5 ms·

Entrepreneur Hotels, Y Combinator, and Dead VCs

30 points by nlwhittemore 18y ago

noodle 18y ago
yeah, we (or at least, i) discussed this idea in the last thread on this topic. if i had more money, i'd be working out a way to make it happen, already.
- nlwhittemore 18y ago
  noodle, thats awesome. I know people are talking about opening up a Hub affiliate in SF and NYC, so maybe there's an opportunity
  - noodle 18y ago
    only awesome once the ball starts rolling, until then, just idle thoughts :X i originally wanted to start up some coworking space, but evolved it to include the concepts mentioned in the article. edit: also, fwiw, i'm relocating to the atlanta area, which is a place that has potential but is not being correctly tapped (you might recall this article http://blog.jeffhaynie.us/whats-wrong-with-the-atlanta-startup-ecosystem-and-how-to-fix-it.html http://blog.jeffhaynie.us/whats-wrong-with-the-atlanta-start...), which is one of the reasons the thoughts turned towards how to make more than just coworking space happen.
    - nlwhittemore 18y ago
      I'm particularly interested in thoughts you have about how you lay Y-Combinator type investment on top of it. What's the right strategy? Having those folks give some development time to nonprofits is just one idea. Another idea would be to actually have promising college-age developers have a year long fellowship where 50% of their time was pro-bono and 50% of their time was working on their own projects.
      - noodle 18y ago
        i will admit to two things -- one is that because of my lack of ability to execute currently, i've not thoroughly thought through things as well as i would like to have done before airing my ideas in public :). and two, you've taken it in a different direction, which i like, but don't have many thoughts on. the concept i was thinking about was not to give any actual cash to any company, but exchange the services of the space for equity. basically, whatever they would need to survive for X months, including (possibly) food and a place to sleep. would allow the company to focus on bootstrapping themselves when they don't have to focus on paying for groceries, and by bootstrapping themselves, they would hopefully become profitable faster without having to worry about obtaining more funding or dying from excessive debt. i'd not thought about the idea of diverting some time to worthy causes, but i do like it and would probably implement it, as it works well with the model on several levels. edit: added a few things
    - nlwhittemore 18y ago
      Also, I know of some people in Atlanta who are at least tentatively interested in something like The Hub model..
      - noodle 18y ago
        i know a few as well. perhaps your few and my few and a few others could combine to make enough.
        nlwhittemore 18y ago
        hmmm interesante - i'll be talking to them on tuesday so we should stay in touch. nathaniel@change.org
tptacek 18y ago
Consider: "ramen profitability" is only OK as long as you're OK with living on ramen.
- cperciva 18y ago
  Ramen profitability is OK if you're OK with living on ramen... or if it's a passive income stream which can support you while you go off and do other things.
  - tptacek 18y ago
    Conceded, but will YC fund a team that plans on being a side project? Didn't think so.
    - nlwhittemore 18y ago
      I think you're both right - this is a big if. The other thing that's important is that this is dependent on being a company that sells a service - rather than something that's looking to build a big community before it monetizes. That's another big if.
    - cperciva 18y ago
      Of course not -- because YC is built around the idea of companies raising VC and reaching liquidity so that the YC principals can exit in a cash position. As soon as you take outside investment, "ramen profitable" isn't good enough even if you're happy living on ramen -- because even if you are, your investors aren't. But not everybody fits into that model. I think most bootstrappers would love to build a company which provides them with a passive revenue stream.
      - tptacek 18y ago
        Ok, Colin, this is an article about whether the YC model is feasible given the collapse of the Web 2.0 VC model. =)
        18y ago
gruseom 18y ago
This would be a problem for me: In return, they give up [...] a small chunk of their developer time (25%? 10 hpw?) to pro-bono or reduced cost projects ... not because of the pro bono aspect, but because of the distraction. The arithmetic here isn't linear- X% of my time spent on something else would cost far more than X% of the total, because of side-effects like context switching. Every time I do something like this, it's like letting pressure out of a balloon. It takes time to re-pressurize the balloon. And you can't do as much with your balloon when its pressure is low. However, I concede that I suck at multitasking, as well as metaphors when caffeine-deprived.
- nlwhittemore 18y ago
  I think this is a really great point, and probably the thing that I am least sure about. Maybe there's an opportunity that's less about actually development time and more consulting for web strategy? Another thing that nonprofits desperately need...
- noodle 18y ago
  i think this is a double-sided issue. some people need the focus. some people need the distraction. if i were in this situation, i would need the distraction, even if it were just using the exact same skills on another application. gives me a break, clears my mind of the woes of the "real" project, and sometimes allows me to take different mental paths to solve a problem i was having difficulty with. to follow your metaphor, an overfull balloon or a balloon that is fully expanded for too long will burst.
sspencer 18y ago
"Oops! A server error has occured." Bandwidth killed by YC? Anyone have a copy or cache?
- nlwhittemore 18y ago
  Try just refreshing - the Change.org server has been acting up lately - sorry!
- rokhayakebe 18y ago
  http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:2iGISdLVdK0J:socialentrepreneurship.change.org/+entrepreneur+hotels+y-combinator+and+dead+vcs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:2iGISdLVdK0J:socialentre...
  - sspencer 18y ago
    Thanks!
danw 18y ago
I worked at a branch of "The Hub" for a short while and it wasn't very good. The idea was great but it lacked any sense of community. I guess you need to build the community first then put it in a building.
- nlwhittemore 18y ago
  That's interesting feedback - I've heard good things but only talked to people in a few specific hubs.
  - danw 18y ago
    It's likely to vary branch to branch. I would recommend Pervasive Media Studio Bristol as an alternative in this case. I've yet to check out either London branch. As an aside does anyone know of good London co-working spaces?
- brandnewlow 18y ago
  Communities need anchors, the one guy who's going to e-mail everyone to come out every week, or those two guys who've been friends forever and are going to be there if no one shows up.

