8 ms·

Startup School is going global

252 points by katm 12y ago

johnpt 12y ago
This is great news for us in Europe. Thank you!!!
krat0sprakhar 12y ago
> We're starting with New York and London, but in the coming years we hope to head to Asia, South America and Africa. I hope they have India on their radar! It would be awesome for the Indian Startup scene to hear all those great speakers live!
- ing33k 12y ago
  +1 but we can only hope
- techaddict009 12y ago
  Same here. Eagerly waiting for YC in India. Hope they start soon in India.
- bjelkeman-again 12y ago
  Just taking an Indian startup and merging it with our organisation, I know there are some fabulous local Bangalore speakers that have great stories to tell. I could fill half a day with just some of my contacts/friends/colleagues.
  - ig1 12y ago
    Why not just organize an event yourself then ?
    - bjelkeman-again 12y ago
      Maybe we'll do just that.
- prayag 12y ago
  I doubt YC would want to enter India market. For all the talent and entrepreneurial spirit that Indians have our startup culture sucks. There are several reasons: 1. The infrastructure: India doesn't have the tech infrastructure. Take the 3 major e-commerce requirements for example: internet access, online payment and delivery. Even the basic internet infrastructure in India sucks. Most people access the internet over their phones because getting home internet is still a pricey affair for most people. A pretty small number of people have access to credit cards and for those who do, processing payment online is a huge pain. The postal infrastructure is also pretty bad. India post is flaky and other courier companies are pretty bad or expensive or both. 2. Government interference: Indian government is inconsistent, heavy-handed and has very little interest in improving the tech sector. Most state governments are downright hostile. 3. Lack of exit opportunities: Indian tech sector lacks big players who can provide the entrepreneurs and investors meaningful exits. The culture of acquisitions as a meaningful way to get market advantage is not there. Your only hope is sell to a American or a European company looking to gain a foothold in the region (rare) or IPO (even rarer). 4. Corruption and general apathy: To get anything meaningful done in India is a struggle. From getting setup as a company to getting a good internet connection. You have to fight corruption and apathy of the organizations (both public and private) you are dealing with. 5. Labor laws: Labor laws in India are a joke. They are a relic of the socialist times and are heavily biased on the side of the employees. Setting up any type of manufacturing or operations in India is a legal nightmare. If that's not enough, the trade unions operate as a mafia and its downright dangerous to deal with them. There is a lot of opportunity in India too but until we overcome the problems that entrepreneurs and investors face, Indian tech startup scene would never take off.
  - rdl 12y ago
    I thought the idea of Startup School was to "sell" YC to founders there, along with the implicit idea of moving to SV. Seems like a stronger case for India than a lot of other places (great founders, but fucked up environment, so they have the most relative advantage to moving, especially if they can keep enough connections to India to continue to recruit for remote or relo.)
    - 12y ago
pskittle 12y ago
Thanks for the update! is there a list to get on for other countries?
- katm 12y ago
  You'd likely hear the news here first. But you can sign up for YC's mailing list: http://eepurl.com/G3Aiz http://eepurl.com/G3Aiz
  - pskittle 12y ago
    Just did , Thnx!
HorizonXP 12y ago
I've made the trip out to Startup School for the past few years. I'll still go to the original one, but now that I'm back on the east coast, it'll be nice to hang out in a similar event with a different crowd. Excited!
dalek2point3 12y ago
are videos from previous startup schools available online?
- katm 12y ago
  Videos from SUS 2012 and 2013 are on YouTube. Playlists for each are here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg/playlists https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg/pla...
tomek_zemla 12y ago
Montreal is a beautiful city to have a Startup School in...
vjvj 12y ago
It seems like it's aimed purely at developers & designers, but from past sessions, this would be useful for any kind of founder. What's the deal for technically minded founders that aren't devs/designers?
- amirmc 12y ago
  Just apply. The form is pretty simple and will only take a few mins to fill out. There's no need to 'pre-reject' yourself.
mobiplayer 12y ago
Just applied for the London event. For a second I was surprised to see that "going global" meant "New York" until another second later I've read "London", which still isn't global but a step forward. Very happy to see you guys coming around!
higherpurpose 12y ago
UK is too far for most of Europe. Berlin would've been a more optimal choice. UK has pretty poor/insane border policies, too, as we all know by now, and not too eager to visit it.
- ardit33 12y ago
  Yep. Germany is part of the Schengen accord, and most people from Europe can travel there without a visa (even if they are not part of the EU yet). While England requires visas for most countries. Also, London is not really a tech center anyways. Poor choice.
