4 ms·

I see gamified as structured. A lot of new founders, and those who've yet to succeed, don't know how to get organized. YC is helping with efforts like Startup S

• bearjaws 4y ago
  Nothing wrong with structure, everything wrong with obsessing over your startup status instead of obsessing over delivering value. Witnessed it first hand in private equity and now startups. Usually the mission is to build a compelling product and sell it to the best of your ability. VCs are gasoline. Making the process more gamified changed the incentives to be about getting more gasoline from VCs instead of making a real company that makes its own gas.
  • michaelcampbell 4y ago
    > everything wrong with obsessing over your startup status instead of obsessing over delivering value. This doesn't stop, either. I've been at a company that's over 7 years old, a leader (top... 1? top 3 at least) in their space, over 500 people, and still goes on and on about being a startup. My inner cynic says this is because they can't let go of 'what got them there' and transition to big-boy pants, so they continue with the myth of the fungible tech employee, etc.
• ravagat 4y ago
  +1, it is entirely human to game a system/structure. In the case of YC, I'd bet there's always some slack in their cohorts every season. It could pay off, it could not but they're at a size where they can have it. Startup School is one of those positive ROI things that help tradeoff the gamification