Can anyone who has attended a past Startup School share their experience? What's the general atmosphere of the event? Is it similar to other conferences you've attended? Does it offer value on its own merits, or is it simply a day-long sales pitch for YC?
I attended last year's startup school. It is absolutely not an advertisement for YC. It's basically a bunch of people who are deeply involved in the startup world offering their advice on how to start up.
If you are contemplating a startup or you're already doing a startup I would say it's worth attending. Outside of the interesting talks (which will most likely find their way online anyways), it's a great opportunity to talk to other like-minded people and hear about what sort of stuff they're working on.
I was there two years ago, and it was easily the best conference I've attended. Can't recommend it enough.
What's the general atmosphere of the event?
It's intense (lots of content), and no-nonsense. Every speaker had something valuable to say, and they didn't talk down to the audience at all.
I found the day motivating, especially DHH's talk and just chatting with my peers. With the exception of one person, everyone I met was a hacker and was working on something.
Is it similar to other conferences you've attended?
Not really, one big difference: the overall quality of the attendees. I'm a shy person, but there were so many people talking about writing code (vs. big idea people) that I felt like I fit right in.
Is it simply a day-long sales pitch for YC?
The only real pitch-man the year I attended was Jeff Bezos, his talk was a pitch for AWS. However, he was so impressive during the Q&A that I can forgive him.
It's what you'd expect from Y Combinator... Top Notch speakers, being candid and telling stories as if you're personally having a conversation with them. Speakers stayed after and were approchable.
It is well worth a few hundred bucks to attend... and ridiculous in that it is free.
The talks are interesting, with some fun (sometimes conflicting) variation between approaches, advice, and strategies. The people, as usual, really make it worthwhile. I met a lot of really interesting people last year and had a lot of wonderful conversations.
Startup School is my favorite tech conference-alike-thingy (not really sure I'd call it a conference), by far. I'd be going this year if it wasn't in the middle of my trip to Nepal.
I flew there all the way from Chile last year, only for startup school, and it was completely worth it! It was a very simple, yet awesome event, and I met some great people. I fully recommend it, in fact I have just applied for this year's startup school :P
