So doing the winter batch in California seemed like one of those rare cases where the self-indulgent choice and the ambitious one were the same.
There is nothing more heavenly, more sublime than that rare situation in life in which the self-indulgent choice and the ambitious choice align. There's a keen insight to be had there.
Unfortunately, those moments are very rare.
For instance, at least, in terms of my personal temperament and disposition, I have found that I most enjoy life, from a "human" perspective, in places that are terrible places to do business, and may, in fact, have very dysfunctional local economies, high amount of corruption, etc. I'm the kind of person that has the most fun in the colour of Greece, Italy, southern Spain, Portugal, Argentina, etc. I can appreciate the comparative orderliness and clockwork of Teutonic and Anglo-American civilisation, but it doesn't make me happy, and yet I need that whole universe in order to sustain my livelihood in any practical sense. But everything else about it doesn't make me very happy.
I wish there were some way to reconcile those two. I haven't found any place that has an optimal intersection of cowbell on the one hand, and practicality on the other. Maybe it exists, but I haven't found it. However, my natural sense is that there is a inherent, perennial tension between the two.
That's why that particular phrase really got me. I wish dearly for such a Shangri-la.
That's the reason I actually moved in NYC. For a French 20 something, it's a great city to live in, it's not too far from Europe and the tech scene is booming.
My next stop will probably be Brazil. I've travelled over 45 countries and Brazil seems to have that unique combination of "human" perspective, a work culture and a growing tech ecosystem. You should give it a try :)
the colour of Greece, Italy, southern Spain, Portugal, Argentina, etc. I can appreciate the comparative orderliness and clockwork of Teutonic and Anglo-American civilisation, but it doesn't make me happy, and yet I need that whole universe in order to sustain my livelihood in any practical sense
Maybe try Hong Kong? I haven't lived there but it seems colourful (in the Asian rather than Southern European sense) and yet still has the British history.
Um... how about Berkeley? It's mostly a terrible place to do business, has a dysfunctional local economy, but is part of Greater Silicon Valley despite its weirdness.
"If we'd had enough time to do what we wanted, Y Combinator would have been in Berkeley."
As a co-founder of Berkeley based company from YC S11 batch. Darn it! Berkeley would have been a great place to start YC. With Berkeley campus supplying a lot of CS students and the easy-going counter-culture that Berkeley provides (which gels well with counter-intuitive funding strategy of YC). It would have been great! Of course, the VCs would've to trek to Berkeley to attend demo days but that filters out the people who aren't serious. :)
I had the opposite reaction: "What good fortune that they didn't have enough time!" Not that Berkeley isn't great, but it isn't in the Valley. It's hard to imagine YC being quite as successful if it weren't right in the thick of things.
On the flip side, now that MobileWorks is here, pg, jl and the YC community have a welcome place to hang out when they're in Berkeley. Thursday nights at the MobileWorks offices are starting to have a YC vibe to them.
I really enjoyed PGs post for the detailed description of the thought process behind the creation of YC and how they took those initial steps (including getting the funds together and deciding how to run it).
A lot of 'this is how I became successful' biographies seldom provide that level of detail. Whilst I still find them interesting, I found PGs writing to be more inspirational (to me anyway) because it's almost like a 'how-to' guide.
agreed. From that post, only missed some more insight on how he dealt with that first batch on the summer camp. Were most of the ideas already good? Did everyone even got there with ideas ready to go? etc
>If we'd had enough time to do what we wanted, Y Combinator would have been in Berkeley. That was our favorite part of the Bay Area. But we didn't have time to get a building in Berkeley.
I'm in Berkeley and quite like it here but that's also because I mostly avoid networking events. Berkeley's startup culture is a bit weird because the city is in some ways anti-software business. If YC were here, it would have been enough of a political force by now to have actually shifted the epicenter of Silicon Valley around enough for Berkeley to be taken more seriously as a place for startups.
I was a junior in college (summer of 07) and been working a disillusioning summer job as an undergraduate CompSci researcher when I first read about YCombinator and Justin.tv.
