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3,900 | comment | pixcavator | 2007-03-13T16:20:27 | null | What I meant is that you should base your decisions on your own situation, not statistics. You are likely to end up average anyway - that's the nature of statistics. If you don't, that shouldn't bother you.. | null | null | 3,842 | 3,629 | null | null | null | null |
3,901 | comment | pg | 2007-03-13T16:25:46 | null | Going back to school is not identical with giving up. Some founders go back to school and keep working on the startup while there. However, those do so much worse than the people who work on the startup full-time that going back to school seems, in practice, not too far removed from a death sentence for a startup.<p>Off the top of my head, I'd guess we've had about 8 startups where the founders went back to school. It doesn't only happen with summer batches. Founders from winter batches do it too.<p>Usually the reason is that the startup isn't doing very well. However, that judgement depends a lot on how determined the founders are. One reason we now shy away from funding people still in school is that they often unconsciously want the startup to fail, because the idea of dropping out frightens them.<p>A lot of startups look bad after 3 months. Someone who's out of school and has to make it work or get a job in a cubicle will say "don't worry, we'll figure out how to make it successful." | null | null | 3,891 | 3,891 | null | [
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3,902 | comment | joshwa | 2007-03-13T16:32:36 | null | Please, when visiting already-submitted-stories via the bookmarklet, DON'T consider that an upvote. I'm just using it to find the comment thread. | null | null | 363 | 363 | null | [
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3,903 | comment | joshwa | 2007-03-13T16:33:05 | null | To PG: Please, when visiting already-submitted-stories via the bookmarklet, DON'T consider that an upvote. I'm just using it to find the comment thread. | null | null | 2,929 | 2,929 | null | null | null | null |
3,904 | comment | danielha | 2007-03-13T16:34:22 | null | There will invariably be those who don't see the success they set out for, and they fall back to their original path. <p>That's why a founder's commitment is so critical. When your one plan is to become a startup founder, regardless of school or any other factors, you will do your damndest to make something of value and succeed. It's part _doing_ it better than the next guy and _wanting_ it more than the next guy. | null | null | 3,891 | 3,891 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,905 | comment | stokelake | 2007-03-13T16:35:21 | null | excellent site, this will save me loads of time. | null | null | 3,124 | 3,124 | null | null | null | null |
3,906 | comment | danielha | 2007-03-13T16:38:03 | null | Were there any of the (approx.) 8 groups where you felt: "These guys are really close to having something. It's a huge mistake for them not to continue pursuing this."? | null | null | 3,901 | 3,891 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,907 | comment | JMiao | 2007-03-13T16:39:06 | null | Guy gave a fantastic talk at Stanford a few weeks ago. I'll admit that I was initially skeptical given the many posts that have appeared on the web questioning his track record. In response Valleywag's sarcastically-titled "Guy's Golden Touch," Guy had this to say:<p>"It's not really Guy's golden touch. It's more like 'anything golden, Guy touches.'"<p>In all seriousness, though, my first-hand experience with Guy has given me a lot of confidence in him as a VC. He's frank about his own professional experiences, going as far as to count his time at Apple a "failure" because Apple never realized their initial goal of dominating the personal computer business.<p>I understand how track record plays a role in fundraising, but too many people overestimate a VC's track record and underestimate personal attention/advice. This isn't to say that the big VCs aren't good -- one of Sequoia's partners gave me great advice when I was a sophomore in college -- but I think that there is a false pretense amongst startups that raising money from big-name investors is somehow in itself a measure of success (it's like being proud of your mortgage). | null | null | 3,896 | 3,857 | null | [
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3,908 | comment | JoeEntrepreneur | 2007-03-13T16:50:50 | null | LinkedIn
| null | null | 3,830 | 3,830 | null | null | null | null |
