sama

83 ms·

451.
by sama 11y ago
It means YC companies will be able to meet with them one on one and get advice. They get a slice of YC equity in return.
452.
by sama 11y ago
I'll come, who can we coordinate with?
453.
Welcome Anne, Ben, and Joe(blog.ycombinator.com)
111 points by sama 11y ago|40 comments
454.
by sama 11y ago
i think the answer is we should do both. the sad truth is that being poor and being black/latino are both disadvantages when it comes to starting a startup in silicon valley. obviously both are overcome-able, but it's an uneven p
455.
by sama 11y ago
Our IRR was over 100% last time I calculated it; those numbers were really off.
456.
by sama 11y ago
This is incredibly off in many ways. Someday we will just release our numbers.
457.
by sama 11y ago
Also, please do not take this as encouragement to start an accelerator. Accelerators on the whole are a terrible business, and we try to be up front about that with everyone who comes to us for advice.
458.
by sama 11y ago
UPower will be able to use thorium.
459.
by sama 11y ago
The great majority of companies we fund, even in recent batches, have effectively zero revenue when we fund them. But certainly more have a product and users than they used to, which is why we're doing the fellowship.
460.
by sama 11y ago
Honestly if we were prepared to take 320 that would have been good. The quality was outstanding.
461.
by sama 11y ago
That part I can agree with!
462.
by sama 11y ago
::shudders:: Tri Alpha is not backed by me. Helion is though, which I think has a much better chance of producing commercial fusion power!
463.
by sama 11y ago
One of those two things.
464.
by sama 11y ago
(By the way, we do teach this stuff at YC. But obviously we only fund a small percentage of the startups in the world.)
465.
by sama 11y ago
That's why I said: "instead of relentlessly focusing on building a great product..." But I think it's probably very difficult to tell a great/bad product from reading a paragraph on TechCrunch.
466.
by sama 11y ago
No, I don't. We try to be up front that they have a high chance of failure. But I truly believe that there is nothing better for their career, technical, and personal growth than doing a startup they're passionate about (we try t
467.
by sama 11y ago
If we are taking the amount of risk I'd like us to be taking, it should be near 0.
468.
by sama 11y ago
Sure--the vast majority of ideas just can't support a multi-billion dollar business. But a lot can, and poor execution is why they don't.
469.
by sama 11y ago
I don't know where that statistic came from but it's nowhere close to accurate. Less than half of the startups we funded in the first 5 years of YC have died. Also, he average valuation of all YC startups through w2014 (i.e. with
470.
by sama 11y ago
There are a lot of things I love about HN, but seeing the hate on ambition, hard work, and potential success is always disappointing.
471.
by sama 11y ago
I would like to someday. Very busy with YC for the foreseeable future.
472.
by sama 11y ago
Advice about how to create a good startup turns out to be more generalizable that I originally thought. The hardest problems--mostly around people--are more similar than they seem.
473.
by sama 11y ago
Money is among the least useful things YC gives. There are a lot of ways to get money; good advice and a strong community are very hard to find.
474.
by sama 11y ago
We will do it whenever we possibly can--our goal is 100%. There have been occasional instances where a company doesn't get us docs until 3 hours before a close or something.
475.
by sama 11y ago
Fair; updated the wording. Thanks.
476.
by sama 11y ago
The math is off here; YC companies have raised more than double that amount.
477.
by sama 11y ago
It is a statement that we believe investing in YC companies at post-YC valuations is still a great deal.
478.
by sama 11y ago
The numbers are pretty small. Pro rata doesn't apply to employee option pool dilution, so it's really probably only 5% of a round. If a VC says they will do an investment if they can own 20% but not 19% of a company, I believe t
479.
by sama 11y ago
Doesn't apply to you--as mentioned in the post, only companies from S14 on.
480.
by sama 11y ago
There's no question that having a low personal burn rate is an advantage when it comes to starting a startup. That said, there are a lot of alternatives. There are more seed funds now than ever before. One of the reasons we did this

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