davemc500hats

9 ms·

31.
by davemc500hats 14y ago
you guys feel free to mock 9GAG, 500, & YC. 9GAG has grown to tens of millions of users and billions of page views per month in less than 2 years. the company was generating single-digit millions with a team of less than 10 people. in s
32.
by davemc500hats 14y ago
while there are recent examples of large-scale adoption of enterprise solutions (Yammer, Box), most enterprise sw requires well-trained expensive people to do direct sales. this is certainly doable with the right people, but they are not in
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
"some" in this case was Groupon & Zynga, not Pinterest or Instagram. while perhaps not the best cases of getting to sustainable profitability, nevertheless both Groupon & Zynga did phenomenally well in customer acquisition and reven
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
sure that's fine. altho we'd like to learn more about you too :)
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
we prefer teams, but we do accept solo founders occasionally... if yer friggin' awesome.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
we usually prefer you have: 1) a functional prototype 1.1) or you've built products w/ previous traction 2) a team which includes one engineer at a minimum 2.1) ideally + designer + cust acquisition), and 3) some # of users (not y
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
yeah, sorry about that... we'll let the folks at AngelList know. agreed it's kind of non-obvious.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
of course i realize YC appreciates hustlers as well as hackers, however don't you think there's some truth to YC being exemplified by the "hacker" way? i certainly meant that in a complimentary way. in any case, didn't mean to mis-character
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
>>analogy to sports players is confusing and unnecessary >>though it probably attracts more views. umm... you aren't in marketing, are you? "probably attracts more views" -> not confusing, necessary also: yeah, of course
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
the baseball / moneyball metaphor was important. i know that some folks who don't know baseball won't get it, but the references because of the book & movie were somewhat essential.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
AI might not have a traditional view of "PRACTICE" but i bet he put in a helluva lotta time shooting hoops, one way or another. besides, not all metaphors have to work perfectly... it's the story that counts.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
there's no misfortune if we have black swans. and we probably already did find one with 9GAG last summer. the point i was making was about whether that's the focus, or simply a result.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
no, that wasn't it at all.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
really hope our branding is more "intuitive artists" than "the hippies"... but yeah, that's probably directionally correct. i prefer band geeks vs. chess nerds, as stated in the piece.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
the Avis "we try harder" thing has always been a favorite of mine... i guess i always do feel like being the underdog makes me work harder. anyway, i'm sure most folks at YC feel like they try harder too. probably we're more similar there t
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
yes, did know that & included it in the original draft.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
ivan: i don't think i was creating or enjoying controversy. there's no controversy in clarifying differences between 500 & YC, that's just simple transparency. my goal was to clarify and differentiate 500 in the eyes of potential future
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
Paul, re: your comment "all other things being equal" -- wouldn't you agree that some investors are not at all equal to others? (YC itself included) seems that GV resources are worth something more than other investors checks by themselves.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
perhaps, but also useful information... much better that the person said it, rather than think it and not let her know. at least now she has information to process about that pattern of interaction behavior.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
perhaps true, but the ability to deliver that statement forcefully & confidently is much easier for most people if it's actually TRUE. while some can pull it off whether or not the reality matches the statement, most of us are more li
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
agreed, difficult for new entrants to come in at this point... that's also what people told me 2 years ago, and we carved out our niche ok. so not impossible, just challenging.
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
we are still allocated 50-25-25 valley-restofUS-RestOfWorld, so at the moment 1/2 our deals are in California. but due to prices being somewhat overvalued here, as well as comparatively inexpensive in other places, along with potential for
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
ilya, it's great to have folks like you in 500 and YC :)
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
btw, the link to that discussion between me & eric is here: http://www.udemy.com/lean-startup-sxsw-2012-videos-and-prese...
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
if you listen to the conversation between me & eric in the first talk of the conf, i think you'll find we discuss the issues mentioned below like: - is lean startup really a "proven" discipline? - are there "wantrepreneurs" getting cult
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
ok, so I lied... we did have to kill a few chihuahuas to get this deal done. but it was quick and merciful. #RIP
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by davemc500hats 14y ago
nope that was me, not svbtle. just occasional change of pace, maybe give the trolls less to blather on about (altho seems like i got plenty of shit for using too much pink). personally, i think proper grammar is mostly a waste of time... as
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by davemc500hats 15y ago
1) we are quite clear with our companies that we are aligned in the goal that they need to perform to receive future funding from 500 (as well as others) 2) 500 is usually a minority investor in following rounds, so decisions still likely m
59.
by davemc500hats 15y ago
due diligence is much better in the rear-view mirror, IMHO. our 2nd check is a great confirmation of whether we were right or not... happens ~20-30% of time after 1st check. "500 due diligence = mentor filters + quick 1st check, followed by
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by davemc500hats 15y ago
LOL. 500 Bazillion Startups, yo.

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