3,909 | comment | jamongkad | 2007-03-13T16:59:59 | null | I guess it really depends on how hungry you are and how much you believe in your product. I'm only 24 and still in school as of the moment, yet I'm more than willing to leave school in order to initiate my start up. Come to think of it, I'm willing to travel half the world just to get advice and connections from YC. | null | null | 3,891 | 3,891 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,910 | story | danielha | 2007-03-13T17:01:04 | Field Studies: The Best Tool to Discover User Needs | null | http://www.uie.com/articles/field_studies/ | 1 | null | 3,910 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,911 | comment | jamongkad | 2007-03-13T17:02:44 | null | True but it's better to development a actual business model than rely solely on Ad revenue. | null | null | 3,788 | 3,788 | null | null | null | null |
3,912 | comment | pg | 2007-03-13T17:06:21 | null | Yes, but that is not surprising, because the biggest predictor of success is determination. In startups, merely being determined to succeed tends to make it so, if you're reasonably smart and flexible.<p>The Kikos are the only startup so far that has died of causes not of their own making. As everyone will soon realize when they launch justin.tv, they did not fail because of lack of balls. | null | null | 3,906 | 3,891 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,913 | comment | sharpshoot | 2007-03-13T17:08:15 | null | Where are you based jamonklad? | null | null | 3,909 | 3,891 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,914 | story | juwo | 2007-03-13T17:09:58 | Founder At Work :) | null | http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201-2:2%20;&version=45; | 3 | null | 3,914 | 1 | [
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] | null | null |
3,915 | story | far33d | 2007-03-13T17:11:01 | SXSW: The Figures Behind The Top Web Apps | null | http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/sxsw_the_figures_behind_top_web_apps.php | 2 | null | 3,915 | 0 | [
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] | null | true |
3,916 | story | farmer | 2007-03-13T17:12:19 | 8 Things Intelligent People, Geeks and Nerds Need To Work Happily | null | http://nomadishere.com/2007/03/12/a-note-to-employers-8-things-intelligent-people-geeks-and-nerds-need-to-work-happy/ | 3 | null | 3,916 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,917 | comment | farmer | 2007-03-13T17:13:08 | null | dupe; currently on the front page | null | null | 3,915 | 3,915 | null | null | null | null |
3,918 | comment | juwo | 2007-03-13T17:13:53 | null | "(it's like being proud of your mortgage)."<p>that was funny! | null | null | 3,907 | 3,857 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,919 | story | jamongkad | 2007-03-13T17:15:17 | Entrepreneur's life is a lonely one.... | null | http://james.cooley.ie/2006/09/15/the_entrepreneurs_life_is_a_lonely_one.html | 1 | null | 3,919 | 4 | [
3943,
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] | null | null |
3,920 | comment | sharpshoot | 2007-03-13T17:18:14 | null | Ahh Harj knows that there were other startups in the neighbourhood ;) what he really means is to be in an environment where the density of people who are better at starting companies than you are is greater. This is certainly what all London based young internet entrepreneurs crave. Undoubtedly SV trumps London esp when one considers the 18-25 aged entrepreneur bracket. | null | null | 3,758 | 3,542 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,921 | story | pg | 2007-03-13T17:22:57 | Photos of a YC dinner happening | null | http://www.flickr.com/photos/socialmoth/sets/72157594561460322/ | 16 | null | 3,921 | 14 | [
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3,922 | comment | danw | 2007-03-13T17:23:24 | null | Is there a mirror of the economist article out there for us non subscribers? | null | null | 3,919 | 3,919 | null | null | null | null |
3,923 | comment | pg | 2007-03-13T17:26:50 | null | There are few photos of YC dinners. Usually we'd frown on it because it would be distracting. But we wanted some new images for our site, so we asked one of the founders who was a good photographer to take some. The speaker that week was Ron Conway. We also had Steven Levy and Paul Buchheit visiting. | null | null | 3,921 | 3,921 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,924 | comment | far33d | 2007-03-13T17:27:53 | null | While, in dollars, founder time and equity don't cost anything, in real terms, they do. Unfortunately, even in public companies, there isn't a good way to really account for these numbers... So I believe the bigger numbers (Mobissimo, Wesabe) are more indicative of the "real" costs of starting a business. <p>For instance, if I were start and self-fund a new business, the development and design costs would be zero, but I'd be paying rent, eating food, paying for gas, etc etc, since I'd be working full time. For a real account of the overall costs, I'd have to take those expenses as "salary" in my overall cost evaluation.
