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I concur that the system works. The point of the article is who does it work for? Personally, I agree with you. If you're just coming out of college this is a

I concur that the system works. The point of the article is who does it work for? Personally, I agree with you. If you're just coming out of college this is a great way to get a couple years of salary and a chance to work on whatever you like. Give it a few years, if it doesn't work out it hasn't really cost anymore than a post-grad course in terms of time. Basically you can view the whole program as a simple "job" with pay, with a 1% chance of going big. That's probably worth taking a punt on. 99% will fail, so frankly I wouldn't spend more than 5 years on this path, but if you're young you can afford that time. Honestly this approach seems a lot more attractive than putting up my own life savings to start a business. Or working without income for a year or whatever.

computerdork 3y ago
And a startup doesn't need to make 1 billion per year to be a success. How about one that makes 100 million? or even 10 million? If the company is sold, the founders will be rich (not ultra rich, but have a million or more). And, for ycombinator, the number of "startup exits" is: 351 (according to this page: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/startup-stats https://explodingtopics.com/blog/startup-stats). Am no expert at startups, but this may mean that out of the 4000 that when through ycombinator, ~9% where valuable enough for investors to take profit. That sound pretty good to me.
- robocat 3y ago
  > or even 10 million > the founders will be rich A common misconception that is usually untrue. If you hop on the VC train there are many reasons why founders can get $0. VC gets preferential shares which means that founders (common shares) often get nothing even though the business sold for millions.
  - computerdork 3y ago
    Ah, I see. And actually, I do know a little about startups (even though I said I'm no expert), and thought that most founders who sell their businesses for something like 10 million can make a comfortable amount of cash. But didn't realize that if they use VC's, the VC's can take so much! So, was wondering, would you happen to know if there is a standard amount in a sale of a startup funded by a VC that makes the founders a good amount of money? (Talking about the minimum needed to make a million for a couple of founders).
    - bruce511 3y ago
      I guess the break-even line is exiting for more than you raised. If you raise 20 mil, and sold for 20 that's different to raising 5 and selling for 10. Thing is though, the latter scenario isn't common. If you raised 5, and are offered 10, you probably won't accept. You'll go raise another round. Until you can't raise anymore, at which point the exit is likely underwater. But you got paid a salary along the way, so thats not to be ignored.
      - robocat 3y ago
        Often founders don't get to choose when to sell. e.g.: Investors usually get vetos over certain big decisions, like selling the company, regardless of how many board seats they have. And investors can force-feed money that founders don't want for a variety of reasons. Read articles by: https://siliconhillslawyer.com https://siliconhillslawyer.com
        computerdork 3y ago
        Ah, can see that investors can force the company to shoot for the moon, instead of just trying to right-size the business and sell it. Very interesting!
        robocat 3y ago
        Yeah: VC incentives do not match with founders incentives - share classes are just one obvious signal of that. Good article on that conflict: https://siliconhillslawyer.com/2019/02/18/relationships-and-power-startup-ecosystems/ https://siliconhillslawyer.com/2019/02/18/relationships-and-... > ~9% where valuable enough for investors to take profit Or aquihired. Best analysis I have seen of YC: 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... Disappointingly YC hasn't provided any good analysis for founders or employees. YC doesn't try to align founders and investors incentives - Paul mostly reads like a Venture Capitalist to me (sell founders of their good intentions but don't actually structure incentives to align). I actually think that YC is a great deal but startups are naturally a frog and scorpion system. It is hard to find better options. Finding good information is difficult and YC don't help.
- cpill 3y ago
  I imagine it's not much fun with YC on you constantly telling you to make more, scale, or pivot to you make our investment worth it. I find the clients that pay the least demand the most
  - computerdork 3y ago
    agreed:) But on the flip side, as long as the startup is sold in the end and you as the founder make a good amount of money (meaning over a few hundred of thousands), think it's probably worth it
mlhpdx 3y ago
I hope, perhaps against mainstream opinion, that the myopic focus on the young will be proven flawed. I see the launches and highlights YC posts on LinkedIn and elsewhere and see no one like me, yet am confident I would both benefit from it and be more likely to build something amazing than the majority (that being a particularly uninformed opinion, since I know only a few personally).

computerdork 3y ago

And a startup doesn't need to make 1 billion per year to be a success. How about one that makes 100 million? or even 10 million? If the company is sold, the founders will be rich (not ultra rich, but have a million or more). And, for ycombinator, the number of "startup exits" is: 351 (according to this page: https://explodingtopics.com/blog/startup-stats https://explodingtopics.com/blog/startup-stats). Am no expert at startups, but this may mean that out of the 4000 that when through ycombinator, ~9% where valuable enough for investors to take profit. That sound pretty good to me.

robocat 3y ago
> or even 10 million > the founders will be rich A common misconception that is usually untrue. If you hop on the VC train there are many reasons why founders can get $0. VC gets preferential shares which means that founders (common shares) often get nothing even though the business sold for millions.
- computerdork 3y ago
  Ah, I see. And actually, I do know a little about startups (even though I said I'm no expert), and thought that most founders who sell their businesses for something like 10 million can make a comfortable amount of cash. But didn't realize that if they use VC's, the VC's can take so much! So, was wondering, would you happen to know if there is a standard amount in a sale of a startup funded by a VC that makes the founders a good amount of money? (Talking about the minimum needed to make a million for a couple of founders).
  - bruce511 3y ago
    I guess the break-even line is exiting for more than you raised. If you raise 20 mil, and sold for 20 that's different to raising 5 and selling for 10. Thing is though, the latter scenario isn't common. If you raised 5, and are offered 10, you probably won't accept. You'll go raise another round. Until you can't raise anymore, at which point the exit is likely underwater. But you got paid a salary along the way, so thats not to be ignored.
    - robocat 3y ago
      Often founders don't get to choose when to sell. e.g.: Investors usually get vetos over certain big decisions, like selling the company, regardless of how many board seats they have. And investors can force-feed money that founders don't want for a variety of reasons. Read articles by: https://siliconhillslawyer.com https://siliconhillslawyer.com
      - computerdork 3y ago
        Ah, can see that investors can force the company to shoot for the moon, instead of just trying to right-size the business and sell it. Very interesting!
        robocat 3y ago
        Yeah: VC incentives do not match with founders incentives - share classes are just one obvious signal of that. Good article on that conflict: https://siliconhillslawyer.com/2019/02/18/relationships-and-power-startup-ecosystems/ https://siliconhillslawyer.com/2019/02/18/relationships-and-... > ~9% where valuable enough for investors to take profit Or aquihired. Best analysis I have seen of YC: 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... Disappointingly YC hasn't provided any good analysis for founders or employees. YC doesn't try to align founders and investors incentives - Paul mostly reads like a Venture Capitalist to me (sell founders of their good intentions but don't actually structure incentives to align). I actually think that YC is a great deal but startups are naturally a frog and scorpion system. It is hard to find better options. Finding good information is difficult and YC don't help.
cpill 3y ago
I imagine it's not much fun with YC on you constantly telling you to make more, scale, or pivot to you make our investment worth it. I find the clients that pay the least demand the most
- computerdork 3y ago
  agreed:) But on the flip side, as long as the startup is sold in the end and you as the founder make a good amount of money (meaning over a few hundred of thousands), think it's probably worth it

mlhpdx 3y ago

I hope, perhaps against mainstream opinion, that the myopic focus on the young will be proven flawed. I see the launches and highlights YC posts on LinkedIn and elsewhere and see no one like me, yet am confident I would both benefit from it and be more likely to build something amazing than the majority (that being a particularly uninformed opinion, since I know only a few personally).