6 ms·

I am a little surprised that this got picked up, did not realize that my blog had the readership to even become link bait... While the title might have been a

I am a little surprised that this got picked up, did not realize that my blog had the readership to even become link bait... While the title might have been a little aggressive it was how I was feeling today. I have seen a lot of stuff recently which is what brought this post about. Hope I did not piss off anyone at Ycombinator (or the companies that they funded) as this post (if you read it you will see) is much more about the VC market changing and in my mind hurting the scrappy entrepreneur's chances.

fallentimes 18y ago
I'm certainly not upset - it just would have been nice to read more support for your argument as well as some elaboration.
jmtame 18y ago
I thought this was an interesting post, you raised a point which I haven't seen anyone refute yet: wouldn't it be more cost-effective in the long-term to purchase a bankrupt hotel? I'm not the finance guru in the room, but I feel like it would be cheaper long-term. I've done apartment hunting in the bay area, and it sucks. You have to look around, sign contracts, deposits, etc. It's a huge time and energy drainer. I like your idea, I find it to be creative. Can someone please discuss the downsides to doing it this way? Let's put aside the whole "YC is dead" argument, that's obviously only going to degenerate this otherwise meaningful discussion.
- jimbokun 18y ago
  "wouldn't it be more cost-effective in the long-term to purchase a bankrupt hotel?" It would be the ultimate extension of the Google (and Microsoft before them) "keep them at work" model. Bed, board, work in one location. Every cost could be amortized over the number of people/companies you have living there. Incomparable face to face networking opportunities. Certainly one of those brainstorming "this is way too crazy to work...or is it?" kind of ideas.
  - nihilocrat 18y ago
    It works on college campuses, why not elsewhere? Dorms largely eliminate the apartment-hunting roadblock and provide very close contact with (theoretically) interesting people. I lived off campus for the last two years of college, and it made the experience suck a lot more. This is the reason why I gave my upvote, nothing about a linkbait title or talk about VCs.
- siong1987 18y ago
  Steve Chen (from YouTube), Aber Whitcomb (from MySpace), Jim Young (from HotOrNot), and Ashwin Navin(Bittorrent) are actually doing something like that right now. http://www.ashwinnavin.org/2008/11/starting-new-gig.html http://www.ashwinnavin.org/2008/11/starting-new-gig.html
  - jmtame 18y ago
    Siong, I was going to e-mail you this, and then I came back to find the link and realized you posted it. This is a really cool idea!
- bemmu 18y ago
  To encourage religious commitment to a project, instead of a hotel, it would be way more appropriate to get access to a monastery in the countryside. This would work especially well for open source projects. I imagine the experience would include wearing robes and taking part in mass, where the attendants chant the GPL license together.
dpapathanasiou 18y ago
FWIW, Tom Evslin made a similar point: "So, if you’re just now starting up, don’t get blinded by the successes of the first people to realize a platform could be built and operated on the cheap. You already missed that wave. Now, unless you are extraordinarily lucky or well-connected, you aren’t going to succeed in publicizing your new service and getting up to a critical mass of content or subscribers or both unless you raise or have enough money to create initial awareness or value. There is too much clutter from which you must emerge." http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/01/web_20_greater_.html http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/01/web_20_greater_.html

fallentimes 18y ago

I'm certainly not upset - it just would have been nice to read more support for your argument as well as some elaboration.

jmtame 18y ago

I thought this was an interesting post, you raised a point which I haven't seen anyone refute yet: wouldn't it be more cost-effective in the long-term to purchase a bankrupt hotel? I'm not the finance guru in the room, but I feel like it would be cheaper long-term. I've done apartment hunting in the bay area, and it sucks. You have to look around, sign contracts, deposits, etc. It's a huge time and energy drainer. I like your idea, I find it to be creative. Can someone please discuss the downsides to doing it this way? Let's put aside the whole "YC is dead" argument, that's obviously only going to degenerate this otherwise meaningful discussion.

jimbokun 18y ago
"wouldn't it be more cost-effective in the long-term to purchase a bankrupt hotel?" It would be the ultimate extension of the Google (and Microsoft before them) "keep them at work" model. Bed, board, work in one location. Every cost could be amortized over the number of people/companies you have living there. Incomparable face to face networking opportunities. Certainly one of those brainstorming "this is way too crazy to work...or is it?" kind of ideas.
- nihilocrat 18y ago
  It works on college campuses, why not elsewhere? Dorms largely eliminate the apartment-hunting roadblock and provide very close contact with (theoretically) interesting people. I lived off campus for the last two years of college, and it made the experience suck a lot more. This is the reason why I gave my upvote, nothing about a linkbait title or talk about VCs.
siong1987 18y ago
Steve Chen (from YouTube), Aber Whitcomb (from MySpace), Jim Young (from HotOrNot), and Ashwin Navin(Bittorrent) are actually doing something like that right now. http://www.ashwinnavin.org/2008/11/starting-new-gig.html http://www.ashwinnavin.org/2008/11/starting-new-gig.html
- jmtame 18y ago
  Siong, I was going to e-mail you this, and then I came back to find the link and realized you posted it. This is a really cool idea!
bemmu 18y ago
To encourage religious commitment to a project, instead of a hotel, it would be way more appropriate to get access to a monastery in the countryside. This would work especially well for open source projects. I imagine the experience would include wearing robes and taking part in mass, where the attendants chant the GPL license together.

dpapathanasiou 18y ago

FWIW, Tom Evslin made a similar point: "So, if you’re just now starting up, don’t get blinded by the successes of the first people to realize a platform could be built and operated on the cheap. You already missed that wave. Now, unless you are extraordinarily lucky or well-connected, you aren’t going to succeed in publicizing your new service and getting up to a critical mass of content or subscribers or both unless you raise or have enough money to create initial awareness or value. There is too much clutter from which you must emerge." http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/01/web_20_greater_.html http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/01/web_20_greater_.html