  - amirmc 12y ago
    > "Also, London is not really a tech center anyways. Poor choice." A lot of tech companies have made London their base, including some prominent YC companies. London is so big that it's many things to many people so if you think it's 'not really a tech center', please elaborate why.
    - tim333 12y ago
      For what it's worth entrepreneur.com had London as #7 globally in the Top 20 Startup Ecosystems, the highest in Europe but well behind SV and Tel Aviv. http://www.entrepreneur.com/dbimages/article/the-worlds-20-hottest-startup-scenes.jpg http://www.entrepreneur.com/dbimages/article/the-worlds-20-h...
  - hazz 12y ago
    Any citizen of an EU member state can enter the UK without a visa. Additionally, you don't require a visa if you're a citizen of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or any of over 50 countries on other continents. It's really pretty open, especially for Europeans.
  - untog 12y ago
    England (or, more correctly, the UK) does not require a visa for any EU country. And while London isn't a tech center on the level of US cities, it still is one.
markovbling 12y ago
Please come to Cape Town! :)
zck 12y ago
What's the recommendation on applying to multiple Startup Schools? I've been to the last two, but I live in NYC. Do you consider it rude to apply to NYC now, and the Valley one in the fall, and take up two spots?
- jl 12y ago
  I'd recommend limiting your attendance to one. Our goal with SUS has always been to share a lot of useful and inspirational advice from startup experts. We'd like to keep as many seats open as possible for people who've never been.
  - tonyhb 12y ago
    Is it OK to apply to both? I'm living in NY but am from London so I checked both on the off chance that one was full.
dlp211 12y ago
I never new about this, but I would love to go. And they are coming to NY which is awesome because that is where I am, except for about 4 days in June (one of which is the 18th) when I'll of course be in Mountain View. Maybe next year :(.
erikb 12y ago
So yes, I would like to join "SC Europe" but I won't be able to make it to "London". Maybe call it "SC London"?
hershel 12y ago
I wonder , is this a part of an effort to scale YC globally ?
- jfoster 12y ago
  Could be testing the waters for that. Could also be prep work for a contingency plan if US startup visas don't happen.
  - kintamanimatt 12y ago
    I'm under the impression that the UK will grant a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa to founders that have access to £50,000 in VC funding[0]. It would make a lot of sense of YC to open up shop here in the UK. [0] https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/access-to-50000-investment-funds https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/access-to-50000-inves...
rainboiboi 12y ago
Good to know that I'll be able to make it to the one in London during my trip to Europe. Anyone knows the invitation rate or how they assess the attendees?
graycat 12y ago
Interesting that Silicon Valley believes that going to NYC is "going international"!
- kn0thing 12y ago
  heh, we're a rather diverse & cosmopolitan city!
  - graycat 12y ago
    Never been there, but I heard about warm beer! England did one heck of a job in WWII, a big step up from what they did here in the colonies back in the last of the 1700s! There our George beat your George! At times, it appears that some people in England use the language so well it's almost as if they had invented it. But then they mess up their success with some outrageous errors in spelling!
- mobiplayer 12y ago
  Watch out mate, I've been voted down into oblivion for saying the same (and adding that with London it's okayish to say "global"). Obviously the idea is to attract European and Middle East attendance in the London event and I think it is a good choice. Pretty much any airport in Europe flies to London and there are plenty of low cost flights (Ryanair, Wizzair, Vueling, Norwegian, Easyjet, etc) as opposed to e.g. Berlin.
  - graycat 12y ago
    Yes, a post like mine, intended to be comedy, can be too close to the line of nasty criticism and look mean. But it was fun to take the opportunity to crack a joke suggesting that Silicon Valley is so insular that they regard NYC as going international! That's a lot of air traffic just for warm beer! But, where do people in London live? I mean with all the Russian and Mideast money buying up all the properties, a little one room condo goes for, what, $20 million? And, England is a huge step down from where it was when Di was alive.
- misterbwong 12y ago
larrys 12y ago
"Startup School is a free, one-day event where you'll hear stories and practical advice from founders and investors." Not being a fan of rah rah one day type seminars [1] I'd like to know the percentage of people who attend these types of 1 day events and actually go away with something tangible that allows them to create something as opposed to just feeling good or pumped up for a short period. Separately, the act of actually traveling somewhere to attend is a bit different [2] than not traveling or not being able to (for reasons other than money). I wonder how that will change the benefits of the material presented. [1] Forgetting the quality level, which I'm sure is high, it reminds me of real estate or investment seminars that go from town to town. (Of course those also have another ulterior purpose (to sell books or dvd's)). Edit [2] I mean the level of commitment would seem to be higher for someone who actually decides to make a journey and attend to better their future vs. someone who doesn't (not that people who attend locally wouldn't travel of course..)
