gyro_robo

9 ms·

61.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
You actually thought all the startups you funded could make money as independent companies, at the time you funded them? I thought your model was a kind of a "throw it at the wall and see what sticks" approach. Then triage the promising
62.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
If you didn't want to be acquired, you wouldn't be in acquisition talks. You'd decline, if approached. Hence if you are in acquisition talks, the impression you are going to give is that you want to be acquired. Even if you pretend you d
63.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Exactly which of the YC companies can realistically go public? And who's going to sink that kind of money into them? You said success 98% of the time means getting bought, which means you want them to get bought, and invest on that basis
64.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
> I don't know why everyone seems to think we encourage founders to sell early I didn't say "sell early". I'm talking about getting bought. I've read about how other YC-backed startups got early acquisition offers but didn't take th
65.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
I don't know how if you've existed for only a few months and are in acquisition talks you aren't going to give the impression that you want to get bought.
66.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
"Flip" means to get rid of it. To the contrary, founders may well be in a hurry to scale UP, which you certainly can do when acquired by the right company, like Google (as you know). And " maybe we'll sell"? Who are "they" kidding?
67.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Playing hard-to-get can also mean you don't get it.
68.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Try harder.
69.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
My impression is that everyone wants to get bought. Even Google tried to get bought first. It's quite possible PG was misquoted -- news reports do that all the time . I'm not going to try to guess what he "really" meant in this article w
70.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Good cite. "If 98% of the time success means getting bought, why not be open about it? If 98% of the time you're doing product development on spec for some big company, why not think of that as your task?" -- http://www.paulgraham.com/ide
71.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Getting bought is the #1 exit strategy. Even Viaweb got bought. Hardly anyone is going public these days, so that means investors want you to get bought. "Venture investors are driven by exit strategies. [...] Now the default exit strat
72.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
"Stick to your knitting," says Paul Graham, a founding partner of Y Combinator, the startup factory that funded Zenter. "The way to get acquired really fast is to not focus on it. If people get the impression that you want to get bought,
73.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
The OP was noise. That's the point of my original response.
74.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Us rejects.
75.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
I suggest you re-read the OP. And it's a pretty ironic thing in a start-up community to say "we don't value cleverness"!
76.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
You need a tagline like, "Show Some Balls"
77.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
That's a great observation, and I think more people should upmod your comment.
78.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
One might as well equivalently say that younger people are missing out on life (relationships, kids, etc.) by being preoccupied with their online networks. I think both observations are missing the point that younger and older people have
79.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Pretty ironic considering just about everyone here is a programmer, and it's run by someone famous for being a programmer and who is a language designer.
80.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Of course you could do something else more productive with that same amount of time, which would be even more useful.
81.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Something I've noticed is you get better at learning as you age. That is, learning is itself a skill, and you get more efficient with it. There is always an opportunity cost to everything you do, so you can never get all the benefits
82.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Wow, I didn't think anyone on here would downmod that sentiment.
83.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Sure, as long as I don't have to pay it.
84.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
A keypad is important because so many girls are into texting.
85.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Change philosophy to "when it's done".
86.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
It sure used to, but since the HD-DVD fiasco, Reddit seems to have picked up a large number of ex-Digg users.
87.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
In other YC news, the edit comment links seem to have disappeared. Edit: For older comments anyway!
88.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
The lesson here is complexity != commercial viability.
89.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Don't forget http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/browse_frm/thread/88a36fb2c239a44e/89405e202723a377
90.
by gyro_robo 19y ago
Nobody should ever get a veto over your dreams and aspirations.

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