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Flock was seed round funded by YC, not "a YC company". It's not like they control it, manage it, and what was pitched may be significantly different than what
by b112 21d ago
Flock was seed round funded by YC, not "a YC company".
It's not like they control it, manage it, and what was pitched may be significantly different than what happened since then.
YC isn't perfect, but what words you use, and their order is important. And the way you're phrasing it, you make it sound as if they are a subsidiary of YC. Or as if YC is on the board.
If any of these things are true, you should plainly state them. Otherwise, what you're saying is incorrect.
- LastTrain 21d agoIf the they didn't pitch the massive surveillance and data capturing aspects they wouldn’t have got the funding.
- WarmWash 21d agoBlantantly making stuff up is a bad look, they were founded as an HOA (private neighborhood) security service. >Flock’s camera and accompanying software is geared towards private neighborhoods and neighborhood associations looking to decrease petty crime.[1] [1]https://www.hypepotamus.com/flock-safety-funding-round-growth/ https://www.hypepotamus.com/flock-safety-funding-round-growt...
- dkarl 21d agoSame thing on a smaller scale, and they never would have got venture capital funding if they didn't have an upward trajectory from HOAs. There's only one path upward from private HOA surveillance, and that's government surveillance.
- b112 21d agoBy that reasoning, every single company will run out of good scale reasons, and therefore scale for bad reasons, so you're evil to fund anyone ever.
- thejazzman 21d agoYC won’t invest unless you convince them you’re potentially $100B company. The scope is always the largest possible audience…
- WarmWash 21d agoWell until there is solid evidence of them wanting a government mass surveillance apperatus, I'm not gonna grab a pitchfork. I've been on the internet too long to give credence to people who resort to conspiracy when data doesn't fit their desired narrative.
- tekla 21d agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49683853#49684407 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49683853#49684407 Founders own words
- WarmWash 21d agoFrom 2017 please... Unfortunately Google seems to have removed the ability to search only in specific time frames, but the original pitch I'm sure does exist out there. There are over 350K HOAs in the US, so scaling to just HOAs would still be an undertaking
- tekla 21d agoDoesn't seem to be what their YC Pitch was https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety > From the moment we started Flock Safety, we had an incredibly clear, boldly audacious mission ... We provide a life-or-death product, a mission-critical system for cities
- WarmWash 21d agoLinks from 2017 would be the best way to see what YC invested in, no?
- orangeberrytea 21d ago[dead]
- WarmWash 21d agoI'm pretty sure HOAs would honestly want that, and I don't think the anyone would care about pocket networks in private communities.
- HNhelpsFlock 21d ago[flagged]
- WarmWash 21d agoLet me rephrase my comment you are replying to for clarity "Yes, HOAs would honestly want plate readers.."
- orangeberrytea 21d ago[dead]
- WarmWash 21d agoI don't think private HOA networks count as "mass surveillance".
- throwaway173738 21d agoAn HOA has a lot more leeway to do whatever it wants than other local governments. They get to act as government sometimes, then as a corporation sometimes, and then as a group of amateur lawyers sometimes. They can both pass laws and try you for violating them without recourse. And IME only the most toxic people stay on the board for very long.
- 21d ago
- LastTrain 21d agoI’m not making anything up any more than you are. Neither of us was there. My point: you don’t get YC funding unless you have a disruptive business idea. “Cameras, but to a niche HOA market” is not that.
- WarmWash 21d agoThe 350K HOAs are hardly "niche".
- WarmWash 21d agoUsing misleading language is the best way to get up votes though!
- jazzypants 21d agoWould you balk similarly at someone calling reddit or airbnb a "YC company"?
- malfist 21d agoMe personally? No. Label fits.
- tekla 21d agohttps://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/flock-safety > When Demo Day was over, after we had booked meetings with investors and were well on our way to our first fundraising round, YC set the tone for scaling Flock doggedly, purposefully, and with consistent velocity, for years to come. Damn, its almost like YC really set the stage for mass AI surveillance from the founders own mouth
- topato 21d agoThat’s such a damning quote, that it makes all other comments ITT obsolete lol
- weird-eye-issue 21d agoYC funds companies and we are all aware of that so by saying it's a YC company because they gave them seed money is already exactly the correct wording
- card_zero 21d agoHow about the "it’s them" part?
- HNhelpsFlock 21d ago[flagged]
- card_zero 21d agoI just don't like moral distortions. Is YC in control of Flock or responsible for their choices? Who are "them", what are we ignorant about and why is it Marxism?
- HNhelpsFlock 21d ago[flagged]
- card_zero 21d agoBut what are you saying? YC are to blame for the unsavory future directions of the companies they fund. Counterargument, no they're not, what are you banging on about.
- WarmWash 21d agoClassic ideologue behavior of no-nuance blind rage to stoke as much support as possible for their cause. "My cause is more important than honesty, and honesty could detract from the rage energy I need" You see this is everywhere, and it (lack of rational discussion/reasoning) is soooo incredibly destructive to society. We can stop Flock without having to make up lies. They do enough bad stuff that their is no need for deceit and conspiracy...
- plorkyeran 21d agoHaving your seed round funded by YC is what being a "YC company" means. That is exactly what people are referring to every time they say that phrase.
- sobellian 21d agoI don't really have a strong opinion either way on Flock but this is a strange objection. YC is a well-known startup accelerator that makes (pre-seed!) investments. I don't know if anyone has ever sincerely taken "YC company" to mean a subsidiary of YC. That's like confusing "a Sequoia company" as a subsidiary of Sequoia.