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301.
by pg 13y ago
We ask all the startups we fund to come to SV Jan through March. Whether they stay afterward depends on whether they want to, and whether the government lets them. Some are making things for their local market (e.g. Glio, in the last batc
302.
by pg 13y ago
Since people have been asking about this on Twitter too: I can't name individual founders or companies. Since there is some news value in the fact that a startup is funded by YC, we leave it to the companies to disclose when it's
303.
by pg 13y ago
Correction: 22. The founder I thought was from Finland is actually from Slovenia.
304.
Map: Income Taxes by US County(brookings.edu)
39 points by pg 13y ago|23 comments
305.
by pg 13y ago
The YCVC safe is uncapped.
306.
Silicon Valley 40 under 40: Garry Tan(bizjournals.com)
114 points by pg 13y ago|38 comments
307.
by pg 13y ago
Yes, investors with preferred stock usually get their money back first. Sometimes they get a multiple, but that's considered overreaching nowadays and the more promising startups never have to agree to that. I suppose that is implicit
308.
by pg 13y ago
No, I've never heard of a funding round with performance targets.
309.
by pg 13y ago
We get diluted. Every investor gets diluted. They may have the right to buy more stock in later rounds to maintain their percentage, but they do have to buy it, at the price of that round.
310.
by pg 13y ago
Almost none of these valuations are the result of investments after Demo Day. These are later rounds, and later rounds converge on an ultimate valuation.
311.
by pg 13y ago
I think what you're saying is that if a company were sold for $40m, employee #1 wouldn't get enough to buy such a house. That would depend on how much stock he or she got and how much he or she was diluted by later investments.
312.
by pg 13y ago
Depends what you mean by subjective. The valuations are not just our internal estimates of the values of these companies. They're the post-money valuations resulting from actual investments, and at these valuations, invariably by ins
313.
by pg 13y ago
We're not intentionally spinning off lifestyle businesses, but that is a common outcome for seed investments. For investors it's a failure, but for the founders it could be good.
314.
by pg 13y ago
Also, there is little correlation between how far along a company is when we fund them and how well they end up doing.
315.
by pg 13y ago
7 of the 42 were acquisitions.
316.
by pg 13y ago
$40m is the threshold, but this is a domain with a pretty steep power law distribution, so their total value is a good deal more than that.
317.
by pg 13y ago
There's a sort of threshold around there. A startup can raise at $20m after Demo Day by looking really promising, but to raise at $40m you usually have to be launched and growing consistently.
318.
by pg 13y ago
Though I wish we could claim credit for discovering that, it's really the thesis of every startup investor.
319.
by pg 13y ago
This all based on a tiny amount of anecdotal evidence: one post and a reply by his friend. It's like a pyramid balanced on its apex. The interesting thing about this article, to me, is what it shows about how much demand there is for
320.
JPMorgan applies for patent on bitcoin-like currency(telegraph.co.uk)
6 points by pg 13y ago|0 comments
321.
by pg 13y ago
By, not to.
322.
by pg 13y ago
The prospect of changing something is often what attracted the founders to the idea in the first place. The most successful founders are not usually in it just for the money. If they were they'd have taken that $50 million acquisitio
323.
Medieval kids’ doodles on birch bark(erikkwakkel.tumblr.com)
7 points by pg 13y ago|0 comments
324.
by pg 13y ago
They may not all care what happens to Snowden, but I think it's unfair to say they're merely showing off. I think these companies are acting on pretty high principle. They have little to gain by issuing such a statement, except
325.
by pg 13y ago
Among other things, this is the tipping point for how Snowden will be viewed. If all these powerful companies agree, in an unprecedented show of unanimity, that this is an important problem, then Snowden is ipso facto a hero for bringing it
326.
by pg 13y ago
A momentum investor is one who wants to invest in companies that are doing well, not one who wants to invest in imitators of companies that are doing well. Investors are herd animals, but they're not the reason mediocre founders copy e
327.
by pg 13y ago
http://paulgraham.com/hackernews.html
328.
by pg 13y ago
True, but there are wannabees in every field where the people who succeed become rich or famous. There's nothing newsworthy about that sort of background radiation lameness. Or more precisely, it's one of the recipes for an Onio
329.
by pg 13y ago
I think it's because startups have been doing well lately. Whenever anything is doing well, its reputation contains a sort of potential energy that can be exploited by someone attacking it. E.g. "I found a mistake in Einstein&#x2
330.
by pg 13y ago
It's a common misconception that a startup describing itself as x of/for y is a sign of lack of originality. A lot of original ideas-- perhaps most good original ideas-- are initially conceived of as x of/for y. Plus it is

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