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Right, but the point is those materials are not for starting a sustainable business, but a startup, a whole different thing as you understand. For sustainable b

by tyu2 6y ago

Right, but the point is those materials are not for starting a sustainable business, but a startup, a whole different thing as you understand. For sustainable business you probably don't want to listen to anyone involved in VC-funded startups, it's in their interest even to sabotage you.

pontus 6y ago
The fact that some think there's a distinction between a startup and a sustainable business says a lot about SV. A startup should be sustainable too. There's a distinction between a quickly growing business or a slowly growing business for sure, and sometimes it makes sense to forgo the sustainable part in the short term in order to promote growth, but to think that a startup somehow should not aim to be sustainable leads to really perverse incentives.
- nowherebeen 6y ago
  I think this concept was popularized by VCs like SoftBank. It also makes me wonder how much of a tech bubble we are in and what happens when it finally bursts.
  - Rastonbury 6y ago
    The appearance of being a bubble is inherent in the VC business model.. VCs know full well that 9/10 startups they fund are likely to fail, they make returns out of the 1/10. The median funded startup is a failure. People look at this an think "all this money and all this failure, its going to end badly, these investors are gonna get burnt!" yes some do, but even the most stellar firms have more misses than hits.
    - nowherebeen 6y ago
      > all this money and all this failure, its going to end badly, these investors are gonna get burnt No, I think all these startups employees with families to feed are going to be out of a job. VCs fund startups that shouldn’t have been funded in the first place. They create a market that artificially props up unsustainable businesses. This video is a good explanation of how the VC world actually works. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NVVsdlHslfI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NVVsdlHslfI
courtf 6y ago
Fair point, I just want to point out that this "lecture" series could be greatly reduced to one simple rule: do what the money-men tell if you want to get funded. These guys don't know how to build your business, they know how to get funds to change hands. So kiss their ass, jump through whatever inane hoops they use to trick the wealthy to part with their jewels, and you might just be among the chosen few.
- aerosmile 6y ago
  YC (and by extension, Sam Altman in his past capacity as its President) is not in the business of maximizing the longevity of each and every investment. Instead, they are in the business of maximizing their ROI within a reasonable timeframe (and they are pretty good at it). If that doesn't sound like a good deal to you as an entrepreneur, you should raise your money from elsewhere or avoid raising altogether. But to claim that Sam Altman doesn't know how to build a business is a bit of stretch. OpenAI seems to be doing quite well.
  - courtf 6y ago
    It's easy to make money when you have money and thousands of desperate poors begging for the opportunity to bhe your investment vehicle. Sam got lucky and got rich. From there it's all downhill.
    - aerosmile 6y ago
      Nobody would dispute the element of luck in each rich person's journey. Or that the first million is the hardest one. And yet, it does seem that the particularly ambitious, smart and hard working ones tend to get more lucky. Also, note this quote from Paul Graham [1]: > Within about three minutes of meeting him, I remember thinking "Ah, so this is what Bill Gates must have been like when he was 19." Not to mention that PG still declined him, and Sam refused to leave. Sounds to me like a bit more than just your average lucky kid. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html
    - courtf 6y ago

by tyu2 6y ago

pontus 6y ago

The fact that some think there's a distinction between a startup and a sustainable business says a lot about SV. A startup should be sustainable too. There's a distinction between a quickly growing business or a slowly growing business for sure, and sometimes it makes sense to forgo the sustainable part in the short term in order to promote growth, but to think that a startup somehow should not aim to be sustainable leads to really perverse incentives.

nowherebeen 6y ago
I think this concept was popularized by VCs like SoftBank. It also makes me wonder how much of a tech bubble we are in and what happens when it finally bursts.
- Rastonbury 6y ago
  The appearance of being a bubble is inherent in the VC business model.. VCs know full well that 9/10 startups they fund are likely to fail, they make returns out of the 1/10. The median funded startup is a failure. People look at this an think "all this money and all this failure, its going to end badly, these investors are gonna get burnt!" yes some do, but even the most stellar firms have more misses than hits.
  - nowherebeen 6y ago
    > all this money and all this failure, its going to end badly, these investors are gonna get burnt No, I think all these startups employees with families to feed are going to be out of a job. VCs fund startups that shouldn’t have been funded in the first place. They create a market that artificially props up unsustainable businesses. This video is a good explanation of how the VC world actually works. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NVVsdlHslfI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NVVsdlHslfI

courtf 6y ago

Fair point, I just want to point out that this "lecture" series could be greatly reduced to one simple rule: do what the money-men tell if you want to get funded. These guys don't know how to build your business, they know how to get funds to change hands. So kiss their ass, jump through whatever inane hoops they use to trick the wealthy to part with their jewels, and you might just be among the chosen few.

aerosmile 6y ago
YC (and by extension, Sam Altman in his past capacity as its President) is not in the business of maximizing the longevity of each and every investment. Instead, they are in the business of maximizing their ROI within a reasonable timeframe (and they are pretty good at it). If that doesn't sound like a good deal to you as an entrepreneur, you should raise your money from elsewhere or avoid raising altogether. But to claim that Sam Altman doesn't know how to build a business is a bit of stretch. OpenAI seems to be doing quite well.
- courtf 6y ago
  It's easy to make money when you have money and thousands of desperate poors begging for the opportunity to bhe your investment vehicle. Sam got lucky and got rich. From there it's all downhill.
  - aerosmile 6y ago
    Nobody would dispute the element of luck in each rich person's journey. Or that the first million is the hardest one. And yet, it does seem that the particularly ambitious, smart and hard working ones tend to get more lucky. Also, note this quote from Paul Graham [1]: > Within about three minutes of meeting him, I remember thinking "Ah, so this is what Bill Gates must have been like when he was 19." Not to mention that PG still declined him, and Sam refused to leave. Sounds to me like a bit more than just your average lucky kid. [1] http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html
  - courtf 6y ago