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Admittedly I am a bit sleepy right now, but am I somehow missing the part where he supports his argument in any way?

by alex_c 18y ago

bprater 18y ago
Agreed, the "because..." part is missing. Is it because VCs are being conservative right now? Will they be conservative forever? Is it because all business models are going to become failure in this economy? It capitalism dead? And why the big building full of hackers? How is that entirely different than it is now? If they create self-sustaining businesses, is it necessary to have VCs? Couldn't you build the business up using the traditional model of making money and then sell it off to a bigger company? Article smells a bit link-baity to me. Use Y!C in any title and it's automatically going to climb to the first page here.
noodle 18y ago
i think his point is that seeding and growing businesses that lead to external VC capital and acquisitions is dead/dying. his alternative is to essentially do the same thing, but gear it not towards external funding/buying, but just a single company that grows, fosters and continually owns the companies it helps to start. its sparse on the details, but i had/have similar thoughts and would love to start or participate in something similar.
- jcl 18y ago
  Isn't this kind of a model Google is approaching?
  - noodle 18y ago
    yeah, i was thinking the same thing, but didn't edit to add it. i think the main difference is that google has a moneymaker product that helps to fund the other small ones, which wouldn't be the same as this concept. or, maybe it could be, with coworking space being the main business to keep it above water on the basic expenses.
pchristensen 18y ago
Sure he does: ...I believe that the Y Combinator model is dead. The idea that you can put something out there on the cheap, get traction and then raise a quick real round no longer seems to be valid. While there will always be exceptions to this rule, from what I can see the market for these companies to the VC’s is mostly dead. He feels that way - how much more support do you need? Btw, how many YC companies could you fund for the cost of buying a hotel in the Bay Area? 400? (assuming $6M for a hotel)

Admittedly I am a bit sleepy right now, but am I somehow missing the part where he supports his argument in any way?

by alex_c 18y ago

Admittedly I am a bit sleepy right now, but am I somehow missing the part where he supports his argument in any way?

Agreed, the "because..." part is missing. Is it because VCs are being conservative right now? Will they be conservative forever? Is it because all business models are going to become failure in this economy? It capitalism dead? And why the big building full of hackers? How is that entirely different than it is now? If they create self-sustaining businesses, is it necessary to have VCs? Couldn't you build the business up using the traditional model of making money and then sell it off to a bigger company? Article smells a bit link-baity to me. Use Y!C in any title and it's automatically going to climb to the first page here.

noodle 18y ago

i think his point is that seeding and growing businesses that lead to external VC capital and acquisitions is dead/dying. his alternative is to essentially do the same thing, but gear it not towards external funding/buying, but just a single company that grows, fosters and continually owns the companies it helps to start. its sparse on the details, but i had/have similar thoughts and would love to start or participate in something similar.

jcl 18y ago
Isn't this kind of a model Google is approaching?
- noodle 18y ago
  yeah, i was thinking the same thing, but didn't edit to add it. i think the main difference is that google has a moneymaker product that helps to fund the other small ones, which wouldn't be the same as this concept. or, maybe it could be, with coworking space being the main business to keep it above water on the basic expenses.

pchristensen 18y ago

Sure he does: ...I believe that the Y Combinator model is dead. The idea that you can put something out there on the cheap, get traction and then raise a quick real round no longer seems to be valid. While there will always be exceptions to this rule, from what I can see the market for these companies to the VC’s is mostly dead. He feels that way - how much more support do you need? Btw, how many YC companies could you fund for the cost of buying a hotel in the Bay Area? 400? (assuming $6M for a hotel)