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I have no intention of lying, I'd rather bootstrap or shop for other investors who don't have the same expectation of 'growth potential'. The YC model is.. it'

I have no intention of lying, I'd rather bootstrap or shop for other investors who don't have the same expectation of 'growth potential'. The YC model is.. it's own thing.. seems like in the current economy, they need every company to be a potential unicorn, which works out for them because they're doing it at scale, and the ones that deliver, deliver outsized returns. But possibly doesn't work out as well for the founders, because the 9/10 that don't deliver, are forced to run their company into the ground chasing a moonshot vs. a sustainable lifestyle business, and don't get to reap the rewards they might get from the latter business model

robocat 4y ago
Agree. I have yet to see YC publish figures on founder returns - they mostly talk about the successes. https://jaredheyman.medium.com/on-the-life-and-death-of-y-combinator-startups-d58aa03421f0 https://jaredheyman.medium.com/on-the-life-and-death-of-y-co... Amazing video on bootstrapping: https://youtube.com/watch?v=otbnC2zE2rw https://youtube.com/watch?v=otbnC2zE2rw There are funds trying to succeed at the many-small-successes model of investing - personally I am skeptical (from my own experience) because the natural failure rate is so high (before stressors due to investors). Edit: and there is a strong negative selection bias - small software businesses asking for money is a loud signal that they are much less likely to be successful at all IMHO. Relevant article about Mittelstands ”We need a middle class for startups”: https://neilthanedar.com/we-need-a-middle-class-for-startups/ https://neilthanedar.com/we-need-a-middle-class-for-startups... and my comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31350478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31350478
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  > small software businesses asking for money is a loud signal that they are much less likely to be successful at all IMHO Money doesn't seem like the main benefit to going through YC (otherwise there are lots of other investment firms one could approach). The main advantage seems to be the network, connections, and expertise on running a business. Sure, if I had another 30K I'd have an extra year of runway, which can be pretty valuable right now. But I suspect solo-bootstrapping without a good VC will result in a lot of friction at points that a specialist VC would be well-suited to assist with (providing standard ToS, verifying compliance, business structure boilerplate, etc)
  - robocat 4y ago
    Note: Paul Graham writes on theory of 7% equity: http://paulgraham.com/equity.html http://paulgraham.com/equity.html The real benefits and costs are hard to measure, the maths is obvious.
satvikpendem 4y ago
Why don't you look into bootstrapper friendly VCs instead? TinySeed and Calm Fund come to mind.
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  This is awesome, thank you for suggesting these!

robocat 4y ago

Agree. I have yet to see YC publish figures on founder returns - they mostly talk about the successes. https://jaredheyman.medium.com/on-the-life-and-death-of-y-combinator-startups-d58aa03421f0 https://jaredheyman.medium.com/on-the-life-and-death-of-y-co... Amazing video on bootstrapping: https://youtube.com/watch?v=otbnC2zE2rw https://youtube.com/watch?v=otbnC2zE2rw There are funds trying to succeed at the many-small-successes model of investing - personally I am skeptical (from my own experience) because the natural failure rate is so high (before stressors due to investors). Edit: and there is a strong negative selection bias - small software businesses asking for money is a loud signal that they are much less likely to be successful at all IMHO. Relevant article about Mittelstands ”We need a middle class for startups”: https://neilthanedar.com/we-need-a-middle-class-for-startups/ https://neilthanedar.com/we-need-a-middle-class-for-startups... and my comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31350478 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31350478

pcthrowaway 4y ago
> small software businesses asking for money is a loud signal that they are much less likely to be successful at all IMHO Money doesn't seem like the main benefit to going through YC (otherwise there are lots of other investment firms one could approach). The main advantage seems to be the network, connections, and expertise on running a business. Sure, if I had another 30K I'd have an extra year of runway, which can be pretty valuable right now. But I suspect solo-bootstrapping without a good VC will result in a lot of friction at points that a specialist VC would be well-suited to assist with (providing standard ToS, verifying compliance, business structure boilerplate, etc)
- robocat 4y ago
  Note: Paul Graham writes on theory of 7% equity: http://paulgraham.com/equity.html http://paulgraham.com/equity.html The real benefits and costs are hard to measure, the maths is obvious.

satvikpendem 4y ago

Why don't you look into bootstrapper friendly VCs instead? TinySeed and Calm Fund come to mind.

pcthrowaway 4y ago
This is awesome, thank you for suggesting these!