13 ms·

Applications open for Startup School

136 points by pg 13y ago

pg 13y ago
Notice that this year we've expanded the intended audience from hackers to include designers and engineers as well.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- sjtgraham 13y ago
  Is this to encourage more YC applications from those groups?
  - kyro 13y ago
    It's likely because the landscape is not what it was years ago when design mattered less and people shied away from pursuing hardware startups. Design today is becoming as essential a competitive advantage as tech, and we're seeing a surge in hardware companies that require electrical/mechanical/etc engineering abilities (Oculus, MYO, Amulyte, to name a few).
- startupfounder 13y ago
  pg, thanks for making this simple yet powerful distinction. The airbnb guys are a great example on why this mindset change is welcomed. Designer founders can also be relentlessly resourceful and create game changing startups.
- aagha 13y ago
  This is great. I was a programmer--and though I still understand code--I define myself more as a product manager. As I explore my own start up idea, it'll be great to meet others who don't count themselves as "hackers".
- salimmadjd 13y ago
  Why are you asking for age? As the leader in the space of incubator you're setting the stage for age discrimination and you're making it acceptable. I'm very disappointed!
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - seiji 13y ago
    A 50 year old who is "just learning python" is less attractive than a 16 year old doing the same. There's more value in educating and pumping enthusiasm into a 16 year old than a 65 year old.
    - salimmadjd 13y ago
      >> There's more value in educating and pumping enthusiasm into a 16 year Why is there more value? What if the 50 year old is an accomplished artist, or a 50 year old doctor or other types of experience. BTW, thanks for validating the age discrimination. What happens to these 16 year olds when they get to be 30, 40, 50. Do they think they are no longer able to start new things or they are less valuable? Because this is the message we are sending.
      - seiji 13y ago
        If they haven't "made it" by middle age, hopefully they have found a stable life situation and aren't playing startup roulette anymore. Nobody is saying you can't start new things. I'm saying the game is creating new experiences on hardware that didn't exist a year ago for, usually, a demographic of people under 30. Trying to break into that world as a nobody outside of that demographic and life experience is a long shot. Not impossible, but energies are better spent fueling people who have an actual chance at changing the world (and an entire lifetime ahead of them to do it).
        nrivadeneira 13y ago
        It's disappointing that you think the game is only about software for people under 30. There's so much more to entrepreneurship, but you're blinded by media attention and low hanging fruit.
- kyro 13y ago
  Conveniently missing from that list are those with strong accents [0]. Anyway, thanks for hosting these. Really loved the first one I went to years ago. The atmosphere is awesome. Really energetic and inspiring. I encourage everyone to apply. Plus, you might get to see me. [0] A joke.
- songgao 13y ago
  Can I apply for virtual attendence? Is there gonna be an option to attend via G+? I'm a graduate student based in Auburn, AL and it's would not be feasible for me to attend physically.
goronbjorn 13y ago
What happened to BASES?
- ajju 13y ago
  Looks like FLINT center has a higher seating capacity. Startup School was pretty packed last year, so I am glad they are increasing the seating capacity.
  - goronbjorn 13y ago
    Hm, I guess I meant more in terms of their involvement with the event at large. As far back as 2007 (http://web.archive.org/web/20070105191044/http://startupschool.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/20070105191044/http://startupscho...), Startup School was run by YC along with BASES. My only guess would be since they don't need a venue on Stanford's campus, they don't need help from BASES anymore, but I was just looking for someone to confirm.
MysticFear 13y ago
Having the Startup School in the cradle of startups is preaching to the choir, no?
unono 13y ago
PG should think about 'franchising' his operation. By that, I mean creating a systemic process for accrediting founders, choosing franchisees in big cities around the world, and a webapp to manage this all. He could scale the YC startup process to thousands of startups per batch. In fact, it might become a sign of failure to not be accredited by YC when seeking first round VC.
- argumentum 13y ago
  Speaking as a member of the the "batch that broke YC (s12)", I think YC's resources are best utilized by continuing to improve the quality of the program at its current size. Read: http://ycombinator.com/w13smaller.html http://ycombinator.com/w13smaller.html Obviously the quality is already very high, but still quite a ways to go for each batch consist of "50 AirBnBs", which to me is a far more impressive goal than having 1000s of lower quality startups. It's also better that YC is a signal of success than "not-YC" being a signal of failure. Franchising would dilute the brand and more importantly be a distraction from (as YC would always say) making and improving something people want. YC is relatively "open-sourced" and there's nothing to stop others from creating accelerators with similar models around the world (and in the valley). There are already hundreds of imitators and these catch many of those that YC misses.
