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Dear Paul Graham, Everyone but you sucks. Allow me to explain. I either live in the valley or want to live in the valley. I idolize you and love this site.

by rjurney 18y ago

Dear Paul Graham, Everyone but you sucks. Allow me to explain. I either live in the valley or want to live in the valley. I idolize you and love this site. You are the smartest guy on planet earth, and anyone that copies you is pathetic because they could never be as cool as you. Who do they think they are!? Now that I've impressed you with flattery and have defeated your enemies on your behalf, I'd like to tell you about Project Tomacco. With your help, we can caffeinate tomatoes and hook every college kid on a healthy alternative to coffee. Did you know tomatoes have antioxidants that fight cancer? Thats right, we're helping to prevent cancer. We're going to change the world, Paul, one tomato at a time. Is there a way to attach a spreadsheet to a comment on hacker news? Because my projections are going to blow you away. If we get one percent of the tomato market you're going to be a very rich(er) man, Paul. Signed, Valley Hater

ajju 18y ago
For those who may not be able to pierce @rjurney's smoky satire, this is indeed satire. I have to agree with the spirit of what he's trying to convey in this comment: news.yc would be a more interesting community if a majority of the people didn't default to PG's opinion on everything in general (this is my anecdotal observation and might be incorrect) and YC clones outside the valley being of nth quality bracket in particular (this is a pet peeve since I live outside the valleY) without giving it some thought for themselves. In fact PG himself seems to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how the valley can be recreated elsewhere seeing how he has written about it in more than one article and says: "How hard would it be to jumpstart a silicon valley? It's fascinating to think this prize might be within the reach of so many cities." Surely trying to recreate YC outside the valley can only help?
- rjurney 18y ago
  I definitely mean no disrespect to PG, but I tire of these 'clone' programs being dumped on in every thread about them.
  - ajju 18y ago
    Here's an anecdote about skepticism towards YC that may be somewhat instructive: In 2005 after I attended Startup School and I learnt about YCombinator, I mentioned it to a well known and successful entrepreneur (who I know knows pg). The first thing he said: "Taking 5% for 5-10 grand is rape". He went on to clarify he didn't think pg is a bad guy but... Since then, startup after startup has shown how much value the YC program has provided in exchange for that 5% stake to the point where I bet a majority of young first time entrepreneurs today consider applying to YC. My point is the same as @lanceweatherby 's. Let's wait for the these new funds to get some results before we judge them.
- pg 18y ago
  Surely trying to recreate YC outside the valley can only help? Well, no, actually. YC being in the Valley doesn't actually do that much for the Valley. I explained why here: http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html It's the stage after YC that makes the Valley what it is-- the angel stage. YC could be anywhere. We contributed as much to Silicon Valley when we were in Boston.
  - quizbiz 18y ago
    What % of participants travel from outside Silicon Valley?
    - pg 18y ago
      In the last two cycles, 66% were from outside the Bay Area.
      - rjurney 18y ago
        What was the ratio of Bay Area applicants like when you were doing YC in Boston? Did you get more Boston startups in the program?
        pg 18y ago
        About the same. Overall there is very little variation between cycles.
  - ajju 18y ago
    Here's my train of thought about why Shotput, if successful, would help Atlanta: - There is really very little seed stage funding in Atlanta (unlike the valley) - The people who choose to startup in Atlanta AND need seed funding usually do so because they want to live in Atlanta for the foreseeable future (or have to, for some reason). If they didn't, they would just move to the valley since getting seed funding is so much easier there. - Therefore, after seed funding, they are likely to stay in Atlanta (The round 1 funding scene in Atlanta is better than the seed funding scene..although not optimal) - Hence, Atlanta will be one startup ahead because of Shotput Ventures The gist is that if first time entrepreneurs were going to leave Atlanta after seed stage, they would likely have done so at seed stage since seed stage funding is so much harder here.

by rjurney 18y ago

ajju 18y ago

For those who may not be able to pierce @rjurney's smoky satire, this is indeed satire. I have to agree with the spirit of what he's trying to convey in this comment: news.yc would be a more interesting community if a majority of the people didn't default to PG's opinion on everything in general (this is my anecdotal observation and might be incorrect) and YC clones outside the valley being of nth quality bracket in particular (this is a pet peeve since I live outside the valleY) without giving it some thought for themselves. In fact PG himself seems to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how the valley can be recreated elsewhere seeing how he has written about it in more than one article and says: "How hard would it be to jumpstart a silicon valley? It's fascinating to think this prize might be within the reach of so many cities." Surely trying to recreate YC outside the valley can only help?

rjurney 18y ago
I definitely mean no disrespect to PG, but I tire of these 'clone' programs being dumped on in every thread about them.
- ajju 18y ago
  Here's an anecdote about skepticism towards YC that may be somewhat instructive: In 2005 after I attended Startup School and I learnt about YCombinator, I mentioned it to a well known and successful entrepreneur (who I know knows pg). The first thing he said: "Taking 5% for 5-10 grand is rape". He went on to clarify he didn't think pg is a bad guy but... Since then, startup after startup has shown how much value the YC program has provided in exchange for that 5% stake to the point where I bet a majority of young first time entrepreneurs today consider applying to YC. My point is the same as @lanceweatherby 's. Let's wait for the these new funds to get some results before we judge them.
pg 18y ago
Surely trying to recreate YC outside the valley can only help? Well, no, actually. YC being in the Valley doesn't actually do that much for the Valley. I explained why here: http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html It's the stage after YC that makes the Valley what it is-- the angel stage. YC could be anywhere. We contributed as much to Silicon Valley when we were in Boston.
- quizbiz 18y ago
  What % of participants travel from outside Silicon Valley?
  - pg 18y ago
    In the last two cycles, 66% were from outside the Bay Area.
    - rjurney 18y ago
      What was the ratio of Bay Area applicants like when you were doing YC in Boston? Did you get more Boston startups in the program?
      - pg 18y ago
        About the same. Overall there is very little variation between cycles.
- ajju 18y ago
  Here's my train of thought about why Shotput, if successful, would help Atlanta: - There is really very little seed stage funding in Atlanta (unlike the valley) - The people who choose to startup in Atlanta AND need seed funding usually do so because they want to live in Atlanta for the foreseeable future (or have to, for some reason). If they didn't, they would just move to the valley since getting seed funding is so much easier there. - Therefore, after seed funding, they are likely to stay in Atlanta (The round 1 funding scene in Atlanta is better than the seed funding scene..although not optimal) - Hence, Atlanta will be one startup ahead because of Shotput Ventures The gist is that if first time entrepreneurs were going to leave Atlanta after seed stage, they would likely have done so at seed stage since seed stage funding is so much harder here.