| null | null | 3,809 | 3,809 | null | [
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3,925 | comment | far33d | 2007-03-13T17:29:17 | null | I meant for the labor components of the "build", not maintenance, costs. | null | null | 3,809 | 3,809 | null | null | null | null |
3,926 | story | mattculbreth | 2007-03-13T17:31:43 | Good post with metrics on Customer Support for a micro ISV | null | http://microisvjournal.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/how-much-time-a-uisv-spends-on-customer-support/ | 1 | null | 3,926 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,927 | comment | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T17:33:34 | null | Startups that execute with the end in mind do much better than those that code with ambiguity. Unfortunately, I feel that YC might be encouraging startups to not strategically plan ahead due to the emphasis put on "The original idea is not important because it will change anyway". Yes, ideas do change, but that does not give us the excuse not to make a long term plan before they do.<p>Startups should always have a week long tactical plan and a rough strategic goal stretched upto three months. <p>"If you don't know where you're going, you will end up somewhere else." | null | null | 3,912 | 3,891 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,928 | comment | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T17:41:16 | null | That is a good point! Dropping out of school is analogous to "buring all your ships". Sun Tzu writes that "put your enemies in a spot where they have no place to go, and they will die before fleeting. If they are to die then, what can they not do? Warriors exert their full strength. When warriors are in great danger, then they have no fear. When there is nowhere to go, they are firm, when they are deeply involved, they stick to it. If they have no choice, they will fight to death."<p>You do your "damndest" when your success depends on the success of your startup. | null | null | 3,904 | 3,891 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,929 | story | herdrick | 2007-03-13T17:48:02 | New YC startup: Send photos from your phone to your blog, MySpace, etc. | null | http://www.heysan.com/ | 15 | null | 3,929 | 13 | [
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3,930 | comment | e1ven | 2007-03-13T17:50:39 | null | This is a great thing, and IMO, exactly why Google bought Youtube.. They paid for this lawsuit.<p>When you think about it, everything Google does, the Cache, Google Groups, The Image search, and even their golden baby, Search, requires that they deal with the copyrighted material of other people.. It's their bread and butter. They can do it under the law, or at least their lawyers are convinced they can, because of a legal concept known as Common Carrier (Some people in the audience will notice I'm simplifying. I'm trying to encourage discussion, not write a legal essay ;)<p>The Common Carrier clause, written under the (otherwise) dreaded DMCA, says that carriers, such as Earthlink/aol/etc are just carrying information, and they aren't responsible for it.. It provides rules, which say you need to take things down when you're asked, but you're otherwise not culpable- As long as you take it down when asked, you're OK.<p>
Now, with Youtube, before Google invested anything in it, Google sees a lawsuit coming which could change that.. They KNOW that youtube is likely to be sued, and don't want to have the judge define the laws in a way which screws them over.. They know this lawsuit is coming one way or another, and that Youtube is poor, so their legal defense is likely to..well..suck.<p>Google realizes that if they buy Youtube, they can use their considerable legal muscle and financial capital to DEFEND youtube, and to make sure that they law isn't redefined in a way that screws them.. <p>Since the US system works by a process of Common Law, the precedent is binding. That means that this case will be VERY influential in dertermining any other cases. And it's THOSE that is worried about.<p>THAT's why Google bought Youtube. They want this Lawsuit very badly.<p>Well, As an aside- There's also the line of reasoning that Sequoia Capital was heavily pushing Google for the acqusition.. YouTube was smart/lucky enough to convince Sequoia to invest, which gives Google a good inventive to do the buyout.. That said, I think this was an ancillary factor, not a primary one. Winning this lawsuit is worth a billion to Google by itself. <p>Ways to prove me wrong? If Google settles, I'm full of shit. | null | null | 3,878 | 3,878 | null | [
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3,931 | comment | far33d | 2007-03-13T17:51:54 | null | maybe because you still call them girls? | null | null | 3,574 | 3,574 | null | null | null | null |
3,932 | comment | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T17:53:07 | null | There is something strange about that Segway; the wheels and the handle on it look very different. But anyway, great photos! I think this topic was posted earlier as well :) | null | null | 3,923 | 3,921 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,933 | comment | far33d | 2007-03-13T17:54:52 | null | While I'm on the YouTube side of this one, the web does place content creators in something of a dilemma. If content producers can't make revenue from the web, how are they going to afford to make quality content in the first place? While a lot of tech has brought the cost of media creation down, the only profitable web-exclusive stuff right now is content that can be created for free. Some of the zero-cost content is good, but most if it is just kids hurting themselves for a laugh.<p>What good is it to make money as a content aggregator if no one can afford to create content in the first place? There's a market here, I'm just not sure what it is. | null | null | 3,878 | 3,878 | null | [
