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> data-driven approach to our investments This is as absurd as saying "data-driven approach for finding out successful humans". I am kind of aggravated to see

> data-driven approach to our investments This is as absurd as saying "data-driven approach for finding out successful humans". I am kind of aggravated to see drivel like this from VC's. This is similar to algorithm trading on stock market and not funding deserving startups. This 'data-drive' garbage is how you end up with more grocery delivery, food delivery and pet walking startups.

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ksajadi 4y ago
Absolutely! Looking at the success in hindsight is not data driven. Just because the most of the past YC unicorns have been in industry X, doesn't mean the next ones are going to be like that. This is even more pronounced when it comes to the year of the batch, which is already past. Unless he wants to suggest companies in batches of the years with even numbers achieve higher valuations.
sam0x17 4y ago
Don't forget about hover-board-renting!! But yes, these days I think "data-driven" is really just a convoluted way of saying "we approximate the informed decisions of others without specifically understanding what we're doing". This is ML in a nut-shell after all. Is it possible to use ML and data science to find insights and draw conclusions that you then base your activities off of? Sure, but most are just looking for a magic black box that makes decisions for them specifically because they don't want to go to the trouble of understanding X. Once you abstract things away to that extent, you're inevitably training your algorithms to do what others do in an informed way, because where else would the training data come from?
exolymph 4y ago
> data-driven approach for finding out successful humans not absurd at all, simply do IQ tests
- ShivShankaran 4y ago
  IQ tests are even more garbage. It's mostly American centric and more so West centric. I had a IQ test for an interview around 10 years ago and it has something like "Unknown number of pennies and nickels are in a jar..." WTF is a penny and wtf is a nickel? Nickel is supposed to be a metal. Or "If you hit a golf ball 50 yards..." what's golf? wtf is a yard? one kilometer?
  - barry-cotter 4y ago
    Culture fair IQ tests were first developed in 1936. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matrices https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matric... > All of the questions on the Raven's progressives consist of visual geometric design with a missing piece. The test taker is given six to eight choices to pick from and fill in the missing piece.

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ksajadi 4y ago

Absolutely! Looking at the success in hindsight is not data driven. Just because the most of the past YC unicorns have been in industry X, doesn't mean the next ones are going to be like that. This is even more pronounced when it comes to the year of the batch, which is already past. Unless he wants to suggest companies in batches of the years with even numbers achieve higher valuations.

sam0x17 4y ago

Don't forget about hover-board-renting!! But yes, these days I think "data-driven" is really just a convoluted way of saying "we approximate the informed decisions of others without specifically understanding what we're doing". This is ML in a nut-shell after all. Is it possible to use ML and data science to find insights and draw conclusions that you then base your activities off of? Sure, but most are just looking for a magic black box that makes decisions for them specifically because they don't want to go to the trouble of understanding X. Once you abstract things away to that extent, you're inevitably training your algorithms to do what others do in an informed way, because where else would the training data come from?

exolymph 4y ago

> data-driven approach for finding out successful humans not absurd at all, simply do IQ tests

ShivShankaran 4y ago
IQ tests are even more garbage. It's mostly American centric and more so West centric. I had a IQ test for an interview around 10 years ago and it has something like "Unknown number of pennies and nickels are in a jar..." WTF is a penny and wtf is a nickel? Nickel is supposed to be a metal. Or "If you hit a golf ball 50 yards..." what's golf? wtf is a yard? one kilometer?
- barry-cotter 4y ago
  Culture fair IQ tests were first developed in 1936. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matrices https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven%27s_Progressive_Matric... > All of the questions on the Raven's progressives consist of visual geometric design with a missing piece. The test taker is given six to eight choices to pick from and fill in the missing piece.