- stingrae 12y ago
  I attended the last startup school. I can say it is much more valuable than those investment seminars. I got some interesting/inspirational stories that may push me to become more entrepreneurial than I might otherwise have been. The talks are all on youtube so you can judge for yourself. I particularly enjoyed chase adams talk.
- alain94040 12y ago
  I see the value as twofold: a) being inspired [by the right kind of founders, not get-rich-quick schemes] and pumped up. It could mean the difference between launching your startup and staying in your comfy day job b) random encounters of other people who are more like you than most people you meet everyday. That also has tremendous value. But you'll never know if you never show up.
melindajb 12y ago
95% of the best founders are outside the US? Really? if that were the case we'd have seen a lot more publicly traded companies of the size of Yahoo, Microsoft, Intel, eBay, etc. If it could have happened, it would have happened. We aren't even tapping the founder set we have in the US proportionally. I applaud the concept of adding diversity to the pool (even-gasp! people with accents--) but I have a sneaking suspicion this is really about finding cheaper labor for the us based companies in the end. What investors are really going to put money into companies in countries in Africa and Asia where property rights, IP, and other laws don't protect companies as well as the US? What about places that demand even more corporate taxes? Color me skeptical.
- stingrae 12y ago
  I think this statement is just a matter of probability. 95% of the worlds population isn't American.
  - melindajb 12y ago
    except that many, many of those folks have no access to running water or even a basic education. China, Africa, India. Let's start there. Now let's remind ourselves that >50% of the US population, specifically women and people of color, have been systematically excluded from the US based system. I'm not saying that the USA is Best, by any means. A lot of people from outside the US work harder, longer and smarter. I welcome them to our community. But the facts remain that the USA is where this phenomenon was originated, born of a complex brew of culture, investment, corporate freedom, property rights, and so on. Many have tried and most have failed to recreate this. I predict this will be more of the same: white male and asian/southeast asian programmers. The idea that YC would choose african founders in africa after systematically excluding african founders in the US just seems impossible to imagine. If A US based African entrepreneur is scary, what's it going to be like when they go to Nairobi? The corruption in those countries is rampant. it's not as easy as it sounds. Again, don't misinterpret my comments as xenophobia or American exceptionalism. They aren't. I'm observing significant challenges. That doesn't mean no one should try, but we all shouldn't applaud this until we actually see it happening outside of predominantly white, western countries.
KeepTalking 12y ago
I appreciate the idea of making startup school a more global event. Frankly speaking for a lot of entrepreneurs making a trip to the bay area can be a substantial dent on their pockets. I attended the previous year's startup school and the experience and outcomes was phenomenal. I hope the quality of speakers continues to maintain the current high standards and provide deep and much needed insight.
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- fraXis 12y ago
  From the post: "We're hosting our annual Startup School in Mountain View this October as well, but we'll announce those details as we get closer to the date."
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larrys 12y ago
Question for the OP, YC, PG, dang, or anyone else. YC owns both startupschool.com and startupschool.org but you have the .com redirecting to the .org While .org can be (and often is used) for anything it is typically associated with organizations and more specifically non-profits [1]. So I'm curious why you don't simply have this info under the .com since obviously the overwhelming majority of your involvement is on a for profit basis (the companies you fund are almost always for profit) and the school, while free, is really a marketing feeder for YC which is for profit. [1] Source: Me, I've been doing this "domain thing" since the mid 90's.
loceng 12y ago
Wow. This will be interesting to watch. :)
jw2013 12y ago
Yet another respectable move for YC. Hopefully this will spur more global interest in starting a startup. One thing I really appreciate YC in recent year is making the startup school videos online so those can't attend will not miss the talk. Of course those attend will meet tons of amazing people. Bringing in smart and talented people into one room just sparks insightful conversations. First in valley, and now globally. Thanks, YC. That is so unselfish.
- wololo_ 12y ago
  YC has been undergoing some real good changes and new features ever since Sam came in.
