Early Photos of Y Combinator

[jl]

Wow. It seems like so long ago yet I remember every moment of these photos. Especially the one taken the night we decided to start YC (we actually didn't come up with the name till later on). I think that was a tear of joy/excitement in my eye.

[allantyoung]

Jessica - you always look like the happiest person in the world. It is infectious.

[ryanb]

Everyone looks so young. Sam Altman looks exactly the same. (he still looks super young)

[_ouxp]

I seem to remember that, at the time, one of the partners was unnamed on the website. Was that you, or someone else?

[2005applicant]

I will own up to being in one of the groups listed on the whiteboard.

I am pretty sure we were described as "VOIP OFFENSIVE LINEMAN". Or at least I hope that is what was written behind to describe us.

Me and a co-founder were rather large and were actual offensive lineman. The third co-founder was a running back.

We weren't selected (rightfully so). Maybe we should have bulked up the running back before the interview. :)

[nicholasjbs]

These pictures are a testament to how much you can get done in six years of work. They're also a great reminder that YC was itself once a startup.

[earbitscom]

YC is definitely still a startup. Otherwise, they would have replaced that frickin' chili by now.

[coffeemug]

YC is incredible. If you're on the fence about applying - do it! The worst thing that can happen is that you'll go through an incredibly exciting process of applying, get a polite rejection, and reapply the next time around. The best thing that can happen is that it will change your perspective and your life in a very fundamental way. If you look at it that way, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

[nicksergeant]

I wanted to apply just for the experience this season, but there's absolutely no way I could move to SF. I started filling out the app, but don't want to waste their time if there's no way I can attend.

[dirkdeman]

Priceless! It also puts a human perspective to Y Combinator. I get sweaty palms just by thinking of applying (although I will - again) this year, let alone actually making it. These pics show me you're actually humans instead of, well, deities. It makes me a bit less anxious of applying, if only a little bit.

[rbanffy]

Lovely. Thanks for sharing them. :-)

I remember reading about YC as it started, hooked I was to paulgraham.com's essays. A link to "Beating the Averages" I forwarded by mail is what made a couple friends of mine who had just started a company decide to build sites with Zope and Plone instead of more mundane technologies. It had a deep impact on the Brazilian Python community.

[Jun8]

It is unbelievably amazing that YC went from literally a gleam in jl's (and pg's) eye to something that is a clear leader in not only incubators but entrepreneurial thought as well. A case of clearly superior vision getting its due. Such vision to success proportionality is not so common, I think.

[bambax]

> Such vision to success proportionality is not so common, I think

I'm not sure of what you mean, but I would argue that vision is everything, and that vision well executed has to bring success.

When we say that execution is hard, we really mean that execution that implements a vision is hard. Execution without vision is really easy (it's entropy).

Vision is harder, because it's not just an idea (a wish), but a deep insight into the future and how to get there.

Those pictures of young YC remind me of Burano — an island next to Venice that stayed in a kind of "pristine" state: Venice before Venice.

[davidw]

> A case of clearly superior vision getting its due

PG & Company have clearly done a "bang up job", as they say in the UK, but... is it genuinely a 'vision'? I don't know them and their plans well enough to say, but it seems that there is some hill climbing going on there too. "Of course what we decided to start was a lot less ambitious than YC is now."

[ayanb]

"It will never work" is such a killer name for a possible cult classic on Investing and Entrepreneurship.

[pg]

Here's a clearer shot. Anyone who wants is free to use it for motivational posters or whatever: http://ycombinator.com/images/itwillneverwork.jpg

[rbanffy]

Dammit! itllneverwork.com and itwillneverwork.com are both taken :-(

[pkamb]

I love the 12-inch Powerbook G4s.

[mpc]

Glad to see that someone else thinks this too. I really loved these machines.

[philwelch]

I want to know who the "VoIP Offensive Linemen" are. Actually, a lot of the nicknames on that board are pretty funny, and for the most part would make great band names.

[2005applicant]

Haha one of the lineman is me, although I was only 6' 250 lbs at the time. A co-founder also was one. He was about 6'3 280 lbs. The third co-founder was actually a running back and wrestler, so he was only 5'8 165 lbs or so.

[angilly]

Wow. I was one of them. That's hilarious.

[brackin]

Amazing to see this, thanks for posting. Exciting to see how much they've grown through hard work and to see how much their vision expanded.

YC is now regarded as the harvard of tech startups. It's great that YC's original vision to put founders first is still instilled in YC today, even further than then as they have more resources and alumni.

[oguz]

This is amazing. I also believe that YC should have own it's own story with pictures like this, for every batch.

[abbottry]

This is awesome. I love that its only a few pictures, with descriptions. The stories behind YC and all of its companies (and co-founders) are incredible.

[brlewis]

Five hours and no comments about Snapjoy and Posterous enabling this story to be told. This illustrates how effective technology is often invisible.

[aculver]

Who are the folks/companies in the picture at the bottom? I feel like I might recognize some of them, but they're much younger.

[trobertson]

According to yclist.com (which is both unofficial and outdated), that first batch was Reddit, Infogami, Kiko, Loopt, ClickFacts, and Firecrawl.

[sama]

wow. justin looks like he's going to mess somebody up. and i wore that exact same shirt this weekend.

[iamwil]

If anything Justin looks even bigger now--like he can twist heads off baby seals.

[erikb]

The last paragraph feels like a zen koan. Is a "good investor" not one that finds start-ups which will succeed (and thus make him money)? How do you try to be a "good investor" without trying to find start-ups which will succeed? How far away am I from enlightment?

[mef]

Love the beer cups in HN orange.

[ga0bi]

can't believe this was about 6 years ago. congrats on all the success!