Sometimes I think I am too cynical. My first reaction is that it's an overly clever and self-consciously hip site, with a blatant rip-off name...just a few more people trying to ride a bubble before it pops.
But I am probably just too cynical. Why step on positive energy? Go get 'em.
Agreed on the name. What bubble are we riding? We're trying to bring something that works (a small but passionate community of startups) to a larger audience.
It also takes no equity and benefits no one except the participants.
Cheer up man! Enjoy the good times while they last :)
oops, sorry. my comment was poorly worded. I just meant that our goal is to benefit the community and not just a few particular individuals. In other words Ncombinator is nonprofit.
Yes, it definitely works for our members. Membership is public though. The most useful part is solving startup problems case by case. Also, the whole thing is built around a few key coordinators and their "office hours".
We learned loads and formed some great relationships that lead to good things.
IIRC 7 out of the 8 teams made it to a Demo Day that was loads of fun but didn't result in anything tangible.
Ultimately we failed to ship regularly and we let the work we were doing to bootstrap the projects get in the way of continuing them. None of the projects are still active.
There have been several N combinators, but none of them was quite as nifty as the more famous combinators (Y, U, S, K, and I are the ones that immediately come to my mind).
A bit dissapointed that all the live events and checkins are scheduled for San Francisco. (I read about the online thing, but that's not the same) Would be nice if we could alternate between San Jose and San Francisco, or at least meet somewhere on the Peninsula.
As others have mentioned: very cool and slick site pitch. That earned my signup alone.
I understand that to start something new you need to focus -- but, I'd also love to see Peninsula meetings. Maybe if there's enough interest it can happen.
I'm involved in something similar, but slightly less formal here in New Zealand called The Distiller: http://thedistiller.org. We provide an office space and power/internet and run a fortnightly sprint program, but that's it. NZ's an interesting place to start a startup, it's hard to get good funding so you have to bootstrap. It makes things go slower (mostly because to eat one has to contract), which can be intensely frustrating, but it's just a reality here so we have to deal with it. We're really focused on creating a good community of startups, keeping people accountable for their progress to the group, but without any hierarchy etc etc.
It's working out pretty well thus far, and we've been learning a lot within the group about how to run something like this since it was founded (not by me, but I've been involved for a little while now).
It's ok we won't be dicks about it :) it's just there to keep people motivated. Teams that are dysfunctional / aren't producing should know it and bow out voluntarily.
The timing of this is impeccable. I'm getting my PhD early this Summer and my plan for the following few months was to work on an array of small projects and deliver every week.
I'm at the perfect place in my life where I have both the time to work on whatever I want (for at least a few months) and the ability to.
Just some feedback on the schedule, a 4pm kick off isn't that great. I have a 9-5 paying for crazy self-funded startup adventures and I'm sure others do as well, can I suggest pushing it back a little for working types?
Great idea though and I'm definitely on board with this one. Beautiful site too btw! :)
The ninja trope is a put off for me but it's common so I just ignored it, but then Japan's rising sun motif appears full-page, just to make clear we're talking about Asians... Can't we come up with some other cultural stereotype to exploit, like the American fat ass or something? :)
I like the idea somehow, especially when it channels those non-YC accepted groups and distracts them from writing "Why I will reapply", "YC here I come" or "YC application tips" article no. 1244
However, I think it would be better to choose a more unique name ;)
um, who are you? your site gives me no idea who you are and why you think you can pull this off. not trying to circle jerk for a summer. the selection criteria at YC is what makes it valuable.
I really like these initiatives. It creates a support network to help early startups get to market.
However there seems to be lots of these popping up and you start to question the longevity of these groups. I am sure these are started with good intentions however what are the motivations of the organizers?
Is it simply the buzz of being involved and sharing ideas/stories/support?
I am not trying to criticize the groups, but interested in the risks of getting involved in these events/communities?
Do you need to be cautious of anything? How do you select the right group or groups to join?
There are lots of people who would like some of the benefit of the Ycombinator experience but aren't a good fit and don't even apply. For me, I have no interest in getting into the VC sharktank and the projects I work on are so far out there that a lot of people can't even comprehend their value. This might be a great alternative for those who are thinking way, way outside the box.
Cool! A friend and I were working on something like this in nyc. Maybe we can join forces as a few of us have had some similar idea. I'd organize a NYC chapter if thats possible. Not sure who to contact but i'm frank @ startupthreads . com
Signed up. Very interested in sharing what we've been trying in our tiny (profitable) venture and hoping to learn a few things from others. Here's to hoping that a real community forms out of this.
I'm even further away in Santa Cruz, so I might not really be the best choice for a valley meetup organizer. The valley would just be less of a trek for me personally (and it's easier to find parking spots), and it's the right choice because the world obviously revolves around me.
You're getting downvoted, but I couldn't take it seriously either with both Spartans and ninjas. Why not just go the distance and throw in rockstars, a big X in a word like eXtreme and the other stuff I see on the back of my Doritos?
Definitely pretty far from brogrammers :). Just want to build a support community to foster startups. Ideas, and startups are fragile. Might as well do anything that'll give us a fair shot. No reason to hate :)
No hate intended. I wanted to express the disconnect between the stated goal of the project and the unstated positioning that the design and terminology conveys.
Edit: Actually I just realized your theory never really made any sense. What site throttles bandwidth just to you when you get downvoted? Nutty theory actually.
Stop moaning and taking yourself too seriously. You're like the guy who moaned at Zuckerberg for wearing a hoodie. Ninja or not, like the site says, ship or die.
