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I'm sure many of these companies will be successful, but I'm underwhelmed by most companies on the list. The AI and biology-based companies seem the most intere

I'm sure many of these companies will be successful, but I'm underwhelmed by most companies on the list. The AI and biology-based companies seem the most interesting in that they're attempting to push the envelope forward. The rest seem to be some combination of: 1) Do X slightly better 2) Do X in new region Y 3) Do X using NFTs 4) Be a bank to those underserved by existing banks Obviously the point of these companies is to make money, not necessarily to push the technological boundary of human progress, but I miss being inspired by what YC was encouraging people to build.

jsiaajdsdaa 5y ago
This is actually the main reason I haven't applied to YC. I can think of things that would be awesome if they were 10x better, but I feel they are either too ambitious (drone delivery), already being done (ai robot that packs boxes arbitrarily), or too difficult (general AI, jetpacks)
- duped 5y ago
  YC is one of the best ways to get funding and access to the highest tiers of investor and advisers. It's startup funding on easy mode, if you can get in. The rest of your batch doesn't really matter.
- paulgb 5y ago
  YC has funded a company building supersonic passenger jets (https://boomsupersonic.com/ https://boomsupersonic.com/) and underwater mining robots (https://impossiblemining.com/ https://impossiblemining.com/), I don't think “too ambitious” is a problem for them if you can convince them that you're capable of delivering.
  - jsiaajdsdaa 5y ago
    Serious question, let's say that I have delivered or proven some prototype to users, but I am not already famous or rich or powerful. How would I convince YC that though I am technically gifted and people like my prototype, there is probably a founder out there elsewhere who has the ability to make the legal/manufacturing side of things work? Airbnb and Uber essentially disregarded local regulations and let things fall as they may. If you do that with the FCC or DOE I imagine things are a bit more serious? Most of the problems out there that need solving are not data ones anymore, they're physical/manufacturing related in my opinion.
    - ahstilde 5y ago
      FROM THE ARTICLE: > We strive to be a bridge for everyone – no matter who they are, where they live, or what demographic they belong to – to enter the startup world. That was the situation for me and many other I know. YC explicitly looks for overlooked founders and companies. They'll take risks other won't. They discount credentialism more than any other S-tier VC I know. FROM THE ABOVE: > let's say that I have delivered or proven some prototype to users, but I am not already famous or rich or powerful. How would I convince YC that though I am technically gifted and people like my prototype, there is probably a founder out there elsewhere who has the ability to make the legal/manufacturing side of things work? Keep demonstrating traction, and find that founder out there who can make it work. FROM THE ABOVE: > Airbnb and Uber essentially disregarded local regulations and let things fall as they may. If you do that with the FCC or DOE I imagine things are a bit more serious? That's after they had initial traction. YC accepted ABNB off of literal airbeds on people's floors.
    - anamax 5y ago
      > Airbnb and Uber essentially disregarded local regulations Not really. There were almost no AirBnB regulations before AirBnB because no one was doing anything like that at scale. Uber/lyft got started as a "town car" service, which is legally very different from a taxi. The essential difference is that "town cars" can't do "street hail" - they can only do rides when they're specifically called (or messaged). "Street hail" is where you flag down a ride. Confusing this is that most taxi companies also offer town-car services, but even pre-Uber/Lyft, most town car providers were not taxis. No one thought that town car services could compete with taxis before Uber/Lyft. Plus, all previous town car services were "call us for our cars", not two-sided market places/aggregators. That's why there were very few town-car regulations.
      - jacquesm 5y ago
