
Welcome Peter - katm
http://blog.ycombinator.com/welcome-peter
======
pitchups
Just finished reading Zero to One for a second-time, and it was interesting to
see that Peter Thiel's contrarian approach to investing in startups ("What
valuable company is nobody building") is very similar to PG's thesis that "all
good ideas look like bad ideas to begin with (black swan investing) [0]

It will be even more interesting to see if their combined insights and
approach can increase their chances of identifying these rare black swans.

Regardless, this has to be among the most formidable grouping of startup
talent and brains in the valley.

[0] [http://www.paulgraham.com/swan.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/swan.html)

~~~
mlchild
I'd still love to hear Peter Thiel and PG duke it out/reconcile the "choose an
idea that avoids competition at all costs" vs. "don't worry about competition
at all" messages.

~~~
aswanson
You could look at them as two sides of the same perspective: Paul is saying
basically that competition doesn't exist because if you focus on the customer
need enough it ensures uniqueness, and Peter is saying don't copy what someone
else has done, be unique.

~~~
hueving
Focusing on the customer enough does not ensure uniqueness. It is very
possible to be in a market where customers needs are satisfied.

~~~
pknerd
Zappos?

~~~
hueving
Zappos is not unique. They don't have a monopoly on anything and ultimately
sold out to Amazon probably because there wasn't a way to grow much beyond
their market of people who pay premiums on everything to get easier returns.

------
adoming3
Thiel joining makes YC look like the 1992 Olympics "Dream Team" compared to
all of the other accelerators.

~~~
ub
Taking a contrarian viewpoint. Does the convergence of all talent into one
team actually reduce the innovation in the startup ecosystem. Similar to your
sports analogy, the best games result when multiple talented teams fight it
out. If all startups that become big are YC-funded, then we might see just the
YC-influenced style of running a company whereas other models may not see the
light of the day.

~~~
philwelch
That's because sports are inherently competitive endeavors. This isn't
necessarily true of startup investing.

~~~
krschultz
What? From my experience startup investing is ruthlessly competitive. Every VC
backed startup I have worked at had competitors funded by other VCs.

~~~
philwelch
But it's not competitive in the same way sports are. If you're a basketball
team, you only succeed by beating other basketball teams. If you're an
investor, beating other investors isn't the definition of your job. It might
happen incidentally, but not by definition.

------
staunch
The world would benefit much more from him starting a worthy alternative to
YC. Few others are in a position to do so. He probably thinks there would be
no profit in competing against what he sees as YC's monopoly.

~~~
davidw
Techstars seems to be quietly doing well by doing their own thing, which
includes a surprising amount of geographic diversity.

And of course, for _some_ kinds of businesses, one of the real competitors to
seed funding is bootstrapping.

~~~
higherpurpose
I'd like to see an YC competitor that focuses much more on Europe with a focus
on Africa as well.

~~~
davidw
Europe is tough for a lot of reasons. I think Techstars has at least London,
maybe Berlin? Each country tends to have their own stuff.

------
courtf
"the founders of those companies will generally tell you he has been their
best source"

Honest question: if a company receives investment from Peter Thiel, do the
founders have any choice but to express the opinion above?

~~~
coffeemug
_> if a company receives investment from Peter Thiel, do the founders have any
choice but to express the opinion above?_

They could choose to say nothing (and often do about lesser investors).

------
waxman
The idea that a startup's end game should be to "build a monopoly" is one of
the most profound insights in Thiel's excellent book, _Zero to One._

This move just deepens YC's monopoly in its domain, as sama would say, "in the
Peter Thiel sense."

~~~
jacques_chester
> _one of the most profound insights in Thiel 's excellent book, Zero to One._

Which was an insight in _Blue Ocean Strategy_ (Kim & Mauborgne, 2005).

And before that, if you squint, in _Competitive Strategy_ (Porter, 1980) and
_Competitive Advantage_ (Porter, 1980).

And the B-school theorists basically got their ideas by peeking over the fence
of the Economics dept at how monopolies are formed and abuse their power and
saying "hey, let's teach that to our students".

~~~
jsprogrammer
And before that, Morgan, Rockefeller, etc.

And before that, George(s), Charles, Henry, James, Elizabeth, Kahn, Alexander,
etc, etc.

~~~
xasos
Those were a different kind of monopoly - Rockefeller bought up a bunch of
companies inp N already big oil market.

Thiel suggests becoming a monopoly in a small market and vertically
integrating

------
mappum
As time goes on, YC will continue to attract the best people in the valley
(both founders and investors). It's a talent singularity.

~~~
hamhamed
It's becoming a powerhouse and that usually causes problem in the long run if
the chemistry isn't present. Or say the need to be hungry enough to attain
goals (just like a strong sports team losing against a lower tier team, aka
the underdog).

Yes, surrounding yourself with smart people is great, but surrounding yourself
with hungry people is another.

Otherwise, good luck and more success to YC!

