I had heard the Y Combinator name thrown around but didn't know much about them, until I saw one of their partners, Harj Taggar, on Forbes 30 under 30.
Pretty cool concept here's an excerpt from their site:
"In 2005, Y Combinator developed a new model of startup funding. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money (average $18k) in a large number of startups (most recently 63). The startups move to Silicon Valley for 3 months, during which we work intensively with them to get the company into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle culminates in Demo Day, when the startups present to a large audience of investors. But YC doesn't end on Demo Day. We and the YC alumni network continue to help founders for the life of their company, and beyond."
They've funded some pretty significant startups including Reddit, Scribd, Dropbox, Justin.tv, and Airbnb.
Anyone have any more info about them, or experiences working with them or some of their startups?
Hmm, I'm surprised you don't hear about YC that often. I'm from South East Asia and even I know the about the name.
Teasing aside, you may want to check out Paul Graham website, he is one of the founders: http://www.paulgraham.com/ Check out his essays, you will get a lot of information on what kind of entrepreneurs they are looking for, as well as some really good pieces of writing :)
Y Combinator is the BOSS.
I like their business model... for a few grand invest in some start-ups and sit back. I was watching Tim Ferris and Kevin Rose(Digg, Pownce, Milk) discussing start ups on Random Show Ep#17 and Ferris mentioned how he invests in risky start-ups on one end and is liquid in the other (barbell investing?!?) I don't see how and why young guys like me don't pounce on the start-up concept. The barriers to entry are low, and internet penetration is getting deeper and wider all over the globe. Any novel or niche' idea can make you comfortable (think WSO) if you play your cards right and are lucky enough. I just started on my company and reached out for some non-compensation recruitment right here at WSO and was surprised at the lack of any enthusiasm.
I'm not that surprised that there wasn't much enthusiasm. I think a lot of people who get into finance are pretty risk averse in terms of their own life. Finance can provide steady paycheck, relative job security (less so in this enviroment but still much more than funding your own startup), and a decent roadmap for career progression/salary/exit ops. Spending time on a new start-up vs a traditional finance job can mean giving up significant earnings and career progression that many feel isn't worth the risk.
I worked at a mature startup (post-acquisition) for almost a year and got really into the tech/web/social media startup space. There are a lot of exciting ideas there now, and as you said, relatively low barriers to entry especially if you're buiding a pure web concept. I have a few ideas I've toyed around with, but haven't made a serious effort to implement anything yet.
What's your company/concept that you're trying to recruit for?
This is a great thread!
I don't know much about Y Combinator (hear it in the CS department a lot though), but from what I heard, it's more of a stamp of approval. When you're playing the VC game from the start-up perspective (as in, you pitching to them/soliciting for money), then having Y Combinator incubating your idea is a really nice proxy for Kleiner Perkins/Sequoia's analysis.
Other than that, it has a fantastic business model and if you go to Stanford, then you're extremely lucky since YC love kids from there.
I'm looking forward to spending some time at Launchpad NOLA next week. Hoping to find something ready to roll out in Europe.
Do you have anything in particular in mind or are you just going to check it out and see if anything piques your interest?
I'm really just going to see how Silicon Bayou is progressing, but if I find something I think might work in Europe I'll see if they want to make a deal.
hahaha... silicon bayou. haven't heard that yet - it's clever.
i'd be interested to hear if they have anything cool going on over there. if you can find time to pull yourself away from the hedonist paradise, keep us posted!
In general, trying to pay for programmers isn't a smart idea. You need to give them equal equity (or more even) than yourself and iron out that co-founder status. You can PM me for more details, or I can post here if demand is large enough.
I'm interested. Why do you say equal equity (or more) is the way to go?
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