4 ms·

Having been a fairly active member of HN, I've noticed the following trends about companies they choose to invest. Companies generally get bucketed into the fol

by mbesto 12y ago

Having been a fairly active member of HN, I've noticed the following trends about companies they choose to invest. Companies generally get bucketed into the following: 1. Company did something relatively novel with regards to growth hacking and/or digital hustling ("these guys got 10,000 users in a day") 2. Company/founder built an MVP with little technology experience, but got massive demand by using something off the shelf and wants to scale it with technology ("this girl sold these items using wufoo as an e-commerce and wants to scale now") 3. Company/founder did something important in tech before (sold a company) or had a role in a company people from YC alumni generally have an affinity for ("this guy was the head of marketing for X company, it grew to 100 million users and sold to Google for X million") 4. Founders are from MIT/Stanford/etc and did something cool while they were there ("AngelList says 'TEAM = STANFORD' and one of the founders built a robot") 5. Founders have some sort of extensive domain knowledge in a market that can be a billion dollar business (platform/data play) ("No one is building farm tech ($XXbil industry), but these 6 guys from Iowa are") 6. Company/founders don't fully meet 1-5, but have inklings of one or more and have the potential for a billion dollar business ("Smart scrappy guys who are building the next big messaging app") There are of course exceptions to all of this, but the general theme is that (1) the business model doesn't necessarily matter (they'll figure it out, all 6 situations make these individuals smart) and (2) the makeup of the team matters more than anything else. I'd put PH in bucket number 1.

dennybritz 12y ago
I'd put PH into a 7th bucket: This will never be a big business, but it's a useful tool for other YC companies and we just made a deal to get preferential treatment. Ironically YC (or at least PG) emphasizes how they want to back companies with a chance of becoming >$1B businesses. It's somewhat sad to see this violated in such obvious ways. Ryan is a talented guy and I've been reading his stuff way before he started working on PH. I'm sure he'll find a way to turn this into a nice business, maybe even pivot to something that has a much larger market size. However, I agree with the overall sentiment of this thread. PH is a tool from SV insiders to SV insiders, sending exactly the wrong message of what types of products people applying to YC should be working on.
- rrhoover 12y ago
  There's a big opportunity far beyond the relatively niche startup community we've gained traction in. I respect your skepticism and frankly I'm encouraged by these doubts. Product Hunt is early and will change. WRT to preferential treatment, YC doesn't get special benefits and looking back on the past several months, you'll find products from other accelerators like 500 Startups, TechStars, etc. as well side projects from non-SV folks reaching the top of the board.
  - dennybritz 12y ago
    No doubt there are opportunities beyond the niche startup community. Some opportunities I see are in B2B sales lead generation, M&A deal sourcing, etc. However, all of the more obvious "big" opportunities require significant changes and the result would no longer resemble the current ProductHunt in any way. Arguing that these are a natural extensions of the current product is quite far fetched. I won't comment on YC companies not getting any benefits out of PH. Your argument that "there are also other products" isn't a real argument. Again, I have nothing against PH. It looks great, I'm checking it regularly and I enjoy using it. Like others I just don't quite see how it fits into the investment thesis of backing potential billion dollar companies.
    - JVIDEL 12y ago
      TBH I don't see the point of PH when there are sites like AlternativeTo to name one of many that do the same thing and not just with web and mobile apps. The way I see it PH is just a trendier (and barebones) version of these other comparison sites that happens to be in the same room with the guys making the products that are going to be compared. That's a conflict of interest, there's no other way to say it, and I wouldn't take the opinions on PH as seriously as those from a 3rd party, same way I don't get a loan from a bank because of the ads they run but because of the rating unbiased consumer watchgroups give them.

by mbesto 12y ago

dennybritz 12y ago

I'd put PH into a 7th bucket: This will never be a big business, but it's a useful tool for other YC companies and we just made a deal to get preferential treatment. Ironically YC (or at least PG) emphasizes how they want to back companies with a chance of becoming >$1B businesses. It's somewhat sad to see this violated in such obvious ways. Ryan is a talented guy and I've been reading his stuff way before he started working on PH. I'm sure he'll find a way to turn this into a nice business, maybe even pivot to something that has a much larger market size. However, I agree with the overall sentiment of this thread. PH is a tool from SV insiders to SV insiders, sending exactly the wrong message of what types of products people applying to YC should be working on.

rrhoover 12y ago
There's a big opportunity far beyond the relatively niche startup community we've gained traction in. I respect your skepticism and frankly I'm encouraged by these doubts. Product Hunt is early and will change. WRT to preferential treatment, YC doesn't get special benefits and looking back on the past several months, you'll find products from other accelerators like 500 Startups, TechStars, etc. as well side projects from non-SV folks reaching the top of the board.
- dennybritz 12y ago
  No doubt there are opportunities beyond the niche startup community. Some opportunities I see are in B2B sales lead generation, M&A deal sourcing, etc. However, all of the more obvious "big" opportunities require significant changes and the result would no longer resemble the current ProductHunt in any way. Arguing that these are a natural extensions of the current product is quite far fetched. I won't comment on YC companies not getting any benefits out of PH. Your argument that "there are also other products" isn't a real argument. Again, I have nothing against PH. It looks great, I'm checking it regularly and I enjoy using it. Like others I just don't quite see how it fits into the investment thesis of backing potential billion dollar companies.
  - JVIDEL 12y ago
    TBH I don't see the point of PH when there are sites like AlternativeTo to name one of many that do the same thing and not just with web and mobile apps. The way I see it PH is just a trendier (and barebones) version of these other comparison sites that happens to be in the same room with the guys making the products that are going to be compared. That's a conflict of interest, there's no other way to say it, and I wouldn't take the opinions on PH as seriously as those from a 3rd party, same way I don't get a loan from a bank because of the ads they run but because of the rating unbiased consumer watchgroups give them.