  - unono 13y ago
    I'm saying this politely - so don't bite my head off - but a.) you would say that, wouldn't you, you'd like as much of PG's attention as possible b.) it's quite presumptious to state that the 1000s of others would be lower quality. Are the less than 1000, mid 20s, mostly male, mostly american, applicants to YC the best candidates on earth? There are probably 1000x, if not more, capable founders of all age groups, nationalities, and genders that PG could get a slice of. He's built a brand and should seek to capitalize on it before someone establishes a superior brand. Off course, this all about what PG does for fun, he's already rich enought to never work again. It might be that he enjoys mentoring a few founders a couple of times a year and doesn't have global ambitions.
    - 13y ago
akg_67 13y ago
Application Form is broken on Safari 6.0.5 on OS X 10.8.4. It doesn't display anything after "What tools do you like?" Error Console shows "Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found) https://news.ycombinator.com/sus.css" https://news.ycombinator.com/sus.css"
prajit 13y ago
This is not "first come, first serve", right?
- jfoster 13y ago
  Correct.
dzink 13y ago
pg, are you guys taking volunteers for Startup School by any chance?
staunch 13y ago
I always look forward to the Startup School talks and interviews that get streamed and posted on the web. Would love to see DHH and especially Andrew Mason again.
ghc 13y ago
I went to the first (?) one of these back in 2005 at Harvard. I really, really wish there was one on the east coast to complement the SV one. It was a great experience and I think there are a ton of up-and-coming entrepreneurs fresh out of school (or still in it) in Boston and New York who would benefit from the experience.
- nrivadeneira 13y ago
  I wish there was one in NY too. I'm sure there are some enterprising enough among us that can make it happen.
  - grandalf 13y ago
    I'll help.
    - kyro 13y ago
      Me too. Let's get one started.
  - carterschonwald 13y ago
    that would be cool. theres some really amazing folks doing tech in nyc yet manage to evade normal press. (and I think they prefer it that way :) )
- kyro 13y ago
  Well, Alexis Ohanian (a YC partner) lives here in Brooklyn. Maybe we can plead and twist his arm to help us put something similar together here? I'm not really impressed with the meetups we have here in NYC. NYTM (arguably the largest startup conference in NY) is underwhelming.
  - grinich 13y ago
    He's speaking at Startup Bootcamp @ MIT this year. http://startupbootcamp.mit.edu/ http://startupbootcamp.mit.edu/ (so am I)
JesseAldridge 13y ago
The google maps link to Flint Center seems broken. I just get a zoomed out view of the Bay Area.
- omarali 13y ago
  https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.321766,-122.046626&ll=37.321455,-122.04493&spn=0.00622,0.011759&num=1&t=h&z=17 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.321766,-122.046626&ll=37.3...
bishopknight 13y ago
Wow that is the most beautiful application form I've ever seen /sarcasm
holyjeebis 13y ago
Soon every child will be born with its own "startup". I've come up with a formula... <large font><made up word - typically something like boopnik, slurpio, cloppertrin, etc>Do <something that has been done 5,000 times>, <faster, better, more, gooder, bestester, more better, simply, less hard, more easier></large font> blah blah blah blah blah, here's a picture of us sailing and helping the homeless, because we're unique. Give us money. Thx. ...because in order to really protect your customers' data, you should share it with more clueless children who think javascript should be used for everything.
graeme 13y ago
I have a couple of questions for those who have gone before. I'm currently building a smaller business. Decent recurring revenue, very unlikely to scale to big proportions. Basically aiming for financial freedoms. Not technical, but learning to make websites for what I'm working on. Is this worth my while to apply for? My time is flexible, so I'd just be looking at cost of flight + booking to attend.
bambax 13y ago
Pics from last year's http://bambax.smugmug.com/Other/2012-10StartupSchool/27080040_bVJ942 http://bambax.smugmug.com/Other/2012-10StartupSchool/2708004...
nodesocket 13y ago
New location from previous years at Stanford. Flint Center 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA ‎
- jc123 13y ago
  Hopefully that venue will be even larger, so that more successful applicants can attend for the truly awesome experience.
ChrisCinelli 13y ago
What about opportunities to network, brainstorm ideas, and start conversations with interesting people before the event beside Hacker News? I always met great people at the day of the event but I had the feeling that I may have missed some important connections with people that may have similar interests and/or complementary skill set to mine.