~~~
mrdrozdov
Great advice. A well fed person can't understand a hungry one.

------
raymondgh
Wolf in the hen house? I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I perceive a
significant contrast in cultures and philosophies between PT and YC.

~~~
StartupLSatoshi
Not really. Sam Altman and Thiel have been friends for a while, and share a
significant amount of startup philosophy.

And YC is roughly a representation of Sam Altman's philosophy.

------
forloop
I hope Peter encourages start-ups in longevity and nootropics.

Or just nootropics. If there's more smart people then additional anti-ageing
tech will follow—since all arguments against said tech are fallacious; even if
they seem reasonable prima facie!

~~~
puranjay
Nootropics user here. I would love for this field to go from amateur hobbyists
to something more organized. The difficult part remains quantifying results

~~~
forloop
Testing substances on _healthy_ humans is a big deal. At the moment nootropics
are used only in disease models.

Also, the creation of nootropics which offer greater upgrades to cognition
should be a priority. There have been a few promising chemical such as
PRL-8-53[0], but when people have tried such chemicals on themselves they
haven't lived up to their promise.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRL-8-53](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRL-8-53)

------
kkhire
There's no way any accelerator can be competitive against YC if Peter Thiel is
going to be doing office hours

~~~
logicallee
this is not true. an accelerator can do earlier (before team or product or
idea); wider (fund literally anyone who can write five pages in English in a
timed setting about their idea); lower (take 0.075% for $2k); faster (an SaaS
app that wires you a check within 24 hours, after a human lawyer verifies your
details and contract); riskier (billion dollar ideas that don't _even_ have
the research paper worked out - like a thesis proposal to a professor, only
you're a company); insaner (fund things that are literally insane and would
make any investor blush to mention it to another investor), and so forth.

It's not hard to be competitive with YC. The thing is, nobody is even trying
to be.

~~~
api
All those are valid. One you forgot: YC, like nearly all other accelerators,
is implicitly age-ist.

Note that I said implicitly. There is no explicit age discrimination that I am
aware of, but the entire program is structured in a way that makes it horribly
impractical for anyone who isn't a bachelor/bachelorette and childless. You
must move to the Bay Area, put in family-unfriendly hours, and live on a
quantity of money that would make it impossible to live in the Bay Area with a
family (assuming you don't have a lot of savings, a trust, or a high-earning
spouse). It just won't work for a huge majority of older people or people with
families.

The implicit assumption is that all the best talent and ideas can be found
among those who pass this implicit filter function. Anyone over 25-30 or who
has children is "washed up."

... which creates room for an accelerator to test that assumption. What if --
gasp -- people who have been doing this stuff for a long time are actually
better at it?

But as you say, nobody is even really trying to compete with YC within their
own segment let alone exploring alternative modalities.

Edit: another one would be to question the assumption that sole founders are
intrinsically doomed. They are certainly at a disadvantage, but that'd create
an interesting niche for an accelerator that helped them to compensate for
their disadvantages if they otherwise had really great skills and ideas.

~~~
vasco_
I disagree. I have 4 kids, I have been married for 15 and my co-founder had a
3 months old when we did YC. And we are from Portugal, so we were away from
our families when we went through YC. It was hard and it required sacrifice,
but it was certainly worth it and YC was super supportive. Our lives, and the
lives of our kids are much better for it.

~~~
skj
You say you disagree, but your experience doesn't support that.

"It was hard and it required sacrifice." because of the implicit bias brought
up by the GP. For someone in their mid twenties, no relationship or
dependents, moving for 3 months is no big deal. Good, even.

~~~
dntrkv
Yes, it's easier to start a company and take risks when the only person you
have to worry about is yourself. This is the case in anything you do whether
it's starting a company, traveling, trying to become a professional basketball
player, etc. Are you suggesting YC help someone take care of their kids?

~~~
skj
> Are you suggesting YC help someone take care of their kids?

No, how did you get that? I'm also not suggesting they shouldn't. It's just
not at all what I was talking about.

------
unclesaamm
"Peter won’t invest in any companies while they’re in YC or for 3 months after
they present at Demo Day (this will apply to Peter’s investment entities as
well), which should eliminate any unfair advantage."

I wonder if having Peter as an investor is a strong enough incentive that if
they knew he liked them, a company would change their behavior for the 3
months after demo day.

~~~
tabtabtab
I would change a lot of my behaviors for an investment from Peter

------
salimmadjd
Thiel's addition makes YC into a monopoly of sorts. Which is inline with
Thiel's philosophy.

I wonder how much of that thinking was involved in the decision making on both
sides.

------
hkailahi
While I found Thiel's recent work (Zero to One) to be extremely interesting, I
am skeptical about a fair portion of it. I am much more inclined to agree with
the claims in PG's startup essays, which seem to have been the cornerstone
principles of YC.

