3 ms·

There's going to be a lot of "the big successes already happened" type comments about YC but I think they're wrong. Sure all big successes are unique in time,

There's going to be a lot of "the big successes already happened" type comments about YC but I think they're wrong. Sure all big successes are unique in time, and entrepreneurship & web tech are mainstream now. But there's still lots of industries to disrupt. What gets harder is that the level of expertise needed to disrupt an industry is now much higher. You didn't need to work in hotels to create Airbnb, or a bank to create Stripe, or deliveries to do Doordash, etc. A bunch of scrappy web founders that were hosts, or trying to sell on the internet was expert enough to get started. This may be changing in important ways, but huge successes will surely happen.

borski 2y ago
When YC started, people were saying literally the same thing; the dotcom bust had already happened, and the era of big internet companies was 'dead.' As usual, the death of entrepreneurship and startups has been greatly overstated. :)
ant6n 2y ago
I‘m not so sure YC is really targeting industry experts in their fields who are doing startups, or?
- pclmulqdq 2y ago
  YC wants to target established industry experts (every investor does), but I am not sure their median founder is over 25.
JambalayaJimbo 2y ago
Doesn’t YC still predominantly fund young men who aren’t at all industry experts in some mature field? It appears like the majority of startups I see are “AI for X” type applications.
- light_triad 2y ago
  I think this is more a reflection of the applicant pool. It's easier to put together a team when folks are early in their careers - also if you've been in industry for some time you might know VCs and are already an 'insider' to that industry
- ellis0n 2y ago
  The business is built on the fact that young founders have an extra 10-15 years to learn everything compared to older ones. I think this will soon change when older people start rejuvenating and extending their lives. Also, it's just a trend like TikTok and startups founded by 25-year-olds sell better. Given the startup maturation cycle of 7-10 years, the founder will be 32-35 yo and they'll need another 10 years to present a success story for the system to work

borski 2y ago

When YC started, people were saying literally the same thing; the dotcom bust had already happened, and the era of big internet companies was 'dead.' As usual, the death of entrepreneurship and startups has been greatly overstated. :)

ant6n 2y ago

I‘m not so sure YC is really targeting industry experts in their fields who are doing startups, or?

pclmulqdq 2y ago
YC wants to target established industry experts (every investor does), but I am not sure their median founder is over 25.

JambalayaJimbo 2y ago

Doesn’t YC still predominantly fund young men who aren’t at all industry experts in some mature field? It appears like the majority of startups I see are “AI for X” type applications.

light_triad 2y ago
I think this is more a reflection of the applicant pool. It's easier to put together a team when folks are early in their careers - also if you've been in industry for some time you might know VCs and are already an 'insider' to that industry
ellis0n 2y ago
The business is built on the fact that young founders have an extra 10-15 years to learn everything compared to older ones. I think this will soon change when older people start rejuvenating and extending their lives. Also, it's just a trend like TikTok and startups founded by 25-year-olds sell better. Given the startup maturation cycle of 7-10 years, the founder will be 32-35 yo and they'll need another 10 years to present a success story for the system to work