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Do you feel that the concerns expressed are not legitimate? If attending Bing is more beneficial than a YC dinner, why not make an unconditional donation to Bin

Do you feel that the concerns expressed are not legitimate? If attending Bing is more beneficial than a YC dinner, why not make an unconditional donation to Bing and then open up these dinners to teenagers willing to apply/write an essay for them, regardless of ability to pay? It would have the added benefit of self-selecting out those people whose parents think it is a good idea for them to go to such a dinner and reserve it for only those who are interested. Obviously, any donation to Bing is better than no donation to Bing, and the reality is that it probably is a net win for the parents with less money, but it seems like it could be even better refined and ensure that there are fewer cheap-shots like in the thread below.

larrys 13y ago
"why not make an unconditional donation to Bing and then open up these dinners to teenagers willing to apply/write an essay for them, regardless of ability to pay?" What was done was easy to do. Simple decision "yes or no" here is the benefit. [1] What you are asking would require meetings, details and more thought amongst people who don't really have the time for that. [1] Keep that in mind when you are doing business with people. Make it simple for them to agree and require no effort on their part (or at least as little as possible). If you want to delay decision making do the opposite. If you want to delay it even more give them an assignment to complete (like a 3 page list of questions that they need to answer before you will take their money). Friction kills deals just like time does.
- swalkergibson 13y ago
  > If you want to delay it even more give them an assignment to complete (like a 3 page list of questions that they need to answer before you will take their money). In my opinion, you are comparing apples to oranges. This is not like putting up a 12 field registration/payment form for your web app, it is asking people who are interested in getting access to one of these dinners to express why they think they are worthy of attending. The perceived value is high enough such that you should theoretically only be reading essays from people who took the time and made the effort to apply. You are absolutely right, this is the easiest way, and it is by no means a bad idea. Donating to charity in anyway is a great idea. However, the virtue of that fact does not automatically mean that the method for raising the money to be donated was intrinsically great. I must note that my opinion is colored by the fact that I would have loved to attend one of these dinners myself during my teen years, but my parents (nor myself) could absolutely not afford to have paid for it, but I would have been happy to compete for the spot on other criteria.
  - ericd 13y ago
    I'm pretty sure the YC partners don't have the time to comb through dinner attendance applications and manage the rest of that, unfortunately. Maybe they could outsource that, though.
pg 13y ago
I do make unconditional donations to Bing as well, and larger amounts than this auction is likely to generate. Yes, frankly, I feel like the concerns expressed here are a kind of moral bikeshedding. What harm does it do if one rich kid gets to come to a YC dinner? It's too much trouble to armor oneself against cheap shots. People who want to misunderstand you have an almost endless ability to do so, so you'd have to devote correspondingly endless energy to replying.
- tnuc 13y ago
  What harm does it do if only rich kids get to go to a YC dinner? A place for some more deserving poor kid would be nice.
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  One kid getting dinner is obviously no big deal, there is however something percieved to be wrong with it being normal for the rich to buy access for their kids to business opportunities. You are probably right that it is massive overanalysis considering the subject, though at least it wasn't a free lunch.
  - michaelochurch 13y ago
    One kid getting dinner is obviously no big deal, there is however something percieved to be wrong with it being normal for the rich to buy access for their kids to business opportunities. You are probably right that it is massive overanalysis considering the subject Correct. I don't think anyone here thinks Paul Graham is a bad man. I've never met him, but he seems like a good person who didn't intend to become a lightning rod. However, this was a dick move. If they're going to give away spots at a YC dinner to teenagers-- and I think that's a good idea-- then they should give them to winners of a computing, math, or science competition. Or young people in the computing field who overcame some disadvantage. This just proves that Silicon Valley has nothing left that can't be sold. Even the purr of a cat will eventually be metered and priced if these people can find a way. Let's assume that most people in YCombinator are among the best and the brightest. Well, now the time of top talent is a just another resource to be sold off to rich, entitled Joffreys. Speaking for top talent here, I'm fucking offended.
dutchbrit 13y ago
Why should PG be worrying about the cheap shots? At the end of the day, well done for raising this amount of money for a good charity. He could of sat on the couch watching a mind numbing tv show, but instead, he raised money for a charity offering children a very important stage early on in their lives. It would however indeed be TOTALLY AWESOME (!!) if PG also would organise a dinner for other kids, free of charge, that they can somehow win, but at the end of the day, this remains to be his choice.

