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You are missing the point. The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. I have 0% interest in their money and 100% interest in their network

You are missing the point. The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. I have 0% interest in their money and 100% interest in their network. We have been turned down more than couple of times and I am not shameless enough to apply again. But if I had better chances of being accepted, I would even though my current ARR is 20x of their funding amount.

dvt 6y ago
> The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. This x100. YC opens the kinds of doors only places like MIT/Stanford/Harvard open. If you can get in, it really is a cheat code.
kevinskii 6y ago
I’ve seen enough YC companies fail and enough non-YC tech companies succeed to question the value of this supposedly exclusive human network.
- dvt 6y ago
  This is a bit myopic. YC doesn't imply success, and obviously not all YC companies are successful. But I have enough of an "upper-echelon" network (UCLA, Berkeley, USC, Caltech, LA startup scene) to know how priceless a network like the YC founders one would be. Having smart, motivated, critical people willing to give you the time of day is pretty key in refining ideas, reaching out to potential customers, or hiring. Not to mention getting funded (if you need/want to). IMO, one of the key mistakes of technical founders is not networking enough. Wish I could go back 10 years ago to my early 20s and tell myself to just go out more and network.
  - kevinskii 6y ago
    Sure. I’m not discounting the value of the network entirely. I’m suggesting that it doesn’t appear to be worth what you have to give up in return. Apart from the 7% and other preferential investor treatment, YC requires that you commit your time in ways that may not be optimal for your business in the long run.
    - ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
      I used to think so too. But then look at all the recently successful companies that IPOed and mega billion dollar companies. There is absolutely nothing great about their tech or their business model or their intelligence. Lyft is just smaller uber clone. Doordash is just another food delivery service. Pinterest is just a spammy link aggregation service. Faster and better home sharing services existed before AirBnb (VRBO is more than 10 years older than airbnb). And the list is endless. They are all successful because they got the right network, got the money, early investors, early users from network. Business models, tech, intelligence, smartness, timing all means jackshit. The only thing that matters is networking (and persistence)
      - dualthro 6y ago
        I would argue that AirBnB is successful because of its "growth hacking" -- I remember they were spamming all of their listings into all of the various Craigslist temporary housing, housing swap, vacation rental, month to month rental categories. Obviously don't remember a specific timeframe but this was well before they were even a well known name in tech.
      - unishark 6y ago
        > Business models, tech, intelligence, smartness, timing all means jackshit. The only thing that matters is networking (and persistence) I'd say there a self-selection process here. Certain companies possibly wouldn't have succeeded without connections. So one can always find examples where that contribution was most critical. And perhaps that is even the category targeted most by YC, since anyone can do software, to oversimplify somewhat. But many other companies do succeed by timing and performance.
sombremesa 6y ago
> The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. I feel very lucky to be in a position where I don't have to buy my friends.
- rfrey 6y ago
  It's not a substitute for the friends you make in high school. It's a substitute for the friends you make at Harvard, Yale or Stanford.
- ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
  You are not "buying" "friends". You are being introduced to other individuals that can help you succeed and believe in you. If you already have a network of people who can invest, buy your software, introduce you to other people then yes you are right YC is of not much value.
  - sombremesa 6y ago
    > You are being introduced to other individuals that can help you succeed and believe in you. I said I can get this for free rather than for 7% of my company, and that I'm aware this is a fortunate position to be in. Also, I hope you have friends who believe in you and can help you succeed.
onion2k 6y ago
The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. That was definitely true a decade ago when being a YC company was a very exclusive club, and practically every startup that went through it landed VC money from some of the best funds afterwards, but these days YC takes in nearly 200 companies in each batch. That must be diluting the value of the network a bit.

dvt 6y ago

> The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. This x100. YC opens the kinds of doors only places like MIT/Stanford/Harvard open. If you can get in, it really is a cheat code.

kevinskii 6y ago

I’ve seen enough YC companies fail and enough non-YC tech companies succeed to question the value of this supposedly exclusive human network.

dvt 6y ago
This is a bit myopic. YC doesn't imply success, and obviously not all YC companies are successful. But I have enough of an "upper-echelon" network (UCLA, Berkeley, USC, Caltech, LA startup scene) to know how priceless a network like the YC founders one would be. Having smart, motivated, critical people willing to give you the time of day is pretty key in refining ideas, reaching out to potential customers, or hiring. Not to mention getting funded (if you need/want to). IMO, one of the key mistakes of technical founders is not networking enough. Wish I could go back 10 years ago to my early 20s and tell myself to just go out more and network.
- kevinskii 6y ago
  Sure. I’m not discounting the value of the network entirely. I’m suggesting that it doesn’t appear to be worth what you have to give up in return. Apart from the 7% and other preferential investor treatment, YC requires that you commit your time in ways that may not be optimal for your business in the long run.
  - ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
    I used to think so too. But then look at all the recently successful companies that IPOed and mega billion dollar companies. There is absolutely nothing great about their tech or their business model or their intelligence. Lyft is just smaller uber clone. Doordash is just another food delivery service. Pinterest is just a spammy link aggregation service. Faster and better home sharing services existed before AirBnb (VRBO is more than 10 years older than airbnb). And the list is endless. They are all successful because they got the right network, got the money, early investors, early users from network. Business models, tech, intelligence, smartness, timing all means jackshit. The only thing that matters is networking (and persistence)
    - dualthro 6y ago
      I would argue that AirBnB is successful because of its "growth hacking" -- I remember they were spamming all of their listings into all of the various Craigslist temporary housing, housing swap, vacation rental, month to month rental categories. Obviously don't remember a specific timeframe but this was well before they were even a well known name in tech.
    - unishark 6y ago
      > Business models, tech, intelligence, smartness, timing all means jackshit. The only thing that matters is networking (and persistence) I'd say there a self-selection process here. Certain companies possibly wouldn't have succeeded without connections. So one can always find examples where that contribution was most critical. And perhaps that is even the category targeted most by YC, since anyone can do software, to oversimplify somewhat. But many other companies do succeed by timing and performance.

sombremesa 6y ago

> The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. I feel very lucky to be in a position where I don't have to buy my friends.

rfrey 6y ago
It's not a substitute for the friends you make in high school. It's a substitute for the friends you make at Harvard, Yale or Stanford.
ganeshkrishnan 6y ago
You are not "buying" "friends". You are being introduced to other individuals that can help you succeed and believe in you. If you already have a network of people who can invest, buy your software, introduce you to other people then yes you are right YC is of not much value.
- sombremesa 6y ago
  > You are being introduced to other individuals that can help you succeed and believe in you. I said I can get this for free rather than for 7% of my company, and that I'm aware this is a fortunate position to be in. Also, I hope you have friends who believe in you and can help you succeed.

onion2k 6y ago

The biggest advantage of YC is not money; its the human network. That was definitely true a decade ago when being a YC company was a very exclusive club, and practically every startup that went through it landed VC money from some of the best funds afterwards, but these days YC takes in nearly 200 companies in each batch. That must be diluting the value of the network a bit.