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The self-described "startup community" hasn't produced much of any value to me in a really long time. Dropbox-like things are somewhat useful, but that started
by f30e3dfed1c9 1y ago
The self-described "startup community" hasn't produced much of any value to me in a really long time. Dropbox-like things are somewhat useful, but that started in 2007 or so and the one I actually use in maybe 2011 or so.
I just took a look at yclist.com, which ends in 2019. Noticed only a few that I've ever heard of and none that I use. Possibly there are some since then but I sort of doubt it.
There are a couple of things that started later than say, 2015 that I actually use but none that come immediately to mind came out of the "startup community."
There are some others, like Stripe, from which I probably benefit somewhat indirectly, but even that dates back to 2010.
So yeah, for me, the SV "startup community" has been a wasteland for a long time. There are probably a few things that I'm not thinking of at the moment, but the fact that they don't come to mind suggests that they just aren't very important.
- leoc 1y agoTo be fair, there are probably quite a few useful startups hidden in the B2B world, especially given how much accepted startup strategy appears to have shifted to focusing on that segment.
- f30e3dfed1c9 1y agoThis is true, but as far as I can tell, does not benefit me much. That's why I mentioned Stripe as something that probably does benefit me indirectly. But a lot of the YC companies in particular seem to be making software I don't care about to sell to other companies making other software I don't care about to sell to other companies making other software I don't care about, and so on. The benefit to me of all this activity seems to be so close to zero that the difference doesn't matter.
- LPisGood 1y agoSome of the self driving car companies were startups, no? OpenAI as well.
- f30e3dfed1c9 1y agoI think the most important self-driving car company is Waymo, apparently founded as the Stanford Self-Driving Car Team in 2004, somehow became the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, the renamed Waymo in 2016. All that is pretty long ago now and doesn't really have much connection to the SV "startup community" (Google ceased being meaningfully described as a "startup" a long, long time ago). And anyway, I don't care about self-driving cars. Don't have one, don't particularly want one. The direct benefits to me of OpenAI are nearly negligible. I use it (and others) now and then for various things but if it disappeared tomorrow, my life and work would not be meaningfully impacted.