- davidw 12y ago
  > One thing I really appreciate YC in recent year is making the startup school videos online so those can't attend will not miss the talk. Of course those attend will meet tons of amazing people. Conferences in this day and age are strange beasts. The value of going to listen to someone is, IMO, lower relative to the past because of videos, and, even better, transcripts and notetakers who summarize and eliminate all the blah blah blah. The value of talking to people in person though, is still pretty high, as well as serendipitous meetings and discussions. I'd love to see people experiment with different formats that involve less of the former and maximize the latter.
  - grrowl 12y ago
    I go to conferences because the level of passion and excitement in the discussions (and friendly arguments) had there greatly surpasses anything I've come across at a meetup. It's a shame they usually cost almost $1000 or more apiece.
rdl 12y ago
This is a great idea! I wonder how YC could do a "Startup School Asia" -- in general, for a larger percentage of Asian founders, travel between countries in Asia is difficult, compared to European founders (where IMO you could have SS in virtually any major city and be no worse than 50% as good as any other in terms of access; London is great but expensive, Berlin would be my pick.) Singapore is probably the easiest and best choice for Asia, but there are strong arguments for HK/SZ, Beijing, Shanghai, one of ~10 cities in India, etc.
- katm 12y ago
  There was a lot of debate over whether we should do the first European SUS in London or Berlin. Both cities are great and each has its benefits. We have some awesome YC alum in London (and the YC community there is growing), and we're excited that they'll be joining us in July. We'd love to do something in Berlin as well.
  - rdl 12y ago
    IMO the best way for YC to do something to start with in Germany would be to get involved in CCC/31c3. (CCC is a weird combination of IEEE/ACM and hackerspaces, and huge in Germany) A "how to turn your project into a company? should you, and why?" talk by YC (ideally, with European YC company founders, ideally in the product spaces most interesting to CCC hackers) would be awesome. The downside is it's 27-30 DEC in Hamburg.
    - amirmc 12y ago
      In principle there isn't any reason a YC partner couldn't just give a talk if they wanted to. For example Harj did a session at HackerNews London just over two years ago [1]. I don't recall it being an official 'YC Event', just one of the partners who happened to be in the UK at the time and was willing to do it. However, looking at the current list of YC partners [2], I don't see many that might have ties to Europe, such that they'd be visiting much (never mind the imposition of giving up family/holiday time to give a 'work' talk). [1] http://vimeo.com/30800728 http://vimeo.com/30800728 [2] http://ycombinator.com/people.html http://ycombinator.com/people.html
ig1 12y ago
It's worth noting that it's a national holiday in the UK today so many of the local HN regulars are likely to miss this announcement so it might be worth making another one at some point prior to the deadline.
- kintamanimatt 12y ago
  It worked out for us — it's 10am the next day and it's prominently placed, so we won't have missed it!
- samdb 12y ago
  Proper addicts check HN on Christmas day.
AndrewKemendo 12y ago
I am looking to apply to the New York instance, as it is close to where I am located, however I am not exactly sure what someone would get out of going. From the outset it seems as though it would be very valuable to go, but I can't really tell what the tangible benefits are from going. It is clear that I would be able to see world class speakers - but I can also do that online as I did last year when I watched a large portion of the talks posted. So is it also a networking event (obviously all these are that to some degree)? I guess I am just trying to figure out if it is worth taking a day away from my startup, and spend money to get up to NYC to go (assuming I even got in). Can anyone with experience having gone to one of these give some insight? Thanks.
- novaleaf 12y ago
  If you are in the "in" group, there's an invite-only event the night before. That is obviously valuable as you will have been vetted in some way thus draw more attention from vc's etc. Otherwise, if you've seen the videos of previous years, you'll get exactly the same (which is quite good), however I am disappointed in the lack of slides to go with the presenter video recordings. So if you don't have an in for the pre-event, there's not a whole lot to be gained by a physical presence.
  - bra-ket 12y ago
    God, this is obnoxious, why do you need to desperately try to draw attention of the freaking VCs? They will come to you and beg on a doorstep for a precious minute of your time if you have a working business. Talk to users and iterate on your product, don't waste your time listening to god damn inspirational talks and schmoozing with investors.
    - novaleaf 12y ago
      not saying you desperately need to do anything, just stating the only real benefits of a physical presence I see....
workoy 12y ago
Stepping out of your hometown to do a one day workshop is going global ... yay.
Keats 12y ago
Right during the Europython for the London one. That's annoying.