Knowing that there was a place out there for entrepreneurial geeks like me helped tipped the scales for me; YCombinator plus Hacker News itself has made me feel like I am not alone in trying to make it as a geek-entrepreneur and I am glad for it.
YC + HackerNews has made the tech world feel like a smaller, more accessible place for me.
Happy birthday YC & Co. Been a fan since it was publicly announced.
And not to take anything away from YC's effort but I find it rather amusing that first time some good hackers take their turn at improving the VC industry they transform it and become (arguably) the most successful investors in it.
I wish more people would try to improve the VC industry. There's at least a few YC-level waves that could occur. AngelList the best example.
What this says me, and hopefully you is this:
"that inconsequential thing you are staring today.. do not be so sure it is that inconsequential. Most of all just do it"
"We realized early on that what we were doing could be national in scope and we didn't want a name that tied us to one place."
Personally I find that one of the most important reasons to think long and hard about a name. Most startups go through many pivot points until they finally get it right. Choosing a name that is overly representative of the present business model can lead to team lock-in that could spell the death of a company before it even gets going.
It seems a wiser decision is to go with a name that represents a startup's future ambitions instead of its present circumstances.
It's amazing to see the humble roots of YC and what it has grown into now. As a person who made it through 2/3 of the previous batch I can honestly say there is no other experience like it and solely the intelligence of the people you are placed in the same room as week in and week out is enough for you to be at least as ambitious as the founders of YC were. Quit your job, make the leap, build something great.
It's hard for people to realize now how inconsequential YC seemed at the time. I can't blame people who didn't take us seriously, because we ourselves didn't take that first summer program seriously in the very beginning.
I attended the "How to Start a Startup" talk in 2005. I remember going home and reading pg's website, the whole thing, cover-to-cover. Later that year I met Steve Wozniak at the first Startup School held in Cambridge. Woz, Chris Sacca and pg left a lasting impression on me. I had never witnessed that level of information density and knowledge sharing. Amazing to look back at those humble beginnings. Always grateful for YC and the HN community.
One of the things that I noticed is how YC's opinion regarding patents has evolved since its founding.
>"If you're accepted, we'll deal with the paperwork for you. We'll incorporate you, get you a corporate bank account, supply simple, generic employment agreements for you to use, and so on. We can give some advice about patents, though you don't have to deal with that in the earliest stages; you have a year after making a discovery to file a US patent application for it." [http://ycombinator.com/old/sfp.html]
However, the best part of the story was the I'm-quitting-my-job smile.
As he wrote this, PG asked me if I remembered the chronology of certain things and it was very hard. So much is blurred together in my mind. But I remember the night we decided to start YC and this photo.
It wasn't just happiness that I was quitting my job. I was also so excited about this idea and the opportunity to work on something that could make a difference in the world.
First, I wanted to say Happy 7th birthday to Y Combinator. So, happy birthday! Before I even knew there was a Y Combinator, I began learning of innovative companies such as Stripe that I could get excited about implementing in building the platforms for my own businesses. Scribd was a helpful resource for me while working to finish my MBA as well. After applying, I learned that both of these companies were Y Combinator alumni. A real benefit of the process for me has been gaining an awareness of more companies like these. Y Combinator has helped facilitate a cooler world. Thanks for that.
If you are interested in those early years, there is also some video footage of that first class (and interview with PG) in Aardvarked, the Joel Spolsky video made that same summer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NRL7YsXjSg&feature=playe...
SOmetimes, opportunity meets preparation, or so the saying goes. When things fall into place and fit, usualy great things emerge. And that happy smile, even it would have been only for that moment and one summer batch, I think most people involved it would have ben worth it.
Happy birthday and continue on like you do!
Fantastic read. It's really interesting to hear about how Y Combinator started much like a startup itself. Today we take YC for granted, but 7 years ago that concept must have been extremely novel and easily dismissed. It's hard for me to imagine the modern tech world without YC, though.
Speaking of good ideas, does anyone know a good way to save/record an idea? I always think of one at the most inopportune time and by the time I have a chance to write it down I forget parts of it. Is there an app or service to help me?