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3,934 | story | pg | 2007-03-13T17:56:20 | Why Why Functional Programming Matters Matters | null | http://weblog.raganwald.com/2007/03/why-why-functional-programming-matters.html | 17 | null | 3,934 | 4 | [
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3,935 | story | joe | 2007-03-13T18:05:02 | How can/should I publicize my startup? | null | 10 | null | 3,935 | 14 | [
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|
3,936 | comment | danielha | 2007-03-13T18:06:22 | null | From what I gather on justin.tv, it seems we'll continually be seeing some interesting things coming out of that team, independent of the success of this new offering. | null | null | 3,912 | 3,891 | null | null | null | null |
3,937 | comment | Readmore | 2007-03-13T18:08:25 | null | It's true but because they control the majority of online ads end-users are stuck accepting their rates and agreements. I'm not saying that Google is bad but I don't really know how large a percentage I get from their ads. If there were more ad startups with a larger percentage end-users would see a better competition on percentage paid. | null | null | 3,890 | 3,890 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,938 | comment | PindaxDotCom | 2007-03-13T18:08:40 | null | You could start by giving us the url lol!<p>My #1 guideline is never pay for publicity. Look for free publicity always! | null | null | 3,935 | 3,935 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,939 | comment | joe | 2007-03-13T18:08:43 | null | A little background: I'm the lead developer on a self-funded Web startup. It's a (mostly) free service to help musicians and bands stay in touch with their fans. I have a lot of confidence in it as a great product. What are some (cheap) ways I can make noise about it and get people using the site? | null | null | 3,935 | 3,935 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,940 | comment | joe | 2007-03-13T18:09:06 | null | http://www.scriggle-it.com/ | null | null | 3,938 | 3,935 | null | null | null | null |
3,941 | comment | e1ven | 2007-03-13T18:11:54 | null | It's not nearly that simple though- Google position isn't "copyright doesn't matter", it's that "Look, we'll take it down if you ask. The law says that's OK! Why are we still arguing"?<p>Take a look up a few posts for my perspective ;) | null | null | 3,933 | 3,878 | null | [
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3,942 | story | Readmore | 2007-03-13T18:12:51 | Set up a website for a business you don't have - Call it Sneaky 2.0 | null | http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2006/10/01/8387088/ | 1 | null | 3,942 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,943 | comment | PindaxDotCom | 2007-03-13T18:13:55 | null | Thanks for a link to a subscriber only article!<p>But seriously, being lonely as an entrepreneur should be the least of your concerns. If you're looking for reasons to not quit your day job there are plenty out there. Real entrepreneurs know the risk of failure, look it in the eye, and proceed anyway! | null | null | 3,919 | 3,919 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,944 | story | jkopelman | 2007-03-13T18:16:50 | Failing Cheaper | null | http://redeye.firstround.com/2007/03/failing_cheaper.html | 29 | null | 3,944 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,945 | comment | paul | 2007-03-13T18:18:57 | null | It's not a Segway. It's better. http://www.tlb.org/scooter2.html | null | null | 3,932 | 3,921 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,946 | comment | danielha | 2007-03-13T18:23:39 | null | Is this the Mountain View location? That's a snazzy looking room. | null | null | 3,921 | 3,921 | null | [
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3,947 | comment | juwo | 2007-03-13T18:26:18 | null | Jessica left out his interview! | null | null | 3,914 | 3,914 | null | null | null | null |
3,948 | comment | herdrick | 2007-03-13T18:28:48 | null | I blogged this - and used it - here: http://herdrick.blogspot.com/2007/03/heysan-blog-slideshows.html<p>Summary: I like. | null | null | 3,929 | 3,929 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,949 | comment | awt | 2007-03-13T18:29:49 | null | Holy crap this is one of the most retarded articles about CS I've seen in a while. <p>If the premis is that cs programs are out of date, then yes, the article has a point. If the premis is that everything in software has been "done" and there's nothing interesting left to do, then it is completely ridiculous. | null | null | 3,882 | 3,882 | null | [
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3,950 | comment | Readmore | 2007-03-13T18:31:49 | null | I completely agree. Google knew that they needed to be involved in this lawsuit or the future of their business, and perhaps the Internet, could be in jeopardy. If YouTube had to settle or try to fight the lawsuit on their own it is very likely that the outcome wouldn't have been favorable for Google. By buying them and taking the lawsuit on themselves Google is able to use their warchest to fight for the future of the Internet. I'm very excited to see how this plays out. | null | null | 3,930 | 3,878 | null | null | null | null |
3,951 | comment | far33d | 2007-03-13T18:32:26 | null | The best C hacker I've ever met (probably the best programmer, period) swears by Haskell and functional programming. So does the second best. <p>In my time here at my full-time job I've mentored a lot of kids straight out of school. So often I hear things like "I can't wait to start programming in a real language with pointers" after they've been doing support scripting in python or tcl or whatever. Unfortunately, people like to feel like they are controlling the computer.. because they want to show how well they know how it works. They love the HOW of programming, because it makes them feel smart. <p>But Great Programmers want to solve problems quickly. They want to do what first, how later.
