4 ms·

This was my first time, too, and it was a fantastic event. Visiting the YC offices for the BBQ on Friday evening (really their extension offices/meeting buildin

by Jun8 12y ago

This was my first time, too, and it was a fantastic event. Visiting the YC offices for the BBQ on Friday evening (really their extension offices/meeting building, I think the HQ is down the street) is a religious experience. And, yes, I admit that walking into that orange glory I was as giddy as a high-school groupie (wasn't the only one!). The food was FANTASTIC (both days) and everything was well-planned. And it was all free. Amazing. No event (esp. one this big) is perfect enough to not warrant and suggestions for making it better, though, so to extend this thread, here are a few of my own: 1. +1 for more Office Hours. I would suggest to pepper these in between talks, after a few back to back talks the audience got a bit of an information fatigue, I think. I saw a lot of people on their phones after 4pm. The informational value of the session on Saturdays were huge. IDEABOLT: How about having a web cast of these, I would pay to watch it and I heard other people saying so, too. 2. More interaction with YC'ers and speakers. Maybe this was an absurd expectation with 1,700 people in attendance but I was looking forward to saying hi to pg, Jessica, sama, and the gang during the breaks at SC and at the BBQ but couldn't see them mingling with the crowd (could be that I was too preoccupied with the great food and drinks). Having the speakers available outside to ask questions would be great, too. 3. Better nametags. I think there should be a customizable area on the printed nametags, e.g. I would like to see people's HN nicks (for those who want to put it there, of course). I know/follow quite a few people here but don't know their names, this would have been helpful in saying hi to these folks. Also I saw a lot of people adding information by pen to their nametags about their startup, it would be nice to be able to do this at the signup web page, too. Now that I think about why not even include a NFC tag with more personal information, company website, etc. This would solve the problem of not remembering the names of the many people you chat with during the event. 4. Startup story booths. Picture booths are now popular at parties. Why not set up one which, when you enter your registration code, will tape you for 30secs. You can use this time to pitch your idea/company. These can then be posted online, voted on, etc. All in all it was a great event to attend!

grey-area 12y ago
Startup story booths. Great idea, +1 to that... I went to the last event in London and the thing I felt was missing most was social interaction between attendees who wouldn't otherwise meet and hearing stories of other startups not (yet) in YC. This was mostly down to the attendees, which if you didn't know anyone else could be a bit intimidating. It'd be nice to see a few more social elements to encourage mingling - for example an open mic area to talk about your startup and solicit advice, discussion groups (or office hours) for different startup categories (travel etc) in smaller rooms so that people with similar interests could gather, or perhaps some kind of mini hackathons lasting 15 minutes on different subjects. Anything that lets people interact in a non-forced way. People mingled at the drinks at the end to some extent, however that was pretty random I felt more group interaction earlier on would have helped break the ice a little more rather than simply leaving that to drinks etc. and my only regret about the event was that I didn't speak to more people. I would suggest to pepper these in between talks, after a few back to back talks the audience got a bit of an information fatigue, I think Definitely - the talks were all in contiguous blocks, which meant by the end it was difficult to take it all in, though in London I loved Paul Buchheit near the end - he started to guffaws from some kids in front of me because of his gnomic delivery and by the end had them rapt. They do at least have the ones from the event online. More office hours between talks would be great - perhaps each speaker could give an office hours open to the floor? Smaller talks to smaller groups (perhaps in parallel) would also work wonderfully, as having such a large audience makes the dynamic very different when it comes to questions and even for the speakers themselves. There are of course issues with that in terms of money and it's already a free event. More interaction with YC'ers and speakers. I don't think this is really possible, given the number of people in attendance. At the event in London speakers were mingling but were mobbed by hopefuls standing in rings around them and it all became a little odd and celebrity-focused, which I don't think was the intention. Perhaps some people find this useful, but I wasn't sure it added much given the ratio of speakers to attendees. Great events though and cheers to YC for putting them on.

by Jun8 12y ago

grey-area 12y ago

Startup story booths. Great idea, +1 to that... I went to the last event in London and the thing I felt was missing most was social interaction between attendees who wouldn't otherwise meet and hearing stories of other startups not (yet) in YC. This was mostly down to the attendees, which if you didn't know anyone else could be a bit intimidating. It'd be nice to see a few more social elements to encourage mingling - for example an open mic area to talk about your startup and solicit advice, discussion groups (or office hours) for different startup categories (travel etc) in smaller rooms so that people with similar interests could gather, or perhaps some kind of mini hackathons lasting 15 minutes on different subjects. Anything that lets people interact in a non-forced way. People mingled at the drinks at the end to some extent, however that was pretty random I felt more group interaction earlier on would have helped break the ice a little more rather than simply leaving that to drinks etc. and my only regret about the event was that I didn't speak to more people. I would suggest to pepper these in between talks, after a few back to back talks the audience got a bit of an information fatigue, I think Definitely - the talks were all in contiguous blocks, which meant by the end it was difficult to take it all in, though in London I loved Paul Buchheit near the end - he started to guffaws from some kids in front of me because of his gnomic delivery and by the end had them rapt. They do at least have the ones from the event online. More office hours between talks would be great - perhaps each speaker could give an office hours open to the floor? Smaller talks to smaller groups (perhaps in parallel) would also work wonderfully, as having such a large audience makes the dynamic very different when it comes to questions and even for the speakers themselves. There are of course issues with that in terms of money and it's already a free event. More interaction with YC'ers and speakers. I don't think this is really possible, given the number of people in attendance. At the event in London speakers were mingling but were mobbed by hopefuls standing in rings around them and it all became a little odd and celebrity-focused, which I don't think was the intention. Perhaps some people find this useful, but I wasn't sure it added much given the ratio of speakers to attendees. Great events though and cheers to YC for putting them on.