252 points by katm 12y ago

This is great news for us in Europe. Thank you!!!

> We're starting with New York and London, but in the coming years we hope to head to Asia, South America and Africa. I hope they have India on their radar! It would be awesome for the Indian Startup scene to hear all those great speakers live!

ing33k 12y ago
+1 but we can only hope
techaddict009 12y ago
Same here. Eagerly waiting for YC in India. Hope they start soon in India.
bjelkeman-again 12y ago
Just taking an Indian startup and merging it with our organisation, I know there are some fabulous local Bangalore speakers that have great stories to tell. I could fill half a day with just some of my contacts/friends/colleagues.
- ig1 12y ago
  Why not just organize an event yourself then ?
  - bjelkeman-again 12y ago
    Maybe we'll do just that.
prayag 12y ago
I doubt YC would want to enter India market. For all the talent and entrepreneurial spirit that Indians have our startup culture sucks. There are several reasons: 1. The infrastructure: India doesn't have the tech infrastructure. Take the 3 major e-commerce requirements for example: internet access, online payment and delivery. Even the basic internet infrastructure in India sucks. Most people access the internet over their phones because getting home internet is still a pricey affair for most people. A pretty small number of people have access to credit cards and for those who do, processing payment online is a huge pain. The postal infrastructure is also pretty bad. India post is flaky and other courier companies are pretty bad or expensive or both. 2. Government interference: Indian government is inconsistent, heavy-handed and has very little interest in improving the tech sector. Most state governments are downright hostile. 3. Lack of exit opportunities: Indian tech sector lacks big players who can provide the entrepreneurs and investors meaningful exits. The culture of acquisitions as a meaningful way to get market advantage is not there. Your only hope is sell to a American or a European company looking to gain a foothold in the region (rare) or IPO (even rarer). 4. Corruption and general apathy: To get anything meaningful done in India is a struggle. From getting setup as a company to getting a good internet connection. You have to fight corruption and apathy of the organizations (both public and private) you are dealing with. 5. Labor laws: Labor laws in India are a joke. They are a relic of the socialist times and are heavily biased on the side of the employees. Setting up any type of manufacturing or operations in India is a legal nightmare. If that's not enough, the trade unions operate as a mafia and its downright dangerous to deal with them. There is a lot of opportunity in India too but until we overcome the problems that entrepreneurs and investors face, Indian tech startup scene would never take off.
- rdl 12y ago
  I thought the idea of Startup School was to "sell" YC to founders there, along with the implicit idea of moving to SV. Seems like a stronger case for India than a lot of other places (great founders, but fucked up environment, so they have the most relative advantage to moving, especially if they can keep enough connections to India to continue to recruit for remote or relo.)
  - 12y ago

pskittle 12y ago

Thanks for the update! is there a list to get on for other countries?

katm 12y ago
You'd likely hear the news here first. But you can sign up for YC's mailing list: http://eepurl.com/G3Aiz http://eepurl.com/G3Aiz
- pskittle 12y ago
  Just did , Thnx!

HorizonXP 12y ago

I've made the trip out to Startup School for the past few years. I'll still go to the original one, but now that I'm back on the east coast, it'll be nice to hang out in a similar event with a different crowd. Excited!

dalek2point3 12y ago

are videos from previous startup schools available online?

katm 12y ago
Videos from SUS 2012 and 2013 are on YouTube. Playlists for each are here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg/playlists https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg/pla...

tomek_zemla 12y ago

Montreal is a beautiful city to have a Startup School in...

vjvj 12y ago

It seems like it's aimed purely at developers & designers, but from past sessions, this would be useful for any kind of founder. What's the deal for technically minded founders that aren't devs/designers?

amirmc 12y ago
Just apply. The form is pretty simple and will only take a few mins to fill out. There's no need to 'pre-reject' yourself.

mobiplayer 12y ago

Just applied for the London event. For a second I was surprised to see that "going global" meant "New York" until another second later I've read "London", which still isn't global but a step forward. Very happy to see you guys coming around!

higherpurpose 12y ago

UK is too far for most of Europe. Berlin would've been a more optimal choice. UK has pretty poor/insane border policies, too, as we all know by now, and not too eager to visit it.