| null | null | 3,934 | 3,934 | null | null | null | null |
3,952 | comment | paul | 2007-03-13T18:35:20 | null | Exactly. Even with micropayments, I would still have to think about it, and I don't like having to think. This is part of the reason why the most popular micropayment system on the web is Google AdSense.<p>On the other hand, I regularly send text messages on my phone without much though given to the crazy $0.15 per-message fee. | null | null | 3,787 | 3,670 | null | null | null | null |
3,953 | comment | Harj | 2007-03-13T18:35:36 | null | To clarify I wasn't referring to London here. I was referring to real startup dead spots like Missouri or Alaska or other places that literally have no startups there. In those cases you have no option but to move.<p>In places where there's a fledging startup scene, the decision is tougher but ultimately we still decided to move as that was the best decision based on our circumstances. | null | null | 3,920 | 3,542 | null | null | null | null |
3,954 | comment | far33d | 2007-03-13T18:39:40 | null | I'm not saying it is that simple. Google is in the right here. They obey the law, they give customers exactly what they want. <p>The issue is on the supply side: How can content producers adapt to this altered economy? Right now, their answer has been to sue and hold tightly to the old business models. My argument is more nuanced than just protecting copyright -- I believe there is a way to make money producing quality content, but maybe not for the big, hollywood sized producers. I'm more interested in how to empower the people in-between viacom and the lone camcorder. <p>
| null | null | 3,941 | 3,878 | null | null | null | null |
3,955 | comment | davidw | 2007-03-13T18:41:21 | null | How 'bout breakfast?:-) Sorry...
| null | null | 3,921 | 3,921 | null | null | null | null |
3,956 | story | dmarques1 | 2007-03-13T18:43:05 | Currently Building Ideal Social Incubator- Can I interview a current or previous Y Combinator member | null | 1 | null | 3,956 | 0 | null | null | null |
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3,957 | comment | jullrich1 | 2007-03-13T18:43:32 | null | I'm planning on flying out from Connecticut to join the meetups and try and get to know other people who share my goals even though I won't be attending the actual startup school event. I look forward to being able to tell the story about how I met my cofounder while crashing a YC "everyone is welcome" social session.
| null | null | 3,851 | 3,851 | null | null | null | null |
3,958 | comment | paul | 2007-03-13T18:48:06 | null | Accepting credit cards: a Tactic, not a Business Model<p>Obviously "free" is not a complete business model, but how blind do you have to be to keep repeating these silly anti-free arguments despite the overwhelming success of many businesses based of free things? (Google, television, etc)<p>If you can build a product that will get a lot of users and has low per-user costs, then free is an excellent option and almost inevitable (because you will face competition from free). On the other hand, if your product has limited appeal or high costs, then you probably need to charge. | null | null | 3,868 | 3,868 | null | null | null | null |
3,959 | comment | mynameishere | 2007-03-13T18:48:09 | null | Ugh. Macintoshes. I know pg came out in their favor a while ago ("All the hackers I know are switching to Macs"...something like that). But, man, to see it in reality. My mother has an older OSX machine. What a piece of work. Even the parts of it that are supposed to be good, like the interface, are just clumsy. The mouse is ungainly, with one big "button", making a laughable full-palm-press-down the most reliable way to click. The scrollbars and window-edges are mysteriously hard to grab. The icons in the taskbar would have seemed childish to me when I was 10. The power of Unix is pretty well hidden. If I'm on my linux machine, you can bet I'm not using KDE. Without the shell, linux might as well be Windows. <p>Now, if it was OSX vs. Windows 98, sure. But XP (*) is stable and the candy colors are easily removed. The security problems only concern the ignorant. I'm not too impressed by people who will pay a 400-800 dollar premium for the geek equivilent of a status symbol.<p>(*) I've never used Vista. | null | null | 3,921 | 3,921 | null | [
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3,960 | comment | paul | 2007-03-13T18:51:13 | null | Raising money from big-name investors gives you a lot more credibility. This will help with hiring (I would rather work at a Sequoia backed startup than a NoName backed startup) and partnering. | null | null | 3,907 | 3,857 | null | null | null | null |
3,961 | comment | paul | 2007-03-13T18:57:03 | null | One reason this works is because the established players will be afraid to compete directly with you because that would mean undermining their existing business. | null | null | 3,782 | 3,782 | null | null | null | null |
