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The world would benefit much more from him starting a worthy alternative to YC. Few others are in a position to do so. He probably thinks there would be no prof
by staunch 12y ago
The world would benefit much more from him starting a worthy alternative to YC. Few others are in a position to do so. He probably thinks there would be no profit in competing against what he sees as YC's monopoly.
- ethnomusicolog 12y agoI agree with you and I made a provocative comment I knew was going to be downvoted. But at least I expected some people to voice a contratrian opinion. Thank you for you straightness
- drawkbox 12y agoWell, as above, he did say "choose an idea that avoids competition at all costs" and joined YC thus avoiding competition by joining. PG's "don't worry about competition at all" rings true by bringing Thiel in and allowing a competitor in a way see how a top performing product runs on the inside. Who says Thiel isn't just gaining more knowledge to start another one later, then YC and Thiel can have a federation.
- r0naa 12y ago> Well, as above, he did say "choose an idea that avoids competition at all costs" and joined YC thus avoiding competition by joining. Following your reasoning there should be no tech startups and everyone should join Google, Facebook regardless of the particularly of each business/industry. Not all incubators/accelerators are targeting the same demographics. Thiel could create one that is completely orthogonal to what YC is doing as of today.
- davidw 12y agoTechstars seems to be quietly doing well by doing their own thing, which includes a surprising amount of geographic diversity. And of course, for some kinds of businesses, one of the real competitors to seed funding is bootstrapping.
- puranjay 12y agoAny word on 500 Startups, because I'm seriously considering applying to them.
- higherpurpose 12y agoI'd like to see an YC competitor that focuses much more on Europe with a focus on Africa as well.
- davidw 12y agoEurope is tough for a lot of reasons. I think Techstars has at least London, maybe Berlin? Each country tends to have their own stuff.
- dredmorbius 12y agoInteresting comment particularly given Thiel's own views on monopolies.