30 points by nlwhittemore 18y ago

yeah, we (or at least, i) discussed this idea in the last thread on this topic. if i had more money, i'd be working out a way to make it happen, already.

nlwhittemore 18y ago
noodle, thats awesome. I know people are talking about opening up a Hub affiliate in SF and NYC, so maybe there's an opportunity
- noodle 18y ago
  only awesome once the ball starts rolling, until then, just idle thoughts :X i originally wanted to start up some coworking space, but evolved it to include the concepts mentioned in the article. edit: also, fwiw, i'm relocating to the atlanta area, which is a place that has potential but is not being correctly tapped (you might recall this article http://blog.jeffhaynie.us/whats-wrong-with-the-atlanta-startup-ecosystem-and-how-to-fix-it.html http://blog.jeffhaynie.us/whats-wrong-with-the-atlanta-start...), which is one of the reasons the thoughts turned towards how to make more than just coworking space happen.
  - nlwhittemore 18y ago
    I'm particularly interested in thoughts you have about how you lay Y-Combinator type investment on top of it. What's the right strategy? Having those folks give some development time to nonprofits is just one idea. Another idea would be to actually have promising college-age developers have a year long fellowship where 50% of their time was pro-bono and 50% of their time was working on their own projects.
    - noodle 18y ago
      i will admit to two things -- one is that because of my lack of ability to execute currently, i've not thoroughly thought through things as well as i would like to have done before airing my ideas in public :). and two, you've taken it in a different direction, which i like, but don't have many thoughts on. the concept i was thinking about was not to give any actual cash to any company, but exchange the services of the space for equity. basically, whatever they would need to survive for X months, including (possibly) food and a place to sleep. would allow the company to focus on bootstrapping themselves when they don't have to focus on paying for groceries, and by bootstrapping themselves, they would hopefully become profitable faster without having to worry about obtaining more funding or dying from excessive debt. i'd not thought about the idea of diverting some time to worthy causes, but i do like it and would probably implement it, as it works well with the model on several levels. edit: added a few things
  - nlwhittemore 18y ago
    Also, I know of some people in Atlanta who are at least tentatively interested in something like The Hub model..
    - noodle 18y ago
      i know a few as well. perhaps your few and my few and a few others could combine to make enough.
      - nlwhittemore 18y ago
        hmmm interesante - i'll be talking to them on tuesday so we should stay in touch. nathaniel@change.org