3,962 | story | veritas | 2007-03-13T19:05:15 | GigaOM: Viacom sues YouTube for $1 billion | null | http://gigaom.com/2007/03/13/viacom-sues-youtube-for-1-billion/ | 1 | null | 3,962 | 1 | [
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3,963 | comment | veritas | 2007-03-13T19:07:04 | null | Ignore :p. This link was already posted below: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=3878<p>I just got excited and hit the bookmarklet button. | null | null | 3,962 | 3,962 | null | null | null | null |
3,964 | comment | pg | 2007-03-13T19:07:46 | null | This is like a beaten defender grabbing a forward's shirt as he runs by. Time to sell VIA and buy GOOG. | null | null | 3,878 | 3,878 | null | null | null | null |
3,965 | story | mattculbreth | 2007-03-13T19:09:01 | Working (or not working perhaps) with friends | null | http://justinkownacki.blogspot.com/2007/03/get-by-or-not-with-little-help-from.html | 6 | null | 3,965 | 2 | [
3983,
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] | null | null |
3,966 | comment | adamsmith | 2007-03-13T19:09:22 | null | For an example of offering too little equity, see the Equity section at http://blogs.xobni.com/asmith/archives/5
| null | null | 3,880 | 3,880 | null | [
4021
] | null | null |
3,967 | story | veritas | 2007-03-13T19:12:30 | Casabi raises $10 million in Series B funding | null | http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=225907 | 1 | null | 3,967 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,968 | comment | gustaf | 2007-03-13T19:29:07 | null | Thanks Ethan! We're launching a new version of the slideshow today with support for desktop upload. Other sources will follow. <p>- Gustaf, heysan! | null | null | 3,948 | 3,929 | null | [
3992
] | null | null |
3,969 | comment | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T19:30:15 | null | I think the photos were taken this winter, so it must be Mountain View. I like the padded walls; are those to reduce echo? | null | null | 3,946 | 3,921 | null | [
4005
] | null | null |
3,970 | comment | nostrademons | 2007-03-13T19:32:09 | null | I'm curious - why is a pre-launch startup hiring a COO to begin with? Don't you have to launch in order to have something to operate?<p>(I'm of the opinion that founders should avoid hiring anyone for as long as possible, instead bootstrapping off their own abilities until they gain some traction in the marketplace. In addition to saving money, this also gives you a better idea of precisely what you *need* so you don't hire for the wrong qualities. It'd suck to hire a COO with experience scaling Java enterprise apps to 99.9999% uptime, only to find that your actual business model demands a Python consumer webapp with few uptime requirements but massive social scaling challenges.) | null | null | 3,880 | 3,880 | null | null | null | null |
3,971 | comment | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T19:39:40 | null | Here is a nice tactic I came up with: Type your competition's name in Technorati and determine all the blogs that reviewed your competitior. Next, dispatch an email to all those bloggers informing them that you have created a rival product. The bloggers are usually interested in covering products similar to those they have covered in the past :) | null | null | 3,939 | 3,935 | null | null | null | null |
3,972 | story | agentbleu | 2007-03-13T19:39:49 | Pitch your new startup using Filmator presentation site. Its easy to use and you can produce powerful presentations. | null | http://filmator.net | 1 | null | 3,972 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,973 | comment | run4yourlives | 2007-03-13T19:40:28 | null | Drop-send's cost are quite accurate. He paid for developer and design time on contract. | null | null | 3,924 | 3,809 | null | null | null | null |
3,974 | comment | agentbleu | 2007-03-13T19:40:42 | null | try startupcrunch | null | null | 3,935 | 3,935 | null | [
3981
] | null | null |
3,975 | comment | jullrich1 | 2007-03-13T19:45:09 | null | VCs = Angels = YC = Agents
They all finance and support young entities for a % of a future asset.<p>Compare a very scalable model, IMG Worldwide. Take baseball for comparison sake.