        > There were almost no AirBnB regulations before AirBnB because no one was doing anything like that at scale. You mean unlike the piles of settled law governing the hospitality industry? > Uber/lyft got started as a "town car" service, which is legally very different from a taxi. Which is exactly like a taxi. It is a vehicle that you do not own that some else is driving to take you places, where you will pay per ride.
- joefigura 5y ago
  YC has funded multiple companies drone delivery companies - Volansi, Pyka, Flirtey, etc., and they've also funded a jetpack company (Jetpack Aviation). Being too ambitious or too difficult is not an issue, and if you want to apply to YC you should
  - jsiaajdsdaa 5y ago
    Thanks so much for the reply, could you check out my message to the other user? Genuinely curious as I feel like I have good ideas, have delivered in the past, and can apply with working prototypes for my ideas. My main concerns are applying without solutions for legal/physical scalability.
    - jedberg 5y ago
      One of the things YC gets you is access to lawyers. And if their lawyers don't have the expertise you need, they can send you to one who does and you can use the money you get to pay said lawyers. The fact that you know you need lawyers you can't currently afford is a good start because it shows you're at least thinking about the problem.
nostrebored 5y ago
I disagree here. I think this batch is actually extremely interesting for a few reasons. The B2B companies all seem to be providing non-incremental changes to industries. Seeing CX prioritized is something that makes me happy -- a large number of B2B companies have to build out undifferentiated CX tooling to help support large business teams that need to interact with their APIs. Cloud architecture management is also something that seems to have gotten some love. Existing tooling works on IAC to try to derive insights, but often these are artifacts created after a visual representation of the infrastructure. Skipping this hop and avoiding disconnects here is very interesting, and there are a lot of ways to extend the functionality of this tech. Further, there's some real-estate tech that has a chance to eat away at a large and unmodernized industry. Beyond B2B, expanding YC's footprint in Africa is something that has the potential to bring a lot of customer impact in an area that often functions differently than the rest of the world. Africa has been siloed off and developed tech in a radically different direction than the rest of the world. Just looking at the payments infrastructure in places like Nigeria, you can see why a barrage of companies would come out that seem similar but require completely different tech solutions. I'm excited to see how this moves forward, and happy that YC is going to help foster the tech ecosystem in places like Lagos. I do agree with you on Web3 investment though. I think it's mainly a waste.
ryanSrich 5y ago
> Do X in new region Y This one was always puzzling to me, and maybe I'm underestimating the lift to move into new regions, but why is this a thing? Why doesn't the main big player move into Africa, or India, or LatAm? Why can't Stripe be the Stripe for Africa as an example? Why does there need to be another company that's specific to that geo.
- jollybean 5y ago
  Understand that and you understand a lot about how the world works. 'Everything is Different'. Imagine in Spain 25 years ago people didn't use debit/credit for much at all, that buying a car with consumer credit was a big deal, and home ownership is new. Getting credit scores is hard. Opening bank accounts might be difficult. In Indonesia perhaps most people are 'unbanked' in the way we understand it. Maybe there were/are few proper internet connections to do transactions. The major local banks are controlled by a cabal that you need to bribe. Or it's an oligarchy that will not let you in. Or there's a custom 'national system' i.e. 'Carte Bleue' in France that everyone uses and it's pointless to do anything around that. Privacy regulations, localized data, risk, banking regulations, ambiguity, lawyers, fiduciary requirements, reporting requirements. Or literally 'employees don't show up' or 'electricity is not constant' or 'the Local Magistrate takes 10% cut' or 'The local warlord wants a cut' or 'nobody is qualified to do anything' or 'the employees got upset and shot/beat a manager' or 'sanctions shut down a key component'. And that's the short list.