Am I to that assume all of YC is adopting Thiel's beliefs as well? To be
clear, I'm not saying both views are mutually exclusive.

~~~
onion2k
If everyone agreed with Thiel's approach then it could only be described as
obvious. The fact that people disagree with him is a good thing. The rational
thing to do is test it. If YC adopts his approach then that will be a
significant sample..

------
foobarqux
What is a part-time partner and how does it differ from a full-time one? Do
they get carry?

------
joeyspn
Thiel joining forces with YC, and Musk with Google Ventures... Clash of the
titans!

~~~
StartupLSatoshi
I wouldn't say that Musk is joining forces with Google Ventures.

Musk has no involvement with GV and SpaceX raised from Google Inc., not Google
Ventures.

~~~
joeyspn
Yeah well, I should have said "Google". Also, don't forget about the SolarCity
thing... [https://gigaom.com/2015/02/26/google-solarcity-partner-
on-75...](https://gigaom.com/2015/02/26/google-solarcity-partner-on-750m-fund-
for-rooftop-solar/)

------
bostonpete
I found a top post called "Welcome Peter" to be jarring and eerie... :-)

~~~
petercooper
Yeah, I thought I had good news or at least a new personalized welcome system
on HN ;-)

------
StartupLSatoshi
This addition iconifies the way the Valley's power structure has been changing
over the last few years.

Substantially more (reputation wise) powerful now than 5 years ago:

\- Peter Thiel (and Founders Fund)

\- Y Combinator

\- Joe Lonsdale

\- Keith Rabois

And that whole crew. The PayPal mafia (and @sama) are the new tier one.

------
KhalilK
> _(now 10!)_

Read that as a factorial and giggled.

------
wavefunction
well palantir, I guess someone's gotta con the Taxpayers out of their freedom
AND money

------
tauslu
I guess the next addition will be Nassim Nicholas Taleb!

------
ToJans
Diversity is good. When people start flocking together confirmation bias
changes, so I'd assume this is not such a good thing TBH.

------
mathattack
Wow Wow Wow!!!!

To take the basketball analogy further, is like the NBA champions getting a
hold of the first pick in the draft lottery.

------
ing33k
Applications are still open :)

------
6thSigma
This is awesome for YC. Will he be reviewing applications?

------
mastef
Oh, Hi Peter! So how would you solve mortality?
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9149186](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9149186)

------
dreadpiraterob
If you can't beat them, join them.

------
synner
Hello Peter!

------
karangoeluw
Congrats YC!

------
thielyc
Why did Mr. Thiel join YC?

------
higherpurpose
Not bad. As long as you don't also bring Andreessen. I can't forgive him for
what he did to Oculus. Could you bring Mark Cuban on board, too? That would be
great.

~~~
bgilroy26
Here I am, thinking Thiel and Andreesen were already affiliated with
YCombinator.

I have been a bad fan.

------
dlu
And so the YC behemoth grows. Congrats, I look forward to being lectured many
times about needing secrets and monopolies.

And focusing not on being the first product to market, but the last.

Did I miss any Thiel-isms?

~~~
dogecoinbase
Don't go to college.

------
jameshk
Awesome.

------
freese
This is great news!

------
cpks
Peter: Are you reading this thread?

~~~
petercooper
Yep.

------
brudgers
I can't help but think how this reflects on YC's previous words in regard to
diversity in the tech industry. The obvious snark involves the word "myth" or
expanding YC's diversity to include people on record as opposing it, but my
intent is not to express snark. No surprise when money trumps the need for
explanation. I guess being a billionaire means never having to say you're
sorry.

Good luck.

------
X-combinator
Omigosh! Congratulations.

------
TomGullen
Peter Thiel is a political extremist, and I don't like a lot of his views at
all. My point of view is that this is bad for YCombinator, and that this is a
bit of a shame.

~~~
agorabinary
"Political extremist" is an empty ad-hominem --- please point out specifically
what views of his are so distasteful.

~~~
danmaz74
“Most importantly, I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are
compatible.”

"Since 1920, the vast increase in welfare beneficiaries and the extension of
the franchise to women — two constituencies that are notoriously tough for
libertarians — have rendered the notion of “capitalist democracy” into an
oxymoron."

~~~
zajd
Those sound pretty damning to me. Especially coming from a billionaire.

~~~
baddox
Which part of his statement is inaccurate?

~~~
zajd
I think making the claim that democracy and "freedom" aren't compatible is
comedic at best. "Freedom" is an incredibly nebulous concept and it's no
secret that we have AND should have laws that restrict behaviors like say
murder, or rape. What he really means to say is "democracy is a threat to the
things I want to do", and when it's coming from someone who's a member of the
ultraelite, well, then... maybe it should threaten what you do. Democracy was
created so THAT the masses could overpower the special interests of the
elites.

~~~
baddox
The fact that freedom is a nebulous concept makes his claim nebulous, not
comedic.