<p>Talent Scout = PG colleague who reviews applications using performance criteria = bank using advanced credit scoring system to approve or reject loans<p>Reddit = Alfonso Soriano = Successful loan applicant<p>Paul Allen = PG = Drew Rosenhaus<p>YC is popular not because they aren't a VC but because they are a VC who provides more perceived value for what they charge. That means just like IMG, their model is scalable as long as their value proposition is maintained and continues to be favored. All YC needs to do to fund 1,000 companies next year is to hire/acquire/develop 50 more PGs with specialties in more focused markets and sub-markets. Not simple but definitately doable. Also fully automate the application and evaluation process so that "people" only touch the top 3%. Continue to be careful with funding amounts but generous with time and connections. Continue to distribute and increase your value through your customers by financing their meeting each other and adding value to each other. Basically, YC is a social network with most of the value right now distributed offline through their customers. News@YC will change that to be sure. I think it's not only possible to grow up real big, but the direction you are already headed. Just make sure your scalability has a bit of Ben & Jerry's thrown in, they did a great job of keeping their value system in place long after they grew. PG, you mentioned it's the scaling of the partners responsibilities that is hard. If the partners maintain the integrity of the barriers to entry (active role in developing and maintaining your application evaluation tool) and support (ensuring key events and high-level connections are solid and cascaded down from their organizations to yours) you can do it. Just my $.02. | null | null | 3,836 | 3,820 | null | [
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] | null | null |
3,976 | story | nostrademons | 2007-03-13T19:46:40 | Launch Story: Startupping (Part 1) | null | http://www.startupping.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90 | 6 | null | 3,976 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,977 | story | nostrademons | 2007-03-13T19:46:55 | Launch Story: Startupping (Part 2) | null | http://www.startupping.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133 | 2 | null | 3,977 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,978 | story | nostrademons | 2007-03-13T19:47:13 | Launch Story: Startupping (Part 3) | null | http://www.startupping.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176 | 2 | null | 3,978 | 0 | null | null | null |
3,979 | comment | Readmore | 2007-03-13T19:50:04 | null | I'm currently talking with a friend about starting a business that I had already considered starting on my own. We have worked together in the past and things went well but I can definitely see how some of the 'friend problems' in this article would apply to our working arrangement. Is it better to try and go it alone or take the chance and work with a friend as a co-founder? | null | null | 3,965 | 3,965 | null | null | null | null |
3,980 | comment | run4yourlives | 2007-03-13T19:54:52 | null | If you really look at those numbers, they become really "interesting".<p>The only application making a profit is drop-send. (Sorry, "top secret" = "not enough" for me) Some of those sites have some outrageous costs indicative of major VC involvement. On the surface, none of them (aside from freshbooks) seem like a very good way to make money either. Granted this is my highly subjective take, but I see it as this: <p>Drop-Send - Profitable, traded high expectations for more secure results... may have competition problems in the future, which is probably why its for sale. It has a great potential though, and room to move in the cost to profit area to compete.<p>Freshbooks - Good looking app, should be able to pay for itself... ridiculously high monthly costs are a liability.<p>Maya's Mom - Great Idea, better have a killer idea to make money off of it though, I don't think ads will cut it.<p>Mobissimo - Not promising in my mind.. already need to explain in words how they're different from expedia and travelocity. Not a good sign.<p>Wesabe - Interesting concept, but there's no way in hell I'd give them my account information. That's a big leap of faith for a start-up to ask of their customers. | null | null | 3,809 | 3,809 | null | null | null | null |
3,981 | comment | joe | 2007-03-13T19:57:07 | null | If only it didn't cost money. We've also considered newswire press release services, etc., but I'm unconvinced as to how things like that would attract actual users. | null | null | 3,974 | 3,935 | null | null | null | null |
3,982 | comment | Alex3917 | 2007-03-13T19:57:36 | null | I would guess that most people afraid of dropping out lack the entrepreneur's mindset. That is:<p>Purpose of school (to the entrepreneur): Train to MSPW<p>Purpose of startup: MSPW<p>When viewed from that angle, the only thing to fear is that you won't be able to hack it yet. (no pun intended) | null | null | 3,901 | 3,891 | null | [
4079
] | null | null |
3,983 | comment | mattculbreth | 2007-03-13T19:58:09 | null | I agree with others around here that doing it by yourself is going to limit your scalability. I'm working with friends right now, but we've done a good job (at least I think we have, we'll see) outlining the expectations and goals of each of us. So far so good, and things are going well. I think that if you've got good, open communication in your business you're fine in general.<p>I've had issues in the past with friends and business when communication wasn't explicit.