tptacek 18y ago

Consider: "ramen profitability" is only OK as long as you're OK with living on ramen.

cperciva 18y ago
Ramen profitability is OK if you're OK with living on ramen... or if it's a passive income stream which can support you while you go off and do other things.
- tptacek 18y ago
  Conceded, but will YC fund a team that plans on being a side project? Didn't think so.
  - nlwhittemore 18y ago
    I think you're both right - this is a big if. The other thing that's important is that this is dependent on being a company that sells a service - rather than something that's looking to build a big community before it monetizes. That's another big if.
  - cperciva 18y ago
    Of course not -- because YC is built around the idea of companies raising VC and reaching liquidity so that the YC principals can exit in a cash position. As soon as you take outside investment, "ramen profitable" isn't good enough even if you're happy living on ramen -- because even if you are, your investors aren't. But not everybody fits into that model. I think most bootstrappers would love to build a company which provides them with a passive revenue stream.
    - tptacek 18y ago
      Ok, Colin, this is an article about whether the YC model is feasible given the collapse of the Web 2.0 VC model. =)
      - 18y ago

gruseom 18y ago

This would be a problem for me: In return, they give up [...] a small chunk of their developer time (25%? 10 hpw?) to pro-bono or reduced cost projects ... not because of the pro bono aspect, but because of the distraction. The arithmetic here isn't linear- X% of my time spent on something else would cost far more than X% of the total, because of side-effects like context switching. Every time I do something like this, it's like letting pressure out of a balloon. It takes time to re-pressurize the balloon. And you can't do as much with your balloon when its pressure is low. However, I concede that I suck at multitasking, as well as metaphors when caffeine-deprived.

nlwhittemore 18y ago
I think this is a really great point, and probably the thing that I am least sure about. Maybe there's an opportunity that's less about actually development time and more consulting for web strategy? Another thing that nonprofits desperately need...
noodle 18y ago
i think this is a double-sided issue. some people need the focus. some people need the distraction. if i were in this situation, i would need the distraction, even if it were just using the exact same skills on another application. gives me a break, clears my mind of the woes of the "real" project, and sometimes allows me to take different mental paths to solve a problem i was having difficulty with. to follow your metaphor, an overfull balloon or a balloon that is fully expanded for too long will burst.

sspencer 18y ago

"Oops! A server error has occured." Bandwidth killed by YC? Anyone have a copy or cache?

nlwhittemore 18y ago
Try just refreshing - the Change.org server has been acting up lately - sorry!
rokhayakebe 18y ago
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:2iGISdLVdK0J:socialentrepreneurship.change.org/+entrepreneur+hotels+y-combinator+and+dead+vcs&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:2iGISdLVdK0J:socialentre...
- sspencer 18y ago
  Thanks!

danw 18y ago

I worked at a branch of "The Hub" for a short while and it wasn't very good. The idea was great but it lacked any sense of community. I guess you need to build the community first then put it in a building.

nlwhittemore 18y ago
That's interesting feedback - I've heard good things but only talked to people in a few specific hubs.
- danw 18y ago
  It's likely to vary branch to branch. I would recommend Pervasive Media Studio Bristol as an alternative in this case. I've yet to check out either London branch. As an aside does anyone know of good London co-working spaces?
brandnewlow 18y ago
Communities need anchors, the one guy who's going to e-mail everyone to come out every week, or those two guys who've been friends forever and are going to be there if no one shows up.