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A few people had asked me about setting this up and I've finally gotten around to it. If it gets accepted, I plan on using InsideYC.reddit.com to solicit quest

A few people had asked me about setting this up and I've finally gotten around to it. If it gets accepted, I plan on using InsideYC.reddit.com to solicit questions to ask the panelists in the run-up to SXSW. But I'd like to know specifically from the Hacker News community -- what would you like to be covered?

babul 18y ago
I'd like to hear long-term stories of life before, during, and after YC, for the companies/founders. Not just snapshots of today. Ideally with low-level details that provide the true insights, obstacles and challenges faced and (how they were overcome or bypassed), and the life journey. When reading books (especially those of founders/companies/history/philosophy), it is the long-term journey that I find most interesting.
- kn0thing 18y ago
  Great suggestion, thanks. I'll be sure every startup represented provides this to start off the panel. I'll also be sure to bring a big pitcher of orange Kool-Aid. I'm not joking.
  - robg 18y ago
    Hilarious, esp the orange! But why stop at a pitcher? How about some audience participation? Set up a few of those 20 gallon Gatorade buckets at the back of the room!
icey 18y ago
I think it would be worthwhile to hear the value of not agonizing over technology decisions for too long.
webwright 18y ago
I think it'd be interesting to compare early-YC (when it was a pool of 5 companies per session) versus current-YC (20+ companies). Stats are also pretty popular-- how many are alive, how many got bought, how many got angel funded, how many got Series A, etc. And, to turn around the question question PG asked every dinner guest in our YC experience , "What most surprised you about the experience?"
alex_c 18y ago
Any experiences from people who have started companies both with and without help from YC? That could provide the most clear picture of YC's benefits, although it might sound a bit too much like a sales pitch.
robg 18y ago
It would be interesting to hear summary stats about the aggregate so far - number of teams, number of founders, number of products released, number of angel rounds (average size?), acquisitions (average acquisition price?), and Series A's (average size?), distribution of ages, distributions of sexes, even number of college graduates and from where, from which states/countries - more data = more interesting! Even something like the distribution of percentage stakes YC has received would be really interesting. Great idea though - five stars from me too.

babul 18y ago

I'd like to hear long-term stories of life before, during, and after YC, for the companies/founders. Not just snapshots of today. Ideally with low-level details that provide the true insights, obstacles and challenges faced and (how they were overcome or bypassed), and the life journey. When reading books (especially those of founders/companies/history/philosophy), it is the long-term journey that I find most interesting.

kn0thing 18y ago
Great suggestion, thanks. I'll be sure every startup represented provides this to start off the panel. I'll also be sure to bring a big pitcher of orange Kool-Aid. I'm not joking.
- robg 18y ago
  Hilarious, esp the orange! But why stop at a pitcher? How about some audience participation? Set up a few of those 20 gallon Gatorade buckets at the back of the room!

icey 18y ago

I think it would be worthwhile to hear the value of not agonizing over technology decisions for too long.

webwright 18y ago

I think it'd be interesting to compare early-YC (when it was a pool of 5 companies per session) versus current-YC (20+ companies). Stats are also pretty popular-- how many are alive, how many got bought, how many got angel funded, how many got Series A, etc. And, to turn around the question question PG asked every dinner guest in our YC experience , "What most surprised you about the experience?"

alex_c 18y ago

Any experiences from people who have started companies both with and without help from YC? That could provide the most clear picture of YC's benefits, although it might sound a bit too much like a sales pitch.

robg 18y ago

It would be interesting to hear summary stats about the aggregate so far - number of teams, number of founders, number of products released, number of angel rounds (average size?), acquisitions (average acquisition price?), and Series A's (average size?), distribution of ages, distributions of sexes, even number of college graduates and from where, from which states/countries - more data = more interesting! Even something like the distribution of percentage stakes YC has received would be really interesting. Great idea though - five stars from me too.