136 points by pg 13y ago

pg 13y ago

Notice that this year we've expanded the intended audience from hackers to include designers and engineers as well.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
sjtgraham 13y ago
Is this to encourage more YC applications from those groups?
- kyro 13y ago
  It's likely because the landscape is not what it was years ago when design mattered less and people shied away from pursuing hardware startups. Design today is becoming as essential a competitive advantage as tech, and we're seeing a surge in hardware companies that require electrical/mechanical/etc engineering abilities (Oculus, MYO, Amulyte, to name a few).
startupfounder 13y ago
pg, thanks for making this simple yet powerful distinction. The airbnb guys are a great example on why this mindset change is welcomed. Designer founders can also be relentlessly resourceful and create game changing startups.
aagha 13y ago
This is great. I was a programmer--and though I still understand code--I define myself more as a product manager. As I explore my own start up idea, it'll be great to meet others who don't count themselves as "hackers".
salimmadjd 13y ago
Why are you asking for age? As the leader in the space of incubator you're setting the stage for age discrimination and you're making it acceptable. I'm very disappointed!
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- seiji 13y ago
  A 50 year old who is "just learning python" is less attractive than a 16 year old doing the same. There's more value in educating and pumping enthusiasm into a 16 year old than a 65 year old.
  - salimmadjd 13y ago
    >> There's more value in educating and pumping enthusiasm into a 16 year Why is there more value? What if the 50 year old is an accomplished artist, or a 50 year old doctor or other types of experience. BTW, thanks for validating the age discrimination. What happens to these 16 year olds when they get to be 30, 40, 50. Do they think they are no longer able to start new things or they are less valuable? Because this is the message we are sending.
    - seiji 13y ago
      If they haven't "made it" by middle age, hopefully they have found a stable life situation and aren't playing startup roulette anymore. Nobody is saying you can't start new things. I'm saying the game is creating new experiences on hardware that didn't exist a year ago for, usually, a demographic of people under 30. Trying to break into that world as a nobody outside of that demographic and life experience is a long shot. Not impossible, but energies are better spent fueling people who have an actual chance at changing the world (and an entire lifetime ahead of them to do it).
      - nrivadeneira 13y ago
        It's disappointing that you think the game is only about software for people under 30. There's so much more to entrepreneurship, but you're blinded by media attention and low hanging fruit.
kyro 13y ago
Conveniently missing from that list are those with strong accents [0]. Anyway, thanks for hosting these. Really loved the first one I went to years ago. The atmosphere is awesome. Really energetic and inspiring. I encourage everyone to apply. Plus, you might get to see me. [0] A joke.
songgao 13y ago
Can I apply for virtual attendence? Is there gonna be an option to attend via G+? I'm a graduate student based in Auburn, AL and it's would not be feasible for me to attend physically.

goronbjorn 13y ago

What happened to BASES?

ajju 13y ago
Looks like FLINT center has a higher seating capacity. Startup School was pretty packed last year, so I am glad they are increasing the seating capacity.
- goronbjorn 13y ago
  Hm, I guess I meant more in terms of their involvement with the event at large. As far back as 2007 (http://web.archive.org/web/20070105191044/http://startupschool.org/ http://web.archive.org/web/20070105191044/http://startupscho...), Startup School was run by YC along with BASES. My only guess would be since they don't need a venue on Stanford's campus, they don't need help from BASES anymore, but I was just looking for someone to confirm.

MysticFear 13y ago

Having the Startup School in the cradle of startups is preaching to the choir, no?

unono 13y ago

PG should think about 'franchising' his operation. By that, I mean creating a systemic process for accrediting founders, choosing franchisees in big cities around the world, and a webapp to manage this all. He could scale the YC startup process to thousands of startups per batch. In fact, it might become a sign of failure to not be accredited by YC when seeking first round VC.

