5 ms·
I remember people saying things like this in the first few years but it's surprising to encounter it now. If people who think we're in the business of grooming
by pg 15y ago
I remember people saying things like this in the first few years but it's surprising to encounter it now.
If people who think we're in the business of grooming startups for HR acquisitions stopped to do the math, they'd realize we'd be acting against our own interests if we focused on that. Essentially all the returns in startup investing (for us as for any investor) come from the big successes. Whereas we often make zero from early acquisitions.
- gsharm 15y agoBig successes and sustainable businesses aren't necessarily the same thing. This is an important distinction because a sustainable business is a viable option for many, and "big success" isn't. And the biggest ones are going to leapfrog such schemes anyway. It's like American Idol for programmers. What you're doing is interesting, but it's questionable whether it's promoting the right values.
- robryan 15y agoSeems more like the big goal is to become a big success in their own right. If that doesn't come about then either a fairly big exit or a talent acquisition is much better for all parties than calling it quits.
- pg 15y agoBig successes and sustainable businesses aren't necessarily the same thing. I'm not sure what you mean by "sustainable businesses," but if you mean profitable businesses, big successes necessarily are that.
- enjo 15y agoIs that true? Was Photobucket or MySpace a "big success"? They certainly sold for a lots of money, but profitable was never a strong suit was it?
- pg 15y agoBy big successes I mean companies big enough to go public.
- tatsuke95 15y agoHonest question: by that definition, how many YC companies have been big successes? I scanned this list, and don't see many public companies... http://yclist.com/ http://yclist.com/
- dot 15y agoI guess Airbnb and Dropbox could go public if they wanted. The stock market likes companies that print money!
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- gsharm 15y agoYes, but profitable businesses aren't necessarily big successes.
- meanguy 15y agoOk, I'll bite Mr. Corporation Replacer. Where does the long-term R&D investment come from? Microsoft Research alone outspends Y Combinator by a factor of 50,000,000. And they're thinking 10+ years out. Money aside, their internal expertise and contact network far exceeds "the guy who made Django." Kudos for what you've done, but when you start talking this way I feel obligated to point out that you're a grain of sand on the beach compared to the Fortune 50--or even CMU/Berkeley/MIT. You're doing something totally different. Own it. Say what you're for, not what you're against. Say what you're building, not what you're killing. The fact that people who interview you keep painting you into these corners means that the general public still doesn't understand what's going on with YC. Less hyperbole, more concise vision. Your essays often achieve this, your PR should too.
- pg 15y agoWhere does the long-term R&D investment come from? Mostly from the same place Microsoft's R&D budget comes from: the companies' own revenues.
- davidw 15y agoBut if they're small, lean companies, is there room for people to just go off and do random things with little eye to profits? An example would be someone like Simon Peyton-Jones at Microsoft: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/simonpj/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/simonpj/ Much of what he does may eventually filter down to the rest of the company, but there's a real risk that some of it won't, or that it'll be picked up by someone outside of Microsoft, etc... How does that sort of thing work out with a number of small companies networked together?