4 ms·

Why is only 1/25 of the United States interested in Y Combinator?

12 points by babyshake 18y ago

josefresco 18y ago
I'm from MA, seems I fit the mold around here. I'm surprised nothing from at least a state like NY.
- babyshake 18y ago
  It would be great if YC started posting stats about applications. Good for startups seeking co-founders, at least...
matt1 18y ago
Misleading title ;)
pxlpshr 18y ago
Austinite here... and I know about 10+ locals that regularly visit HN and follow ycom companies.
pg 18y ago
Possibly investors looking for directions to Demo Day.
- babyshake 18y ago
  I did consider the effect of investor searches, but I figured the ratio would be low enough to not make a difference of significance. Then again, I've never been to a Demo Day.
lbrandy 18y ago
I'm from PA. I'll be writing a sternly worded letter to google on their faulty search insights algorithm.
ivankirigin 18y ago
The #1 and #2 states for startups are disproportionately interested in an early stage investment firm. Not too surprising. Also, by population, MA & CA are about 14% of the US. By startup population...
mechanical_fish 18y ago
This is search traffic data. I spend a lot of time on HN, but I'm not sure I've ever Googled for "Y Combinator". The people who will tend to Google the term are going to be folks who don't really know about YC, but have heard the name and want to know more. A lot of those folks are going to be prospective investors, employees, acquaintances, or local media contacts of YC companies and their founders -- YC companies which, by no coincidence at all, are located where YC is located: MA and CA. But that's just the caveat, intended to keep us from jumping to the obvious conclusion: CA and MA dominate the search results because those are the startup hubs! People who are interested in startups tend to have already moved there! And just because that's the most tempting conclusion to jump to doesn't mean that it's necessarily wrong.
- furiouslol 18y ago
  Maybe those people were searching for "Y Combinator" - the higher order function, instead of "Y Combinator" - the incubator?
  - babyshake 18y ago
    In that case, wouldn't you expect the distribution to be more spread out than it is?
    - jsmcgd 18y ago
      Probably not because the kind of person who would be interested in a Y Combinator would most likely be situated in high tech industries or more esteemed universities which are located in Massachusetts and California.
- babyshake 18y ago
  What about Google as the web's command line? The Awesome Bar provides some stiff competition, but I use my browser search bar (Ctrl K) about half as often as I do the address bar (Ctrl L), and at a macro level like Insights it's safe to say that searches can be a surrogate for collective interest.
lakeeffect 18y ago
proximity of Y Combinator, it only has a physical presence in two locations. California and Mass. Also info is out of date: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat&q=y+combinator&cmpt=q&date&clp&geo=US http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat&q=y+combinato... Lastly, Trends orders the states in reverse alphabetical order.
easeyenn 18y ago
To be interested - i.e. to search for more information, they would have to hear about Y Combinator first - the average person who limits their information source to Yahoo News may not have heard of Y Combinator. The 1/25 of the U.S. expressing interest in Y Combinator have a starting point of knowledge about Y Combinator already (from other sources).

12 points by babyshake 18y ago

josefresco 18y ago

I'm from MA, seems I fit the mold around here. I'm surprised nothing from at least a state like NY.

babyshake 18y ago
It would be great if YC started posting stats about applications. Good for startups seeking co-founders, at least...

matt1 18y ago

Misleading title ;)

pxlpshr 18y ago

Austinite here... and I know about 10+ locals that regularly visit HN and follow ycom companies.

pg 18y ago

Possibly investors looking for directions to Demo Day.

babyshake 18y ago
I did consider the effect of investor searches, but I figured the ratio would be low enough to not make a difference of significance. Then again, I've never been to a Demo Day.

lbrandy 18y ago

I'm from PA. I'll be writing a sternly worded letter to google on their faulty search insights algorithm.

ivankirigin 18y ago

The #1 and #2 states for startups are disproportionately interested in an early stage investment firm. Not too surprising. Also, by population, MA & CA are about 14% of the US. By startup population...

mechanical_fish 18y ago

This is search traffic data. I spend a lot of time on HN, but I'm not sure I've ever Googled for "Y Combinator". The people who will tend to Google the term are going to be folks who don't really know about YC, but have heard the name and want to know more. A lot of those folks are going to be prospective investors, employees, acquaintances, or local media contacts of YC companies and their founders -- YC companies which, by no coincidence at all, are located where YC is located: MA and CA. But that's just the caveat, intended to keep us from jumping to the obvious conclusion: CA and MA dominate the search results because those are the startup hubs! People who are interested in startups tend to have already moved there! And just because that's the most tempting conclusion to jump to doesn't mean that it's necessarily wrong.

furiouslol 18y ago
Maybe those people were searching for "Y Combinator" - the higher order function, instead of "Y Combinator" - the incubator?
- babyshake 18y ago
  In that case, wouldn't you expect the distribution to be more spread out than it is?
  - jsmcgd 18y ago
    Probably not because the kind of person who would be interested in a Y Combinator would most likely be situated in high tech industries or more esteemed universities which are located in Massachusetts and California.
babyshake 18y ago
What about Google as the web's command line? The Awesome Bar provides some stiff competition, but I use my browser search bar (Ctrl K) about half as often as I do the address bar (Ctrl L), and at a macro level like Insights it's safe to say that searches can be a surrogate for collective interest.

lakeeffect 18y ago

proximity of Y Combinator, it only has a physical presence in two locations. California and Mass. Also info is out of date: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat&q=y+combinator&cmpt=q&date&clp&geo=US http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat&q=y+combinato... Lastly, Trends orders the states in reverse alphabetical order.

easeyenn 18y ago

To be interested - i.e. to search for more information, they would have to hear about Y Combinator first - the average person who limits their information source to Yahoo News may not have heard of Y Combinator. The 1/25 of the U.S. expressing interest in Y Combinator have a starting point of knowledge about Y Combinator already (from other sources).