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> It's just hard to convey the sense from the early days of YC that they really didn't care about the return, or the progress so far, or VCs, or fads, or anythi

> It's just hard to convey the sense from the early days of YC that they really didn't care about the return, or the progress so far, or VCs, or fads, or anything. That said, I really was at the right place at the right time and got very lucky. It seems to me that there was an early '10s milieu that enabled YC to behave like it did. Web apps and mobile fundamentally transformed everyday life and communication in very visible ways and there seemed to be a lot of low hanging fruit. I observe, similar to your 2), that YC seemed to have a bias toward products for tech people by tech people, and that wasn't a bad strategy, because there was still a lot of plumbing to do; there still is, but I feel that there are established solutions for the mass market to a degree that there wasn't.

cherryteastain 2y ago
> It seems to me that there was an early '10s milieu that enabled YC to behave like it did. Definitely, it's called ZIRP and QE.
- stackskipton 2y ago
  I think so many questions about “Why did business X operate like this in 10s?” Is answered with that statement. So much was funded on economic smack high. A few sobered up and a ton bottomed out bad.
- raydev 2y ago
  It didn't hurt that there was also a burgeoning new computing platform that everyone and their grandma was buying into for the first time.
- wyclif 2y ago
  Yes, because ZIRP and QE are deflationary policies: they reduce the amount of interest paid by the government.
skeeter2020 2y ago
There were a lot of preferable options for connected, generally non-technical people after the dot-com implosion, for the first ~15 years of the 2000's. I joined a comp sci grad and his engineer brother in a software startup because we couldn't get jobs with an established company, big corp, investment bank or other much more likley "sure thing". The equation has completely changed, and the startup landscape with it.
- jorvi 2y ago
  Startups went from “let’s become the next Google” to “let’s get acquired by Google”. FAANG+ have become way too big and have effectively become a multi-opoly (oxymoron and a half) that has ossified the entire market.
  - bulletsvshumans 2y ago
    Oligopoly is a close word.
  - AbstractH24 2y ago
    But two decades earlier couldn’t you say the same thing about Microsoft? It’s part of the cycle.
Sammi 2y ago
10-20 years ago the internet was still an unpopulated continent that everyone was rushing to settle. It just isn't the same wide open green pastures it used to be. This is my guess of what is the largest reason for the declining success of YC companies.

cherryteastain 2y ago

> It seems to me that there was an early '10s milieu that enabled YC to behave like it did. Definitely, it's called ZIRP and QE.

stackskipton 2y ago
I think so many questions about “Why did business X operate like this in 10s?” Is answered with that statement. So much was funded on economic smack high. A few sobered up and a ton bottomed out bad.
raydev 2y ago
It didn't hurt that there was also a burgeoning new computing platform that everyone and their grandma was buying into for the first time.
wyclif 2y ago
Yes, because ZIRP and QE are deflationary policies: they reduce the amount of interest paid by the government.

skeeter2020 2y ago

There were a lot of preferable options for connected, generally non-technical people after the dot-com implosion, for the first ~15 years of the 2000's. I joined a comp sci grad and his engineer brother in a software startup because we couldn't get jobs with an established company, big corp, investment bank or other much more likley "sure thing". The equation has completely changed, and the startup landscape with it.

jorvi 2y ago
Startups went from “let’s become the next Google” to “let’s get acquired by Google”. FAANG+ have become way too big and have effectively become a multi-opoly (oxymoron and a half) that has ossified the entire market.
- bulletsvshumans 2y ago
  Oligopoly is a close word.
- AbstractH24 2y ago
  But two decades earlier couldn’t you say the same thing about Microsoft? It’s part of the cycle.

Sammi 2y ago

10-20 years ago the internet was still an unpopulated continent that everyone was rushing to settle. It just isn't the same wide open green pastures it used to be. This is my guess of what is the largest reason for the declining success of YC companies.