2 ms·

because the bubble hasn't popped yet. you fund start ups for the same reason people bought houses a few years ago: the market is still willing to pay ridiculous

because the bubble hasn't popped yet. you fund start ups for the same reason people bought houses a few years ago: the market is still willing to pay ridiculous prices for things with little to no actual value. and the fact that you.have reduced your funding to 80k per start up and also reduced the number of companies you are funding to, what, about 64 or something?, only confirms this theory. you are reducing your risk as well as your market exposure. the problem.is.that you can't get completely out.of the game because.if you did then investors would see that the market is collapsing.and.there would be no liquidity for the.startups you've already funded. you are too high profile to just stop.funding.new companies. its a catch 22. you aren't getting the quality of startups you want, but you have to fund something (that's what YC does), so you just find the best you can find.. you are essentially polishing.turdps and passing them off as gold. edit: I just realized, there is no way that pg can respond to this. he cant confirm my ideas, because that would admit that there is a bubble and would be very much against his personal long term interests. he also can't deny my arguments because by responding to some random troll on the internet ( me), he lends credibility to what I'm saying, which would only confirm that I am at least partially right, which would, again, be against his long term personal interests. his only winning play is to not respond at all. but crazily, now that I've said this, I've essentially tipped his hand. the non response response is now considered a response because I called him out on it. by not responding he is saying that my arguments hit too close to home to respond to. they are not easily dismissed by a flipant comment. I suppose he could always hide behind saying that he didn't see my response to his response. ... fuck it, pg, don't respond. I hereby declare that you not responding means that my arguments are wrong. I concede. I also hereby declare that I am just a random troll on the internet and my ideas should not be taken seriously. this is especially true on hacker news because they break the standard circle jerking that goes on. you guys just keep living in your fantasy world, and ill keep on living in mine.

tptacek 14y ago
It's one of the ideals of this site that we "don't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation". But in threads like this, you're kind of glad that things like this could only be said here, if only so you don't have to wipe little flecks of spit off your face. Given opportunities, I disagree with our site's owner probably more often than not, and even I think this site would be better if it was moderated more aggressively and less transparently by him, at least with regards to submissions. This was a stupid story and it produced a stupid thread and everyone can see that, and yet 'pg can't suggest the obvious and react to it without being beset by anonymous Internet trolls, all of whom have valiantly set aside the billions of dollars their intimate knowledge of the tech product market should be making them in order to spend their time here educating us on how exploited YC founders must be. Stop being such a wuss, Paul, and start torching these threads. Burn them with fire.
- ryanx435 14y ago
  shut up. two things: 1) I would say all of this to pgs face if we were discussing this. he is a man, not a god, and if he can't handle criticism than he should do some personal reflection and work on that. disagreements are not necessarily bad. 2) you obviously can't counter my argument, otherwise you would have done so. you have added nothing to.this discussion except tried to debase my arguments and ideas by essentially calling me rude. who cares if my presentation is rough if the ideas are good? idiots, that's who. this is life, not preschool. edit: you edited your comment after I posted. I respond.to your edits by saying that pg doesn't need you to white.knight for.him and you should stop being such a brown noser.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    shut up. Wouldn't it be funny if that was all it took to get me to shut up? :)
    - ryanx435 14y ago
      wouldn't it be funny if you not responding and you responding had the exact same effect because you don't add anything to the conversation? its like it doesn't even matter if you shut up or not.
lotharbot 14y ago
> "there is no way that pg can respond to this." Of course he could. He could point out that the meta-comment-game wherein any response whatsoever is considered to "lend credibility" is a silly game, and that in reality, whether or not he chooses to respond to you says nothing about your credibility. Then he could agree or disagree with your actual point, and either confirm or challenge your credibility with facts, instead of engaging in the silly distraction of a side-game. Your arguments must stand or fall on their own merit. On their own merit, I find your arguments lacking. In particular, you are lacking concrete examples. The list of YC companies is known (http://yclist.com/ http://yclist.com/ and http://ycuniverse.com/ycombinator-companies http://ycuniverse.com/ycombinator-companies). Surely if pg was getting "ridiculous prices for things with little to not actual value" you could identify some specific companies the market overpaid for, and the effect that overpayment had on overall yc returns.
- ryanx435 14y ago
  I actually agree with you. honestly I was surprised pg even responded to my first comment! I was like a dog who caught a car: I didn't know what to do with it. so I went meta (probably unsuccessfully) to see if he would respond again. I think I flubbed it, but than again you responded, so who knows? I guess ill find out tomorrow when I wake up and check. really, I'm not good at this.
  - YuriNiyazov 14y ago
    "I'm not good at this" Out of all the garbage that you've written, this is the only thing you are right about.

tptacek 14y ago

It's one of the ideals of this site that we "don't say things you wouldn't say in a face to face conversation". But in threads like this, you're kind of glad that things like this could only be said here, if only so you don't have to wipe little flecks of spit off your face. Given opportunities, I disagree with our site's owner probably more often than not, and even I think this site would be better if it was moderated more aggressively and less transparently by him, at least with regards to submissions. This was a stupid story and it produced a stupid thread and everyone can see that, and yet 'pg can't suggest the obvious and react to it without being beset by anonymous Internet trolls, all of whom have valiantly set aside the billions of dollars their intimate knowledge of the tech product market should be making them in order to spend their time here educating us on how exploited YC founders must be. Stop being such a wuss, Paul, and start torching these threads. Burn them with fire.

ryanx435 14y ago
shut up. two things: 1) I would say all of this to pgs face if we were discussing this. he is a man, not a god, and if he can't handle criticism than he should do some personal reflection and work on that. disagreements are not necessarily bad. 2) you obviously can't counter my argument, otherwise you would have done so. you have added nothing to.this discussion except tried to debase my arguments and ideas by essentially calling me rude. who cares if my presentation is rough if the ideas are good? idiots, that's who. this is life, not preschool. edit: you edited your comment after I posted. I respond.to your edits by saying that pg doesn't need you to white.knight for.him and you should stop being such a brown noser.
- tptacek 14y ago
  shut up. Wouldn't it be funny if that was all it took to get me to shut up? :)
  - ryanx435 14y ago
    wouldn't it be funny if you not responding and you responding had the exact same effect because you don't add anything to the conversation? its like it doesn't even matter if you shut up or not.

lotharbot 14y ago

> "there is no way that pg can respond to this." Of course he could. He could point out that the meta-comment-game wherein any response whatsoever is considered to "lend credibility" is a silly game, and that in reality, whether or not he chooses to respond to you says nothing about your credibility. Then he could agree or disagree with your actual point, and either confirm or challenge your credibility with facts, instead of engaging in the silly distraction of a side-game. Your arguments must stand or fall on their own merit. On their own merit, I find your arguments lacking. In particular, you are lacking concrete examples. The list of YC companies is known (http://yclist.com/ http://yclist.com/ and http://ycuniverse.com/ycombinator-companies http://ycuniverse.com/ycombinator-companies). Surely if pg was getting "ridiculous prices for things with little to not actual value" you could identify some specific companies the market overpaid for, and the effect that overpayment had on overall yc returns.

ryanx435 14y ago
I actually agree with you. honestly I was surprised pg even responded to my first comment! I was like a dog who caught a car: I didn't know what to do with it. so I went meta (probably unsuccessfully) to see if he would respond again. I think I flubbed it, but than again you responded, so who knows? I guess ill find out tomorrow when I wake up and check. really, I'm not good at this.
- YuriNiyazov 14y ago
  "I'm not good at this" Out of all the garbage that you've written, this is the only thing you are right about.