ardit33 12y ago
Yep. Germany is part of the Schengen accord, and most people from Europe can travel there without a visa (even if they are not part of the EU yet). While England requires visas for most countries. Also, London is not really a tech center anyways. Poor choice.
- amirmc 12y ago
  > "Also, London is not really a tech center anyways. Poor choice." A lot of tech companies have made London their base, including some prominent YC companies. London is so big that it's many things to many people so if you think it's 'not really a tech center', please elaborate why.
  - tim333 12y ago
    For what it's worth entrepreneur.com had London as #7 globally in the Top 20 Startup Ecosystems, the highest in Europe but well behind SV and Tel Aviv. http://www.entrepreneur.com/dbimages/article/the-worlds-20-hottest-startup-scenes.jpg http://www.entrepreneur.com/dbimages/article/the-worlds-20-h...
- hazz 12y ago
  Any citizen of an EU member state can enter the UK without a visa. Additionally, you don't require a visa if you're a citizen of Andorra, Monaco, San Marino or any of over 50 countries on other continents. It's really pretty open, especially for Europeans.
- untog 12y ago
  England (or, more correctly, the UK) does not require a visa for any EU country. And while London isn't a tech center on the level of US cities, it still is one.

markovbling 12y ago

Please come to Cape Town! :)

zck 12y ago

What's the recommendation on applying to multiple Startup Schools? I've been to the last two, but I live in NYC. Do you consider it rude to apply to NYC now, and the Valley one in the fall, and take up two spots?

jl 12y ago
I'd recommend limiting your attendance to one. Our goal with SUS has always been to share a lot of useful and inspirational advice from startup experts. We'd like to keep as many seats open as possible for people who've never been.
- tonyhb 12y ago
  Is it OK to apply to both? I'm living in NY but am from London so I checked both on the off chance that one was full.

dlp211 12y ago

I never new about this, but I would love to go. And they are coming to NY which is awesome because that is where I am, except for about 4 days in June (one of which is the 18th) when I'll of course be in Mountain View. Maybe next year :(.

erikb 12y ago

So yes, I would like to join "SC Europe" but I won't be able to make it to "London". Maybe call it "SC London"?

hershel 12y ago

I wonder , is this a part of an effort to scale YC globally ?

jfoster 12y ago
Could be testing the waters for that. Could also be prep work for a contingency plan if US startup visas don't happen.
- kintamanimatt 12y ago
  I'm under the impression that the UK will grant a Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) visa to founders that have access to £50,000 in VC funding[0]. It would make a lot of sense of YC to open up shop here in the UK. [0] https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/access-to-50000-investment-funds https://www.gov.uk/tier-1-entrepreneur/access-to-50000-inves...

rainboiboi 12y ago

Good to know that I'll be able to make it to the one in London during my trip to Europe. Anyone knows the invitation rate or how they assess the attendees?

graycat 12y ago

Interesting that Silicon Valley believes that going to NYC is "going international"!

kn0thing 12y ago
heh, we're a rather diverse & cosmopolitan city!
- graycat 12y ago
  Never been there, but I heard about warm beer! England did one heck of a job in WWII, a big step up from what they did here in the colonies back in the last of the 1700s! There our George beat your George! At times, it appears that some people in England use the language so well it's almost as if they had invented it. But then they mess up their success with some outrageous errors in spelling!
mobiplayer 12y ago
Watch out mate, I've been voted down into oblivion for saying the same (and adding that with London it's okayish to say "global"). Obviously the idea is to attract European and Middle East attendance in the London event and I think it is a good choice. Pretty much any airport in Europe flies to London and there are plenty of low cost flights (Ryanair, Wizzair, Vueling, Norwegian, Easyjet, etc) as opposed to e.g. Berlin.
- graycat 12y ago
  Yes, a post like mine, intended to be comedy, can be too close to the line of nasty criticism and look mean. But it was fun to take the opportunity to crack a joke suggesting that Silicon Valley is so insular that they regard NYC as going international! That's a lot of air traffic just for warm beer! But, where do people in London live? I mean with all the Russian and Mideast money buying up all the properties, a little one room condo goes for, what, $20 million? And, England is a huge step down from where it was when Di was alive.
misterbwong 12y ago

larrys 12y ago

"Startup School is a free, one-day event where you'll hear stories and practical advice from founders and investors." Not being a fan of rah rah one day type seminars [1] I'd like to know the percentage of people who attend these types of 1 day events and actually go away with something tangible that allows them to create something as opposed to just feeling good or pumped up for a short period. Separately, the act of actually traveling somewhere to attend is a bit different [2] than not traveling or not being able to (for reasons other than money). I wonder how that will change the benefits of the material presented. [1] Forgetting the quality level, which I'm sure is high, it reminds me of real estate or investment seminars that go from town to town. (Of course those also have another ulterior purpose (to sell books or dvd's)). Edit [2] I mean the level of commitment would seem to be higher for someone who actually decides to make a journey and attend to better their future vs. someone who doesn't (not that people who attend locally wouldn't travel of course..)