As for me, I've gone through Google Notebook, now Docs - one big Ideas doc for undevelopped ideas, then as ideas get developped, they get their own doc. And now also Trello, which is great. On the dashboard, you see only card titles, and this allows you to hide complexity.
Happy birthday YC! It's awesome that YC is as scrappy and as startup-minded as the hackers they fund. They stick to their roots. They talk the talk and walk the walk.
now pg, please put some left and right padding on those static pages =]
[+] [-] abalashov|14 years ago|reply
There is nothing more heavenly, more sublime than that rare situation in life in which the self-indulgent choice and the ambitious choice align. There's a keen insight to be had there.
Unfortunately, those moments are very rare.
For instance, at least, in terms of my personal temperament and disposition, I have found that I most enjoy life, from a "human" perspective, in places that are terrible places to do business, and may, in fact, have very dysfunctional local economies, high amount of corruption, etc. I'm the kind of person that has the most fun in the colour of Greece, Italy, southern Spain, Portugal, Argentina, etc. I can appreciate the comparative orderliness and clockwork of Teutonic and Anglo-American civilisation, but it doesn't make me happy, and yet I need that whole universe in order to sustain my livelihood in any practical sense. But everything else about it doesn't make me very happy.
I wish there were some way to reconcile those two. I haven't found any place that has an optimal intersection of cowbell on the one hand, and practicality on the other. Maybe it exists, but I haven't found it. However, my natural sense is that there is a inherent, perennial tension between the two.
That's why that particular phrase really got me. I wish dearly for such a Shangri-la.
[+] [-] juliennakache|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidw|14 years ago|reply
Other than that, set yourself up so you can live somewhere you like and work remotely.
Also, Italy is very different from north to south. The north is still not a great place to do business, but it's a lot better than the south.
[+] [-] nl|14 years ago|reply
Maybe try Hong Kong? I haven't lived there but it seems colourful (in the Asian rather than Southern European sense) and yet still has the British history.
[+] [-] barry-cotter|14 years ago|reply
Ticino, Switzerland
Slovenia
[+] [-] dustin|14 years ago|reply
I guess quitting the 9-5 to work on startups might qualify - there's always sacrifices though :)
[+] [-] rms|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pron|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MaysonL|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] southpolesteve|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] prayag|14 years ago|reply
As a co-founder of Berkeley based company from YC S11 batch. Darn it! Berkeley would have been a great place to start YC. With Berkeley campus supplying a lot of CS students and the easy-going counter-culture that Berkeley provides (which gels well with counter-intuitive funding strategy of YC). It would have been great! Of course, the VCs would've to trek to Berkeley to attend demo days but that filters out the people who aren't serious. :)
[+] [-] mhartl|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anandkulkarni|14 years ago|reply
On the flip side, now that MobileWorks is here, pg, jl and the YC community have a welcome place to hang out when they're in Berkeley. Thursday nights at the MobileWorks offices are starting to have a YC vibe to them.
[+] [-] tobtoh|14 years ago|reply
A lot of 'this is how I became successful' biographies seldom provide that level of detail. Whilst I still find them interesting, I found PGs writing to be more inspirational (to me anyway) because it's almost like a 'how-to' guide.
[+] [-] kinleyd|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gcb|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quasistar|14 years ago|reply
Congrats to everyone who has ever applied and the YC team! You have changed the rules of the game for the better...
[+] [-] rms|14 years ago|reply
I'm in Berkeley and quite like it here but that's also because I mostly avoid networking events. Berkeley's startup culture is a bit weird because the city is in some ways anti-software business. If YC were here, it would have been enough of a political force by now to have actually shifted the epicenter of Silicon Valley around enough for Berkeley to be taken more seriously as a place for startups.
[+] [-] Aaronontheweb|14 years ago|reply
Knowing that there was a place out there for entrepreneurial geeks like me helped tipped the scales for me; YCombinator plus Hacker News itself has made me feel like I am not alone in trying to make it as a geek-entrepreneur and I am glad for it.
