tjculbertson's comments

It is a shame. Just looking at her profiles and accomplishments you can tell she was special. Not to mention having the guts to switch from accounting to development as a woman in a male dominated industry.

May you rest in peace Faigy. I will pray for you and your family.

I like this idea. But I agree, it's a problem and this is probably one reason for experimenting with this. It sounds like the number of apps are already crazy, so not sure how YC will be able to sort through them all with more than a crap shoot probability of success.

According the PG, the big ideas are not obvious at first, so how can you make good decisions on so many ideas in so little time? Probably YC is going to filter the apps through 1-2K YC founders or something and then have a score sheet, silos of expertise, etc. Basically selection by committee.

Though I like the concept, I am skeptical of the judging, as well as the sheer number of apps coming in worldwide - too much white noise which hurts the ability of the many US based startups trying to get a seat at the table.

Amen brotha. That is the difference between employees and entrepreneurs when the bubble bursts.

That's the tradeoff that you make here is that it's not just about the money is it? I don't think YC has ever been about the money for a startup- even at $100K or whatever it is. It's about "access"...into the SV network, which gives you instant credibility to parlay that name into other funding, recruiting, partnerships, etc. So if you are a savvy entrepreneur you can leverage the fellowship in almost the same way as the YC batch.

Maybe this is also a way for YC to sort of draw a line in the sand between wantrepreneurs and the real deal. If you have an idea that keeps you up at night and you have decided to go all in, then this will give you a chance to prove it. no?

So would you consider SpaceX to be a service company and not hardware? They build rockets to deliver stuff for customers. I think defining whether a company is a HW company is too narrow. If you need to build HW to build a business of serving customers, or need to build HW to sell to customers, you need to build hardware in either case.

I think you're right. YC was lacking all of the resources that other HW accelerators provide (it's highly specialized). But looks like they now know what HW startups need, so look for YC to be a force in HW.

Yea, I think just sheer growth. PG mentions growth and Sam taking over at about minute 3 or 4 in the video above. So who knows.

I think it was in this video with Jcal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMqgiXLjvRs . Not sure at what point in the video, but PG definitely gives up lots of great success tips, so worth watching it all.

As far as the black swans, I could be wrong on this, but my understanding is that YC has maybe 10 partners all giving a grade on the apps coming in (apparently started this after they missed SendGrid). Im not sure if the 1400 alums initially flag or what, but even with the 10 partners grading, their odds of finding black swans get worse because black swans don't look like winners to most people - they are essentially counter intuitive, crazy ideas that don't appeal to the majority in the beginning (or maybe the founders are not Stanford drop outs or ex Googlers, which further sways the majority to give higher grade to what is more obvious. Thus pushing down more potential black swans below the interview cut off line.

So the more partners you have grading a particular startup, the more partners you have trying to cover their asses and not fuck up. So the safer choices will get more interviews - and safe choices don't usually result in black swans.

Not sure if I'm making sense here, but maybe the proof is in the pudding in that some of their biggest wins are Dropbox, Reddit, and Airbnb...all relatively early in YC batches when there were fewer partners making choices.

This is an interesting point on the timeline for YC in that their apps increased 40%!

PG says they now have 3 silos, like 3 mini YC's reviewing. But if you have 1400 alums reviewing apps, by definition you are going to have scoring that is biased against finding black swans, regardless of how many silos you create.

As you say, the problem is too many apps and not enough time for a smaller amount of alums to review the apps.

One answer might be going to a rolling application process to avoid the washout that happens with a wave 40% bigger than you anticipated. And/or opening other offices, which is most likely in the works.

Glad to hear that. Yea, it's a bit of a gut shot - some pain, then anger, then acceptance, and then, as someone else said, back to work; The 7 minute YC rejection workout.

Awesome...lots of useful intel here. Please do update when you have some more results. Intuitively, I'm thinking a mix of as few words as possible to convey the use/value because I'm only going to give you about 5 secs of attention span. So at that point, I am either leaving or I want to know a little more, so there is where it gets interesting on how much and what kind of things produce the best results..maybe also a testimonial or two to build confidence.

Its not an app, but check out the www.theleanstartup.com I like how its rich with info in just the right places, then it draws you in deeper. Thanks for the info.

Agree 100%. This is so concise and rich in actionable intel. I Evernoted for a reread prior to going live. Great to see a product that was in your head get built by you, distributed by you and give value to your customers. That is impressive...congrats!

Agree with Logicallee. If you read it again the teen language and syntax is odd. "Dumb-dumb posted..." I don't think a 13 year old as smart and hip to the latest trends would be caught dead using dumb dumb past 4th grade.

Maybe mom is short Facebook and is getting squeezed with all this damn mobile revenue coming in :)

This is a brave new world of counterintelligence in bot wars. Particularly fascinating (and troubling) for me is how OkCupid is fighting the invader bots.

"Mr. Rudder added that his programmers are seeking to design their own bots that will flirt with invader bots, courting them into a special room, “a purgatory of sorts,” to talk to one another rather than fooling the humans."

Don't sweat it Xuwen. Most people probably didn't notice, but I would email TC and do a re-shoot or photoshop it and replace the pic. I really like the name and branding.

It will probably come down to unbelievable consistency, ease of use / UX and customer service. As long as pricing is reasonable, you can win biz if the aforementioned is awesome. Have you looked into using a provider that uses non-toxic, eco-friendly detergents? Gotta push that hard and can run a premium level for it.

awesome link here on the YC app process. Thanks to the YC alums for the detailed answers.

You nailed it. Lots of great arguments for both sides, but FB owns the platform and all the toys. All big brands know the risks of making big bets to sell stuff in another guy's yard. In a free market FB can move the goalposts all they want,but the reach is still worth the risk until the cost of doing business with them makes the roi equal to or less than other big reach platforms.

Really impressed! For it is in the giving that we receive with no expectation of anything in return (stock is nice though). I think St. Francis of Assisi said something like that - and for sure Brad Feld ;)

I also sent you an email.

Really appreciate your insight. It seems like there are some good online tutorials out there for Python also. Ok, Python will be my first victim. Thanks!

Did you set out with the goal to be a programmer when you started? I have a particular project I want to build, but I struggle with the build vs buy dilemma. It will probably take me 5x as long and be 10x worse than if found a good programmer.

But, I also want to learn because I know that I need to understand what is being built and if it's being built in the best way to accomplish the goal - getting the job done for the customer.

Is it realistic to focus on being a generalist with an understanding of various languages or do I just need to learn one language first like Python and go from there? I noticed the MIT Python videos are free also. Thanks