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Going through it for my second time now, it's definitely worth it. There's an excess of smart people and it's transformational for any startup, but especially i

by n2d4 2y ago

Going through it for my second time now, it's definitely worth it. There's an excess of smart people and it's transformational for any startup, but especially if you build in devtools like us. The network is strong and supportive and there's a strong connection even among people who never met; for example, lots of unicorn+ founders have their personal phone numbers on their profiles. The strongest argument for YC is how few alums speak out against it. Almost all of the negative comments come from people who haven't done the program.

neilv 2y ago
> The strongest argument for YC is how few alums speak out against it. Almost all of the negative comments come from people who haven't done the program. I think YC has merit, but I'm just going to push back on this particular logic: 1. The set of people who've done X is already selected for people who were willing to do X in the first place. 2. In business, burning bridges with an influential network in which you have an in... forfeits some advantage, and probably invites a lot of downside. (On #2, an occasional person might decide it's a matter of principle, or, less-principled, do the math and decide they can get more individual brand mileage out of saying something provocatively negative. But that seems unlikely and rare. Related dynamics we've seen might help our intuition: how Hollywood almost universally shielded abusers for so long, and how it's very rare for a student wronged by a prestigious alma mater university to go public about it.) So I think there are stronger arguments for YC.
- n2d4 2y ago
  Maybe that applies to people going to Gawker or whatever and writing an exposé on YC, but that's not what I'm talking about. There are very few people who, at the end of the batch in a private one-on-one conversation, say that joining YC was a mistake. That certainly wouldn't risk their career (neither would critiquing YC on HN, for that matter). Claiming that all human opinions are fake and based on self-interest is a very cynical view. Besides you could apply the same logic to big tech companies, or elite universities, or whatever, but there are plenty of Xooglers who say the company went to shit, or Harvard grads who say they regret the student debt.
breck 2y ago
> The strongest argument for YC is how few alums speak out against it. Are you sure this is the case? Might it be that alums who speak out against YC suffer repercussions? I praise 90% of what YC does. But I also call them out on their mistakes. https://x.com/garrytan https://x.com/garrytan blocks me, which is, I'm sad to report, the smallest of the repercussions they've taken against me. I love YC, but they need to grow some thicker skin and quit hiding in their Silicon Valley bubble.
- breck 2y ago
  Here is a perfect example: a nice helpful post, with highly constructive feedback, but is mildly critical of YC gets [flagged] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41180917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41180917 YC = YCensornator. Don't give me the B.S. about "HN != YC". We all know that's mostly untrue.
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    If this is the worse you could find, I think the censorship in the search engine is big /s looking at you, Algolia!

by n2d4 2y ago

neilv 2y ago

> The strongest argument for YC is how few alums speak out against it. Almost all of the negative comments come from people who haven't done the program. I think YC has merit, but I'm just going to push back on this particular logic: 1. The set of people who've done X is already selected for people who were willing to do X in the first place. 2. In business, burning bridges with an influential network in which you have an in... forfeits some advantage, and probably invites a lot of downside. (On #2, an occasional person might decide it's a matter of principle, or, less-principled, do the math and decide they can get more individual brand mileage out of saying something provocatively negative. But that seems unlikely and rare. Related dynamics we've seen might help our intuition: how Hollywood almost universally shielded abusers for so long, and how it's very rare for a student wronged by a prestigious alma mater university to go public about it.) So I think there are stronger arguments for YC.

n2d4 2y ago
Maybe that applies to people going to Gawker or whatever and writing an exposé on YC, but that's not what I'm talking about. There are very few people who, at the end of the batch in a private one-on-one conversation, say that joining YC was a mistake. That certainly wouldn't risk their career (neither would critiquing YC on HN, for that matter). Claiming that all human opinions are fake and based on self-interest is a very cynical view. Besides you could apply the same logic to big tech companies, or elite universities, or whatever, but there are plenty of Xooglers who say the company went to shit, or Harvard grads who say they regret the student debt.

breck 2y ago

> The strongest argument for YC is how few alums speak out against it. Are you sure this is the case? Might it be that alums who speak out against YC suffer repercussions? I praise 90% of what YC does. But I also call them out on their mistakes. https://x.com/garrytan https://x.com/garrytan blocks me, which is, I'm sad to report, the smallest of the repercussions they've taken against me. I love YC, but they need to grow some thicker skin and quit hiding in their Silicon Valley bubble.

breck 2y ago
Here is a perfect example: a nice helpful post, with highly constructive feedback, but is mildly critical of YC gets [flagged] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41180917 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41180917 YC = YCensornator. Don't give me the B.S. about "HN != YC". We all know that's mostly untrue.
- meiraleal 2y ago
  If this is the worse you could find, I think the censorship in the search engine is big /s looking at you, Algolia!