jsiaajdsdaa 5y ago

This is actually the main reason I haven't applied to YC. I can think of things that would be awesome if they were 10x better, but I feel they are either too ambitious (drone delivery), already being done (ai robot that packs boxes arbitrarily), or too difficult (general AI, jetpacks)

duped 5y ago
YC is one of the best ways to get funding and access to the highest tiers of investor and advisers. It's startup funding on easy mode, if you can get in. The rest of your batch doesn't really matter.
paulgb 5y ago
YC has funded a company building supersonic passenger jets (https://boomsupersonic.com/ https://boomsupersonic.com/) and underwater mining robots (https://impossiblemining.com/ https://impossiblemining.com/), I don't think “too ambitious” is a problem for them if you can convince them that you're capable of delivering.
- jsiaajdsdaa 5y ago
  Serious question, let's say that I have delivered or proven some prototype to users, but I am not already famous or rich or powerful. How would I convince YC that though I am technically gifted and people like my prototype, there is probably a founder out there elsewhere who has the ability to make the legal/manufacturing side of things work? Airbnb and Uber essentially disregarded local regulations and let things fall as they may. If you do that with the FCC or DOE I imagine things are a bit more serious? Most of the problems out there that need solving are not data ones anymore, they're physical/manufacturing related in my opinion.
  - ahstilde 5y ago
    FROM THE ARTICLE: > We strive to be a bridge for everyone – no matter who they are, where they live, or what demographic they belong to – to enter the startup world. That was the situation for me and many other I know. YC explicitly looks for overlooked founders and companies. They'll take risks other won't. They discount credentialism more than any other S-tier VC I know. FROM THE ABOVE: > let's say that I have delivered or proven some prototype to users, but I am not already famous or rich or powerful. How would I convince YC that though I am technically gifted and people like my prototype, there is probably a founder out there elsewhere who has the ability to make the legal/manufacturing side of things work? Keep demonstrating traction, and find that founder out there who can make it work. FROM THE ABOVE: > Airbnb and Uber essentially disregarded local regulations and let things fall as they may. If you do that with the FCC or DOE I imagine things are a bit more serious? That's after they had initial traction. YC accepted ABNB off of literal airbeds on people's floors.
  - anamax 5y ago
    > Airbnb and Uber essentially disregarded local regulations Not really. There were almost no AirBnB regulations before AirBnB because no one was doing anything like that at scale. Uber/lyft got started as a "town car" service, which is legally very different from a taxi. The essential difference is that "town cars" can't do "street hail" - they can only do rides when they're specifically called (or messaged). "Street hail" is where you flag down a ride. Confusing this is that most taxi companies also offer town-car services, but even pre-Uber/Lyft, most town car providers were not taxis. No one thought that town car services could compete with taxis before Uber/Lyft. Plus, all previous town car services were "call us for our cars", not two-sided market places/aggregators. That's why there were very few town-car regulations.
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      > There were almost no AirBnB regulations before AirBnB because no one was doing anything like that at scale. You mean unlike the piles of settled law governing the hospitality industry? > Uber/lyft got started as a "town car" service, which is legally very different from a taxi. Which is exactly like a taxi. It is a vehicle that you do not own that some else is driving to take you places, where you will pay per ride.
joefigura 5y ago
YC has funded multiple companies drone delivery companies - Volansi, Pyka, Flirtey, etc., and they've also funded a jetpack company (Jetpack Aviation). Being too ambitious or too difficult is not an issue, and if you want to apply to YC you should
- jsiaajdsdaa 5y ago
  Thanks so much for the reply, could you check out my message to the other user? Genuinely curious as I feel like I have good ideas, have delivered in the past, and can apply with working prototypes for my ideas. My main concerns are applying without solutions for legal/physical scalability.
  - jedberg 5y ago
    One of the things YC gets you is access to lawyers. And if their lawyers don't have the expertise you need, they can send you to one who does and you can use the money you get to pay said lawyers. The fact that you know you need lawyers you can't currently afford is a good start because it shows you're at least thinking about the problem.

nostrebored 5y ago

I disagree here. I think this batch is actually extremely interesting for a few reasons. The B2B companies all seem to be providing non-incremental changes to industries. Seeing CX prioritized is something that makes me happy -- a large number of B2B companies have to build out undifferentiated CX tooling to help support large business teams that need to interact with their APIs. Cloud architecture management is also something that seems to have gotten some love. Existing tooling works on IAC to try to derive insights, but often these are artifacts created after a visual representation of the infrastructure. Skipping this hop and avoiding disconnects here is very interesting, and there are a lot of ways to extend the functionality of this tech. Further, there's some real-estate tech that has a chance to eat away at a large and unmodernized industry. Beyond B2B, expanding YC's footprint in Africa is something that has the potential to bring a lot of customer impact in an area that often functions differently than the rest of the world. Africa has been siloed off and developed tech in a radically different direction than the rest of the world. Just looking at the payments infrastructure in places like Nigeria, you can see why a barrage of companies would come out that seem similar but require completely different tech solutions. I'm excited to see how this moves forward, and happy that YC is going to help foster the tech ecosystem in places like Lagos. I do agree with you on Web3 investment though. I think it's mainly a waste.

ryanSrich 5y ago

> Do X in new region Y This one was always puzzling to me, and maybe I'm underestimating the lift to move into new regions, but why is this a thing? Why doesn't the main big player move into Africa, or India, or LatAm? Why can't Stripe be the Stripe for Africa as an example? Why does there need to be another company that's specific to that geo.

jollybean 5y ago
Understand that and you understand a lot about how the world works. 'Everything is Different'. Imagine in Spain 25 years ago people didn't use debit/credit for much at all, that buying a car with consumer credit was a big deal, and home ownership is new. Getting credit scores is hard. Opening bank accounts might be difficult. In Indonesia perhaps most people are 'unbanked' in the way we understand it. Maybe there were/are few proper internet connections to do transactions. The major local banks are controlled by a cabal that you need to bribe. Or it's an oligarchy that will not let you in. Or there's a custom 'national system' i.e. 'Carte Bleue' in France that everyone uses and it's pointless to do anything around that. Privacy regulations, localized data, risk, banking regulations, ambiguity, lawyers, fiduciary requirements, reporting requirements. Or literally 'employees don't show up' or 'electricity is not constant' or 'the Local Magistrate takes 10% cut' or 'The local warlord wants a cut' or 'nobody is qualified to do anything' or 'the employees got upset and shot/beat a manager' or 'sanctions shut down a key component'. And that's the short list.