

staunch 6y ago

I believe they were not random applicants either, but had been walked in by a YC founder. So no points to YC for choosing them out of the applicant pool on their own merits. The Airbnb founders seem to be good at Making Friends and Influencing People. Which is clearly a valuable trait in Silicon Valley but not all that admirable. Neither is the business they built, which has caused perhaps as much misery in the world as it has eliminated. YC set out to create the next generation of tech companies like Google/Microsoft/Apple. Instead, YC has only helped to launch some pretty mediocre companies that will be hardly be footnotes in history. Sure, they made money, but they were already rich. The Airbnb and DoorDash IPOs are evidence of YC's failure to achieve its real mission rather than evidence that it succeeded. If it had succeeded, we'd all be talking about the Google-killer or Apple-killer they launched, and not these super boring room rental and food delivery services they're left with as a consolation prizes. It'd be awesome to see YC's original mission fulfilled. It was a grand idea and would be great for the world.

dang 6y ago
I don't know what "walked in" means, but having been introduced by a YC founder didn't get them into YC. It would at most have helped them get an interview.
- staunch 6y ago
  Edit: I Googled it and it was Michael Siebel that helped them get into YC. You can debate what "walked in" means but I think it's safe to say the story of Airbnb getting into YC is one of Winning Friends and Influencing People rather than any brilliant ideas or work they did on their actual startup, which is precisely what the blog post is saying. Edit2: just saw on Twitter that @paulg posted the email that got Airbnb an interview. It's hard to imagine a stronger attempt at walking them in than they received. They got very special treatment from friends with connections. https://mobile.twitter.com/paulg/status/1337011619268882432 https://mobile.twitter.com/paulg/status/1337011619268882432
  - sillysaurusx 6y ago

unityByFreedom 6y ago

Someone else also mentioned revisionism, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25380961 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25380961