stingrae 12y ago
I attended the last startup school. I can say it is much more valuable than those investment seminars. I got some interesting/inspirational stories that may push me to become more entrepreneurial than I might otherwise have been. The talks are all on youtube so you can judge for yourself. I particularly enjoyed chase adams talk.
alain94040 12y ago
I see the value as twofold: a) being inspired [by the right kind of founders, not get-rich-quick schemes] and pumped up. It could mean the difference between launching your startup and staying in your comfy day job b) random encounters of other people who are more like you than most people you meet everyday. That also has tremendous value. But you'll never know if you never show up.

melindajb 12y ago

95% of the best founders are outside the US? Really? if that were the case we'd have seen a lot more publicly traded companies of the size of Yahoo, Microsoft, Intel, eBay, etc. If it could have happened, it would have happened. We aren't even tapping the founder set we have in the US proportionally. I applaud the concept of adding diversity to the pool (even-gasp! people with accents--) but I have a sneaking suspicion this is really about finding cheaper labor for the us based companies in the end. What investors are really going to put money into companies in countries in Africa and Asia where property rights, IP, and other laws don't protect companies as well as the US? What about places that demand even more corporate taxes? Color me skeptical.

stingrae 12y ago
I think this statement is just a matter of probability. 95% of the worlds population isn't American.
- melindajb 12y ago
  except that many, many of those folks have no access to running water or even a basic education. China, Africa, India. Let's start there. Now let's remind ourselves that >50% of the US population, specifically women and people of color, have been systematically excluded from the US based system. I'm not saying that the USA is Best, by any means. A lot of people from outside the US work harder, longer and smarter. I welcome them to our community. But the facts remain that the USA is where this phenomenon was originated, born of a complex brew of culture, investment, corporate freedom, property rights, and so on. Many have tried and most have failed to recreate this. I predict this will be more of the same: white male and asian/southeast asian programmers. The idea that YC would choose african founders in africa after systematically excluding african founders in the US just seems impossible to imagine. If A US based African entrepreneur is scary, what's it going to be like when they go to Nairobi? The corruption in those countries is rampant. it's not as easy as it sounds. Again, don't misinterpret my comments as xenophobia or American exceptionalism. They aren't. I'm observing significant challenges. That doesn't mean no one should try, but we all shouldn't applaud this until we actually see it happening outside of predominantly white, western countries.

KeepTalking 12y ago

I appreciate the idea of making startup school a more global event. Frankly speaking for a lot of entrepreneurs making a trip to the bay area can be a substantial dent on their pockets. I attended the previous year's startup school and the experience and outcomes was phenomenal. I hope the quality of speakers continues to maintain the current high standards and provide deep and much needed insight.

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fraXis 12y ago
From the post: "We're hosting our annual Startup School in Mountain View this October as well, but we'll announce those details as we get closer to the date."

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larrys 12y ago

Question for the OP, YC, PG, dang, or anyone else. YC owns both startupschool.com and startupschool.org but you have the .com redirecting to the .org While .org can be (and often is used) for anything it is typically associated with organizations and more specifically non-profits [1]. So I'm curious why you don't simply have this info under the .com since obviously the overwhelming majority of your involvement is on a for profit basis (the companies you fund are almost always for profit) and the school, while free, is really a marketing feeder for YC which is for profit. [1] Source: Me, I've been doing this "domain thing" since the mid 90's.

loceng 12y ago

Wow. This will be interesting to watch. :)

jw2013 12y ago

Yet another respectable move for YC. Hopefully this will spur more global interest in starting a startup. One thing I really appreciate YC in recent year is making the startup school videos online so those can't attend will not miss the talk. Of course those attend will meet tons of amazing people. Bringing in smart and talented people into one room just sparks insightful conversations. First in valley, and now globally. Thanks, YC. That is so unselfish.

