4 ms·

I have always been a bit confused by this also. I think I am most likely missing something here, but I've thought about this a lot and can't figure it out. Over

I have always been a bit confused by this also. I think I am most likely missing something here, but I've thought about this a lot and can't figure it out. Overall, I think YC and friends provide a net gain to society, encouraging entrepreneurial ideals and bringing a few really great ideas to fruition. But for the rest... I don't know. This is certainly not universal, but it seems like a bunch of YC funded startups exist solely to attempt being acquired. I understand that 'exiting' is a marker of some form of success, but doesn't this notion sort of contradict some of the hacker mentality and startup culture that created it in the first place? I mean, you just poured your heart and soul into a company for the past several months, if not years, and you're just going to let some mega corporation purchase it and grow even larger? And yet the vast majority of these companies just sit there and eat through their funding... what's the point? It really feels like the web bubble all over again, but like I said, maybe I'm just missing something.

sfrechtling 14y ago
My impression of the focus on exiting is that it represents the highest profile "winning" that a startup can achieve - it gets media time, [edit: possibly] large amounts of cash and validation from others that the idea and business is "good". Growth is unique while an exit is even more unique.
mehrzad 14y ago
Disclaimer: I'm just a stupid teenager. We seem to have this discussion too much. Startup culture is business culture. Hacker culture (making and breaking) to me almost seems diametrically opposed to startup culture (making and selling). Startups don't want to reinvent the wheel so much that they rely on the big guns (Apple, Google) to do the foundation work (e.g., making an OS). Twenty to thirty years from now, who will know how to make an operating system. College students online lament that there are no challenging programming jobs anymore so they can't use the deep knowledge from their CS degree. It seems to me that the most challenging stuff that you can make a lot of money from today is a Mac application. My dream is to see a resurgence of MIT and Unix hacker culture. I know my writing style is disjointed and awkward, so sorry about that :P
- ldh 14y ago
  No need to apologize, you're just fine.

sfrechtling 14y ago

My impression of the focus on exiting is that it represents the highest profile "winning" that a startup can achieve - it gets media time, [edit: possibly] large amounts of cash and validation from others that the idea and business is "good". Growth is unique while an exit is even more unique.

mehrzad 14y ago

Disclaimer: I'm just a stupid teenager. We seem to have this discussion too much. Startup culture is business culture. Hacker culture (making and breaking) to me almost seems diametrically opposed to startup culture (making and selling). Startups don't want to reinvent the wheel so much that they rely on the big guns (Apple, Google) to do the foundation work (e.g., making an OS). Twenty to thirty years from now, who will know how to make an operating system. College students online lament that there are no challenging programming jobs anymore so they can't use the deep knowledge from their CS degree. It seems to me that the most challenging stuff that you can make a lot of money from today is a Mac application. My dream is to see a resurgence of MIT and Unix hacker culture. I know my writing style is disjointed and awkward, so sorry about that :P

ldh 14y ago
No need to apologize, you're just fine.