YC + HackerNews has made the tech world feel like a smaller, more accessible place for me.
[+] [-] staunch|14 years ago|reply
And not to take anything away from YC's effort but I find it rather amusing that first time some good hackers take their turn at improving the VC industry they transform it and become (arguably) the most successful investors in it.
I wish more people would try to improve the VC industry. There's at least a few YC-level waves that could occur. AngelList the best example.
[+] [-] DilipJ|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] OoTheNigerian|14 years ago|reply
What this says me, and hopefully you is this: "that inconsequential thing you are staring today.. do not be so sure it is that inconsequential. Most of all just do it"
[+] [-] zzaman|14 years ago|reply
Personally I find that one of the most important reasons to think long and hard about a name. Most startups go through many pivot points until they finally get it right. Choosing a name that is overly representative of the present business model can lead to team lock-in that could spell the death of a company before it even gets going.
It seems a wiser decision is to go with a name that represents a startup's future ambitions instead of its present circumstances.
[+] [-] callmeed|14 years ago|reply
I'd love to read a "where are they now" post on the first couple batches of founders, along with some quotes from them.
[+] [-] ig1|14 years ago|reply
Kiko - Acquired by Tucows, team founded Justin.tv
Loopt - Raised 15million in Series A and B financing, at it's peak was valued at $500m, sold for $40m to Green Dot
Simmery - Closed. Founder went back to uni.
Infogami - Merged with Reddit.
MemAmp - Never launched, one founder (Chris) joined reddit one (Zak) went back to uni.
FireCrawl - Never launched, team founded TextPayMe and got acquired by amazon.
ClickFacts - YC stake acquired by private investors because YC wasn't a good fit. Company still exists.
[+] [-] DilipJ|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zbruhnke|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ph0rque|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] julianb|14 years ago|reply
I attended the "How to Start a Startup" talk in 2005. I remember going home and reading pg's website, the whole thing, cover-to-cover. Later that year I met Steve Wozniak at the first Startup School held in Cambridge. Woz, Chris Sacca and pg left a lasting impression on me. I had never witnessed that level of information density and knowledge sharing. Amazing to look back at those humble beginnings. Always grateful for YC and the HN community.
[+] [-] brudgers|14 years ago|reply
>"If you're accepted, we'll deal with the paperwork for you. We'll incorporate you, get you a corporate bank account, supply simple, generic employment agreements for you to use, and so on. We can give some advice about patents, though you don't have to deal with that in the earliest stages; you have a year after making a discovery to file a US patent application for it." [http://ycombinator.com/old/sfp.html]
However, the best part of the story was the I'm-quitting-my-job smile.
[+] [-] jl|14 years ago|reply
It wasn't just happiness that I was quitting my job. I was also so excited about this idea and the opportunity to work on something that could make a difference in the world.
[+] [-] redthrowaway|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] toddnessa|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ry0ohki|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hef19898|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SeoxyS|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] XionDark|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] talkingquickly|14 years ago|reply
No seriously get one of those tiny (1/3 A5) ones which fit in any pocket, then all you have to do is remember a pen!
[+] [-] ovi256|14 years ago|reply
As for me, I've gone through Google Notebook, now Docs - one big Ideas doc for undevelopped ideas, then as ideas get developped, they get their own doc. And now also Trello, which is great. On the dashboard, you see only card titles, and this allows you to hide complexity.
[+] [-] adj|14 years ago|reply
I made it to scratch my own itch but I hope other people find it useful too.
[+] [-] albertsun|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guynamedloren|14 years ago|reply
now pg, please put some left and right padding on those static pages =]
[+] [-] barrynolan|14 years ago|reply
http://web.archive.org/web/20050324062234/http://ycombinator...
[+] [-] amirmc|14 years ago|reply
"Privacy Policy: We're too lazy to look at log files, and haven't yet written any software to do it.
Terms of Use: When you click on a link, our server will send you the corresponding page."
Love it. Unlike many other sites, this one hasn't changed in years.
edit: privacy policy is gone (so I presume they got around to writing the software)
[+] [-] pg|14 years ago|reply