| null | null | 3,965 | 3,965 | null | null | null | null |
3,984 | comment | JMiao | 2007-03-13T19:58:17 | null | iLike picked up a similar startup, Fotodunk, last Spring -- simple idea, but very slick execution. | null | null | 3,929 | 3,929 | null | [
4293
] | null | null |
3,985 | comment | sharpshoot | 2007-03-13T20:06:30 | null | nice one. Be interesting on a citizen journalism level. Take photos from different places in the world and mix them with news feeds and get perspective of users on the ground. Could see people subscribing to heysan for the on the groundlevel photos. Looking forward to how this plays out :) | null | null | 3,929 | 3,929 | null | [
4292
] | null | null |
3,986 | comment | sharpshoot | 2007-03-13T20:10:11 | null | joe - your objective should be to make noise to attract users - not to make noise in general. So i would concentrate on getting musicians and bands to use your product.<p>A couple of good ways
1) create a nifty myspace page explaining the benefit - befriend as many bands as you can and leave them messages<p>2) Approach some high profile bands to use the product (email is good). Then leaverage their participation to get other bands to use it. <p>Don't worry about techcrunch traffic - thats the wrong sort of noise you want to make. | null | null | 3,939 | 3,935 | null | null | null | null |
3,987 | story | domp | 2007-03-13T20:10:40 | Any guesses on how many 2007 summer applications have been submitted? Big jump from the last one? | null | 2 | null | 3,987 | 2 | [
3991
] | null | null |
|
3,988 | story | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T20:15:46 | 20 minute video interview with Google CEO (worth checking out) | null | http://youtube.com/watch?v=iVMMlmJQCoI | 1 | null | 3,988 | 1 | [
3999
] | null | null |
3,989 | comment | JMiao | 2007-03-13T20:26:31 | null | Thanks. I do my best to keep it interesting on YC News. | null | null | 3,918 | 3,857 | null | null | null | null |
3,990 | comment | corentin | 2007-03-13T20:28:02 | null | Go to concerts, offer drinks to the bands and talk about (read: sell) your product.
I don't know if it's efficient (I guess it probably is) but at least it's fun.<p> | null | null | 3,935 | 3,935 | null | null | null | null |
3,991 | comment | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T20:35:03 | null | I think Y Combinator didn't receive as much publicity this year as they did earlier (Jessica's book certainly helped, though). Judging from the number of users on news.yc, I am guessing that there are less than 500 applicants. Which to me is quite a low number considering the opportunity! | null | null | 3,987 | 3,987 | null | [
3994
] | null | null |
3,992 | comment | python_kiss | 2007-03-13T20:47:04 | null | Great site gustaf. I love the simplistic UI and one page sign up. Here is a minor fix: increase the window size of your "terms of service" page. It is hard to read when the user has to scroll both vertically and horizontally :) | null | null | 3,968 | 3,929 | null | [
3997
] | null | null |
3,993 | story | msgbeepa | 2007-03-13T21:06:38 | First Photos From Upcoming "MySpace News" | null | http://www.wired.com/news/technology/internet/0,72960-0.html?tw=rss.index | 5 | null | 3,993 | 5 | [
4051,
4031
] | null | null |
3,994 | comment | domp | 2007-03-13T21:15:31 | null | Yeah definitely. I assumed since Techcrunch gave a lot of publicity to YComb that would help in a big way. I read somewhere that in 2005 the applicants were around 250 or so. | null | null | 3,991 | 3,987 | null | null | null | null |
3,995 | comment | dfranke | 2007-03-13T21:25:42 | null | I've stopped buying books on specific tools / programming languages. I can almost always find better information online. (Ruby is one exception: you pretty much need the pick-axe book). safari.oreilly.com is a great resource when nothing else is available. However, I still regularly purchase books on "higher" topics like algorithms or mathematical abstractions, the sort of books that I'm more likely to find in my university's bookstore than at Barnes & Noble. | null | null | 3,865 | 3,865 | null | null | null | null |
3,996 | comment | dfranke | 2007-03-13T21:27:35 | null | Does Google count as Web 2.0? | null | null | 3,830 | 3,830 | null | null | null | null |
3,997 | comment | gustaf | 2007-03-13T21:31:40 | null | thanks, we will add that to the release later this week. how do you think auto-post to myspace works? | null | null | 3,992 | 3,929 | null | null | null | null |
3,998 | comment | volida | 2007-03-13T21:36:33 | null | I don't think the argument with Sequoia Capital stands because they invenst in many other companies. So, why didn't some other company bought YouTube? Because obviously Google really wanted to make the aqcuisition... | null | null | 3,930 | 3,878 | null | null | null | null |
3,999 | comment | far33d | 2007-03-13T21:38:46 | null | how awesome would it be if bloomberg asked youtube to pull this video, or sued them for putting it up. | null | null | 3,988 | 3,988 | null | null | null | null |
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