larrys 13y ago

"why not make an unconditional donation to Bing and then open up these dinners to teenagers willing to apply/write an essay for them, regardless of ability to pay?" What was done was easy to do. Simple decision "yes or no" here is the benefit. [1] What you are asking would require meetings, details and more thought amongst people who don't really have the time for that. [1] Keep that in mind when you are doing business with people. Make it simple for them to agree and require no effort on their part (or at least as little as possible). If you want to delay decision making do the opposite. If you want to delay it even more give them an assignment to complete (like a 3 page list of questions that they need to answer before you will take their money). Friction kills deals just like time does.

swalkergibson 13y ago
> If you want to delay it even more give them an assignment to complete (like a 3 page list of questions that they need to answer before you will take their money). In my opinion, you are comparing apples to oranges. This is not like putting up a 12 field registration/payment form for your web app, it is asking people who are interested in getting access to one of these dinners to express why they think they are worthy of attending. The perceived value is high enough such that you should theoretically only be reading essays from people who took the time and made the effort to apply. You are absolutely right, this is the easiest way, and it is by no means a bad idea. Donating to charity in anyway is a great idea. However, the virtue of that fact does not automatically mean that the method for raising the money to be donated was intrinsically great. I must note that my opinion is colored by the fact that I would have loved to attend one of these dinners myself during my teen years, but my parents (nor myself) could absolutely not afford to have paid for it, but I would have been happy to compete for the spot on other criteria.
- ericd 13y ago
  I'm pretty sure the YC partners don't have the time to comb through dinner attendance applications and manage the rest of that, unfortunately. Maybe they could outsource that, though.

pg 13y ago

I do make unconditional donations to Bing as well, and larger amounts than this auction is likely to generate. Yes, frankly, I feel like the concerns expressed here are a kind of moral bikeshedding. What harm does it do if one rich kid gets to come to a YC dinner? It's too much trouble to armor oneself against cheap shots. People who want to misunderstand you have an almost endless ability to do so, so you'd have to devote correspondingly endless energy to replying.

tnuc 13y ago
What harm does it do if only rich kids get to go to a YC dinner? A place for some more deserving poor kid would be nice.
moocowduckquack 13y ago
One kid getting dinner is obviously no big deal, there is however something percieved to be wrong with it being normal for the rich to buy access for their kids to business opportunities. You are probably right that it is massive overanalysis considering the subject, though at least it wasn't a free lunch.
- michaelochurch 13y ago
  One kid getting dinner is obviously no big deal, there is however something percieved to be wrong with it being normal for the rich to buy access for their kids to business opportunities. You are probably right that it is massive overanalysis considering the subject Correct. I don't think anyone here thinks Paul Graham is a bad man. I've never met him, but he seems like a good person who didn't intend to become a lightning rod. However, this was a dick move. If they're going to give away spots at a YC dinner to teenagers-- and I think that's a good idea-- then they should give them to winners of a computing, math, or science competition. Or young people in the computing field who overcame some disadvantage. This just proves that Silicon Valley has nothing left that can't be sold. Even the purr of a cat will eventually be metered and priced if these people can find a way. Let's assume that most people in YCombinator are among the best and the brightest. Well, now the time of top talent is a just another resource to be sold off to rich, entitled Joffreys. Speaking for top talent here, I'm fucking offended.

dutchbrit 13y ago

Why should PG be worrying about the cheap shots? At the end of the day, well done for raising this amount of money for a good charity. He could of sat on the couch watching a mind numbing tv show, but instead, he raised money for a charity offering children a very important stage early on in their lives. It would however indeed be TOTALLY AWESOME (!!) if PG also would organise a dinner for other kids, free of charge, that they can somehow win, but at the end of the day, this remains to be his choice.