4 ms·

I think if your in the area or you know tons of people going; it might be worth going. I would't go out of my way to attend. I went to the one in NYC few year

by pptr1 12y ago

I think if your in the area or you know tons of people going; it might be worth going. I would't go out of my way to attend. I went to the one in NYC few years back and it was not a good experience for me. I traveled from Boston and was super excited. Just a big let down. PG was like a celebrity their. Impossible to get in anything with him. Same with other famous founders. Basically everyone was just circling and try to figure out who to talk to next. Was super awkward. My takeaways from NYC: 1.) PG looks exactly like his pics and acts the same. It pretty hard to get to talk to him (due to all the people clamoring for his attention). 2.) Some famous YC alum are stuck up. Never met anyone as stuck up as the non-technical reddit co-founder. 3.) Justin Kan is the nicest person. Pure respect for him. 4.) In NYC at least hordes of MBA trolling looking for "technical cofounders". Met a really rude person who actually introduced himself as having an MBA from Harvard. San Francisco might be different.

leelin 12y ago
> 2.) Some famous YC alum are stuck up. Never met anyone as stuck up as the non-technical reddit co-founder. I highly disagree. The "non-technical reddit co-founder" is both humble and awesome -- but if it's the same event I'm thinking, you might have misinterpreted his joke about serving orange-colored kool aid at the event. Also, June 2014 was the first NYC Startup School. You might be talking about the "YC in NYC" event in September 2011. That was more of a talk by PG about how NYC had overtaken Boston as a clear #2 startup hub, followed by what makes a startup hub work (basically startup and investor density, which creates more chance encounters). Other founders spoke, but those were hiring pitches, not really the same kind of advice talks you get at startup school.
- pptr1 12y ago
  Ok thanks for clarifying the "YC in NYC". You are correct. Though it is different event than the 2011 "YC in NYC". I hope you guys have worked out the logistics so attendees who have really went out of their way to be there can benefit in some way; different than just the talks which they can watch online. I hope more people get benefits out of it.
ajiang 12y ago
> 2.) Some famous YC alum are stuck up. Never met anyone as stuck up as the non-technical reddit co-founder. Had to speak up on this. The non-technical reddit co-founder is one of the most helpful, humble, and down-to-earth person I've ever met. He does so much for so many people, so it's totally possible that he wasn't able to be helpful during the chaos of that particular event, but I wanted to tell you my experience having met him on multiple occasions.
nmb 12y ago
Met Justin Kan at one of these events too. Agreed, dude is super down-to-earth and very nice. Was surprised to learn how much coding he still does for his companies.
simonswords82 12y ago
I attended the SF startup school at the end of 2013 and had a similar experience but perhaps not quite so negative: 1) There's seemingly no access to the speakers outside of listening to what they have to say from a stage. The speakers were really great, and very interesting, but it's a shame I couldn't speak with one or two of them 2) Office hours with PG was incredibly entertaining, but I didn't take much away from it 3) I (perhaps naively) thought I'd be surrounded by people I could learn from so I made a point of talking to as many people as possible. Every single person I took the opportunity to engage with was looking for an idea/funding/technical co-founder blah blah blah. The good news is that I left feeling like our little app http://www.staffsquared.com http://www.staffsquared.com was doing really rather well given we'd bootstrapped it. The bad news is that I didn't get much in the way of advice or new connections from the day. Perhaps the clue is in the name - startup school, 90% of the people I spoke with had just left college/Uni and were trying to find a pathway in to startups. I'd definitely recommend the Startup School if you like one or more of the speakers. I left feeling energised and slightly wiser from the talks I listened to. I didn't stick around for the big one, Zuckerburg, because I felt like I'd sat and listened enough for one day...your mileage will definitely vary.

by pptr1 12y ago

leelin 12y ago

> 2.) Some famous YC alum are stuck up. Never met anyone as stuck up as the non-technical reddit co-founder. I highly disagree. The "non-technical reddit co-founder" is both humble and awesome -- but if it's the same event I'm thinking, you might have misinterpreted his joke about serving orange-colored kool aid at the event. Also, June 2014 was the first NYC Startup School. You might be talking about the "YC in NYC" event in September 2011. That was more of a talk by PG about how NYC had overtaken Boston as a clear #2 startup hub, followed by what makes a startup hub work (basically startup and investor density, which creates more chance encounters). Other founders spoke, but those were hiring pitches, not really the same kind of advice talks you get at startup school.

pptr1 12y ago
Ok thanks for clarifying the "YC in NYC". You are correct. Though it is different event than the 2011 "YC in NYC". I hope you guys have worked out the logistics so attendees who have really went out of their way to be there can benefit in some way; different than just the talks which they can watch online. I hope more people get benefits out of it.

ajiang 12y ago

> 2.) Some famous YC alum are stuck up. Never met anyone as stuck up as the non-technical reddit co-founder. Had to speak up on this. The non-technical reddit co-founder is one of the most helpful, humble, and down-to-earth person I've ever met. He does so much for so many people, so it's totally possible that he wasn't able to be helpful during the chaos of that particular event, but I wanted to tell you my experience having met him on multiple occasions.

nmb 12y ago

Met Justin Kan at one of these events too. Agreed, dude is super down-to-earth and very nice. Was surprised to learn how much coding he still does for his companies.

simonswords82 12y ago

I attended the SF startup school at the end of 2013 and had a similar experience but perhaps not quite so negative: 1) There's seemingly no access to the speakers outside of listening to what they have to say from a stage. The speakers were really great, and very interesting, but it's a shame I couldn't speak with one or two of them 2) Office hours with PG was incredibly entertaining, but I didn't take much away from it 3) I (perhaps naively) thought I'd be surrounded by people I could learn from so I made a point of talking to as many people as possible. Every single person I took the opportunity to engage with was looking for an idea/funding/technical co-founder blah blah blah. The good news is that I left feeling like our little app http://www.staffsquared.com http://www.staffsquared.com was doing really rather well given we'd bootstrapped it. The bad news is that I didn't get much in the way of advice or new connections from the day. Perhaps the clue is in the name - startup school, 90% of the people I spoke with had just left college/Uni and were trying to find a pathway in to startups. I'd definitely recommend the Startup School if you like one or more of the speakers. I left feeling energised and slightly wiser from the talks I listened to. I didn't stick around for the big one, Zuckerburg, because I felt like I'd sat and listened enough for one day...your mileage will definitely vary.