wololo_ 12y ago
YC has been undergoing some real good changes and new features ever since Sam came in.
davidw 12y ago
> One thing I really appreciate YC in recent year is making the startup school videos online so those can't attend will not miss the talk. Of course those attend will meet tons of amazing people. Conferences in this day and age are strange beasts. The value of going to listen to someone is, IMO, lower relative to the past because of videos, and, even better, transcripts and notetakers who summarize and eliminate all the blah blah blah. The value of talking to people in person though, is still pretty high, as well as serendipitous meetings and discussions. I'd love to see people experiment with different formats that involve less of the former and maximize the latter.
- grrowl 12y ago
  I go to conferences because the level of passion and excitement in the discussions (and friendly arguments) had there greatly surpasses anything I've come across at a meetup. It's a shame they usually cost almost $1000 or more apiece.

rdl 12y ago

This is a great idea! I wonder how YC could do a "Startup School Asia" -- in general, for a larger percentage of Asian founders, travel between countries in Asia is difficult, compared to European founders (where IMO you could have SS in virtually any major city and be no worse than 50% as good as any other in terms of access; London is great but expensive, Berlin would be my pick.) Singapore is probably the easiest and best choice for Asia, but there are strong arguments for HK/SZ, Beijing, Shanghai, one of ~10 cities in India, etc.

katm 12y ago
There was a lot of debate over whether we should do the first European SUS in London or Berlin. Both cities are great and each has its benefits. We have some awesome YC alum in London (and the YC community there is growing), and we're excited that they'll be joining us in July. We'd love to do something in Berlin as well.
- rdl 12y ago
  IMO the best way for YC to do something to start with in Germany would be to get involved in CCC/31c3. (CCC is a weird combination of IEEE/ACM and hackerspaces, and huge in Germany) A "how to turn your project into a company? should you, and why?" talk by YC (ideally, with European YC company founders, ideally in the product spaces most interesting to CCC hackers) would be awesome. The downside is it's 27-30 DEC in Hamburg.
  - amirmc 12y ago
    In principle there isn't any reason a YC partner couldn't just give a talk if they wanted to. For example Harj did a session at HackerNews London just over two years ago [1]. I don't recall it being an official 'YC Event', just one of the partners who happened to be in the UK at the time and was willing to do it. However, looking at the current list of YC partners [2], I don't see many that might have ties to Europe, such that they'd be visiting much (never mind the imposition of giving up family/holiday time to give a 'work' talk). [1] http://vimeo.com/30800728 http://vimeo.com/30800728 [2] http://ycombinator.com/people.html http://ycombinator.com/people.html

ig1 12y ago

It's worth noting that it's a national holiday in the UK today so many of the local HN regulars are likely to miss this announcement so it might be worth making another one at some point prior to the deadline.

kintamanimatt 12y ago
It worked out for us — it's 10am the next day and it's prominently placed, so we won't have missed it!
samdb 12y ago
Proper addicts check HN on Christmas day.

AndrewKemendo 12y ago

I am looking to apply to the New York instance, as it is close to where I am located, however I am not exactly sure what someone would get out of going. From the outset it seems as though it would be very valuable to go, but I can't really tell what the tangible benefits are from going. It is clear that I would be able to see world class speakers - but I can also do that online as I did last year when I watched a large portion of the talks posted. So is it also a networking event (obviously all these are that to some degree)? I guess I am just trying to figure out if it is worth taking a day away from my startup, and spend money to get up to NYC to go (assuming I even got in). Can anyone with experience having gone to one of these give some insight? Thanks.

novaleaf 12y ago
If you are in the "in" group, there's an invite-only event the night before. That is obviously valuable as you will have been vetted in some way thus draw more attention from vc's etc. Otherwise, if you've seen the videos of previous years, you'll get exactly the same (which is quite good), however I am disappointed in the lack of slides to go with the presenter video recordings. So if you don't have an in for the pre-event, there's not a whole lot to be gained by a physical presence.
- bra-ket 12y ago
  God, this is obnoxious, why do you need to desperately try to draw attention of the freaking VCs? They will come to you and beg on a doorstep for a precious minute of your time if you have a working business. Talk to users and iterate on your product, don't waste your time listening to god damn inspirational talks and schmoozing with investors.
  - novaleaf 12y ago
    not saying you desperately need to do anything, just stating the only real benefits of a physical presence I see....

workoy 12y ago

Stepping out of your hometown to do a one day workshop is going global ... yay.

Keats 12y ago

Right during the Europython for the London one. That's annoying.