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This is a very valuable post for people who are applying to YC. In particular, I think business people who haven't done as much implementation work are particul
by kapilkale 15y ago
This is a very valuable post for people who are applying to YC. In particular, I think business people who haven't done as much implementation work are particularly susceptible to this specificity problem. I certainly was (and sometimes still am).
One concept helped me catch myself making this mistake... I read somewhere that a good explanation gives a peer the understanding required to reconstruct / implement the idea themselves.
However, some people have success describing ideas broadly in certain instances. For example, I have some friends who have had success selling "vision" to investors, even though after they pitched me I wasn't able to explain how their product worked at all.
- Alex3917 15y agoI think the general thumb is to be very specific with seed and angel investors, and much more broad and conceptual with VCs.
- irollboozers 15y agowhy is this?
- Alex3917 15y agoBecause usually angels care more about the product and VCs care more about the market. At the angel stage the most important thing is whether you can create a product people want. But by the time you get to the VC stage it's assumed that you've already done this and have traction, so what's important is the market opportunity. There are of course exceptions, e.g. Fred Wilson is extremely product focused, but if you're going in blind I think that's a decent heuristic.