argumentum 13y ago
Speaking as a member of the the "batch that broke YC (s12)", I think YC's resources are best utilized by continuing to improve the quality of the program at its current size. Read: http://ycombinator.com/w13smaller.html http://ycombinator.com/w13smaller.html Obviously the quality is already very high, but still quite a ways to go for each batch consist of "50 AirBnBs", which to me is a far more impressive goal than having 1000s of lower quality startups. It's also better that YC is a signal of success than "not-YC" being a signal of failure. Franchising would dilute the brand and more importantly be a distraction from (as YC would always say) making and improving something people want. YC is relatively "open-sourced" and there's nothing to stop others from creating accelerators with similar models around the world (and in the valley). There are already hundreds of imitators and these catch many of those that YC misses.
- unono 13y ago
  I'm saying this politely - so don't bite my head off - but a.) you would say that, wouldn't you, you'd like as much of PG's attention as possible b.) it's quite presumptious to state that the 1000s of others would be lower quality. Are the less than 1000, mid 20s, mostly male, mostly american, applicants to YC the best candidates on earth? There are probably 1000x, if not more, capable founders of all age groups, nationalities, and genders that PG could get a slice of. He's built a brand and should seek to capitalize on it before someone establishes a superior brand. Off course, this all about what PG does for fun, he's already rich enought to never work again. It might be that he enjoys mentoring a few founders a couple of times a year and doesn't have global ambitions.
  - 13y ago

akg_67 13y ago

Application Form is broken on Safari 6.0.5 on OS X 10.8.4. It doesn't display anything after "What tools do you like?" Error Console shows "Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found) https://news.ycombinator.com/sus.css" https://news.ycombinator.com/sus.css"

prajit 13y ago

This is not "first come, first serve", right?

jfoster 13y ago
Correct.

dzink 13y ago

pg, are you guys taking volunteers for Startup School by any chance?

staunch 13y ago

I always look forward to the Startup School talks and interviews that get streamed and posted on the web. Would love to see DHH and especially Andrew Mason again.

ghc 13y ago

I went to the first (?) one of these back in 2005 at Harvard. I really, really wish there was one on the east coast to complement the SV one. It was a great experience and I think there are a ton of up-and-coming entrepreneurs fresh out of school (or still in it) in Boston and New York who would benefit from the experience.

nrivadeneira 13y ago
I wish there was one in NY too. I'm sure there are some enterprising enough among us that can make it happen.
- grandalf 13y ago
  I'll help.
  - kyro 13y ago
    Me too. Let's get one started.
- carterschonwald 13y ago
  that would be cool. theres some really amazing folks doing tech in nyc yet manage to evade normal press. (and I think they prefer it that way :) )
kyro 13y ago
Well, Alexis Ohanian (a YC partner) lives here in Brooklyn. Maybe we can plead and twist his arm to help us put something similar together here? I'm not really impressed with the meetups we have here in NYC. NYTM (arguably the largest startup conference in NY) is underwhelming.
- grinich 13y ago
  He's speaking at Startup Bootcamp @ MIT this year. http://startupbootcamp.mit.edu/ http://startupbootcamp.mit.edu/ (so am I)

JesseAldridge 13y ago

The google maps link to Flint Center seems broken. I just get a zoomed out view of the Bay Area.

omarali 13y ago
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.321766,-122.046626&ll=37.321455,-122.04493&spn=0.00622,0.011759&num=1&t=h&z=17 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=37.321766,-122.046626&ll=37.3...

bishopknight 13y ago

Wow that is the most beautiful application form I've ever seen /sarcasm

holyjeebis 13y ago

Soon every child will be born with its own "startup". I've come up with a formula... <large font><made up word - typically something like boopnik, slurpio, cloppertrin, etc>Do <something that has been done 5,000 times>, <faster, better, more, gooder, bestester, more better, simply, less hard, more easier></large font> blah blah blah blah blah, here's a picture of us sailing and helping the homeless, because we're unique. Give us money. Thx. ...because in order to really protect your customers' data, you should share it with more clueless children who think javascript should be used for everything.

graeme 13y ago

I have a couple of questions for those who have gone before. I'm currently building a smaller business. Decent recurring revenue, very unlikely to scale to big proportions. Basically aiming for financial freedoms. Not technical, but learning to make websites for what I'm working on. Is this worth my while to apply for? My time is flexible, so I'd just be looking at cost of flight + booking to attend.

bambax 13y ago

Pics from last year's http://bambax.smugmug.com/Other/2012-10StartupSchool/27080040_bVJ942 http://bambax.smugmug.com/Other/2012-10StartupSchool/2708004...

nodesocket 13y ago

New location from previous years at Stanford. Flint Center 21250 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA ‎

jc123 13y ago
Hopefully that venue will be even larger, so that more successful applicants can attend for the truly awesome experience.

ChrisCinelli 13y ago

What about opportunities to network, brainstorm ideas, and start conversations with interesting people before the event beside Hacker News? I always met great people at the day of the event but I had the feeling that I may have missed some important connections with people that may have similar interests and/or complementary skill set to mine.