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> The remarkable thing about YC is that they truly innovated on the schooling aspect of venture and transformed the meaning of accelerator to business flywheel.
by mbesto 5y ago
> The remarkable thing about YC is that they truly innovated on the schooling aspect of venture and transformed the meaning of accelerator to business flywheel.
What exactly is the innovation? Don't get me wrong, YC as an investor is truly compelling but I don't see anything uniquely innovative about their "schooling aspect". They are commercially successful because they have the largest and greatest deal flow engine in tech venture.
> For high school students with aspirations in the tech field it is like the MIT, Caltech and Stanford all rolled into one.
Precisely - it carries a level of prestige that those schools also have - a signaling towards bigger investors if you will. Some of Silicon Valley's most successful engineers went to U of I, which also has an incredible comp sci degree, yet MIT/CalTech/Stanford aren't innovating their curriculums any better, they just have a more prestigious name.
- lordnacho 5y ago> What exactly is the innovation? Don't get me wrong, YC as an investor is truly compelling but I don't see anything uniquely innovative about their "schooling aspect". They are commercially successful because they have the largest and greatest deal flow engine in tech venture. I think it's in the "here's how to do it" aspect that's innovative, if you can call it that. Before YC you easily ran into the myths like "you have to have a great idea" or "keep everything secret or you'll get scooped". There was no player that was clearly and loudly saying "It won't work every time, but here are some learnings about capital structure, marketing, hiring, etc, and here are some people you can talk to, now go and give it a try." Was YC the first? Probably not. Was the message new? Probably not. But it was out there being very open about it, and I think that helped a lot of people.