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It's the YCombinator startup way: scale large enough so that you don't have to worry about customer complaints until they threaten to go public and generate eno
by gamblor956 4y ago
It's the YCombinator startup way: scale large enough so that you don't have to worry about customer complaints until they threaten to go public and generate enough press to cause real damage.
But in all seriousness, being a YCombinator startup is now a big red flag outside of the VC-funded bubble. My current employer, and the previous one, have strict no-YC policy for SaaS due to numerous issues with previous YC companies. And these are both tech-friendly/tech-adjacent companies.
It's even worse at stodgier companies; an executive sees "Stripe froze my payments" and that's what they remember when a Stripe salesman tries to pitch them on using stripe for their online store. Stripe is quickly becoming Google, in the bad way: it's a name people are learning to avoid, and if that hits critical mass they're dead.
- pc86 4y agoThis is the first I've heard about a "no-YC policy for SaaS" outside of my own employer (after three back-to-back horrible experiences) but glad to see it's catching on. As executives and purchasing managers get more tech-aware I think we're going to see an increase in due diligence into who is running companies, who their investors are, what other companies they've invested in, etc. Brands like YC will end up getting punished (and all their portfolio companies, by extension) for the bad actors.
- jtbayly 4y agoAt which point YC will come up with an algorithm to evaluate companies and blackhol certain companies without warning or process and we'll see HN posts "YC just blackholes my business!" but on Reddit, since they won't be able to post here.
- pc86 4y agoAnd the inevitable calls for HN to be made a public utility.