
Holiday Gift Ideas from Y Combinator - t-3-k
http://www.ycgiftideas.com/
======
jl
Rather than responding to everyone's complaints about the site: I whipped this
together in less than a day, I was mostly focused on content, no one at YC who
usually makes beautiful designs was available to help, I can't program, I'm
using Strikingly, this is version 1.

I'm happy to get feedback, but please go easy on me. We will plan much further
in advance next year and make it easy to scroll through ideas and look
beautiful and not be annoying in the countless ways it seems to be currently
:)

~~~
baldajan
Honestly, it's fantastic! I couldn't tell it was made with Strikingly until
the end. The images used, the division of products and copy layout are done
really well.

In regards to concept, I think it's great YC is promoting YC cos at every
opportunity it gets. Sometimes it feels like an ad, but this time it does not.
Perfectly timed "launch" of the site.

I think you've done a better job than most, in both content and design. I
looked at the site a few hours ago, and was thinking of the team and the week
of prep work that YC put into building this. Never could have believed it was
made by a non-programmer in less than a single day until I read this.

For constructive feedback, would love if you borrow an idea from Apple's gift
list. That is, categorize the products and services by topic or type. I.e. For
the music lover, the hipster, painter, etc. would really go a long way once
this list gets out of hand (which I suspect it will ;)

~~~
puredemo
Eh, seven days before Christmas isn't time to buy much.

------
jl
Sorry, not sure what happened but right after I launched this, my computer
crashed! My blog post: [https://blog.ycombinator.com/holiday-gift-ideas-from-
y-combi...](https://blog.ycombinator.com/holiday-gift-ideas-from-y-combinator-
companies)

This was a lot of fun and came together really fast given the time
constraints. Colleen was amazing and did the write-ups quickly. I've been
working frantically to get this out. Still needs work though. Please send
comments. But first, I need to go drink some water as I haven't left my desk
in many hours.

UPDATE: as I suspected, my inbox is exploding with emails from other YC
startups with gift ideas. Will update as fast as I can.

~~~
minimaxir
It should be much more explicit on the gift site itself that the site is a Y
Combinator property. (I see the logo now, but it is easy to miss)

I honestly thought it was a fan page at first since there is no clarification
on who the "We" is that selected the companies.

~~~
jl
Thanks. I adjusted the text slightly. Hopefully, it's more clear.

~~~
minimaxir
Much more clear. Thanks!

------
janus24
In France we almost have the same thing, it's call Noël de la French Tech [1]
(Christmas of the French Tech). It's been three years now and it's wonderful
to find Made In France christmas gift !

[1] [http://noeldelafrenchtech.fr](http://noeldelafrenchtech.fr)

~~~
penelopeliot
And we even created an English version this year with products that ship
internationally :) You can check it out here:
[http://frenchxmas.com/](http://frenchxmas.com/)

------
colmvp
Some great ideas here.

I really like Level Frames. Will definitely use them in the future for my
space.

The site makes me wish YC kept a publicly filterable curated list of products
from YC companies that included these things like pretty images and a tagline
that captures exactly what the company does.

~~~
tedmiston
That could be an interesting weekend project.

I'm thinking roughly:

    
    
      - scrape the list from http://yclist.com/
      - filter the ones that sell a physical product (somehow)
      - write a tiny scraper for each site's store (oh god) or try import.io
      - (potentially) bake in your referral code for each site

------
trevmckendrick
I don't understand any of the negatively about the items or the site.

I just sent the site to my mom. She could pick anything and it'd be a great
gift, it's that good.

~~~
therobot24
i'm sure the negativity stems from seeing most of this stuff as the tech
equivalent of junky bed, bath, and beyond "unitaskers" \- you know the type:
strawberry huller, banana slicer, etc. In reality, this list is a YC version
of thinkgeek. Kinda fun, but most of it is utterly useless.

------
karmacondon
This is a great idea, but it seems like it would be more effective if there
were fewer items listed. It took me quite a bit of effort to go through the
list from top to bottom.

An unsolicited suggestion: Maybe it would be best to have to "Buy From YC
Companies" page or something like that, and then just select 6-8 of them on a
separate "for the holidays" page. At least that way an everyday consumer could
quickly scan the list without having to read 20+ startup descriptions (which
can be tiring, even for the hn crowd).

Personally, I thought it was worth the read. I had no idea that many of these
companies were YC backed, or that some of them existed at all.

~~~
tedmiston
Perhaps small categories would be beneficial. I read and opened almost every
item anyway though.

Personally, I'd like to view pre-launch items and gift cards separately from
everything else.

------
abuehrle
Oh man, Pantelligent is the perfect gift for one of my family members, but
it's backordered until next year! Such a bummer. Wish I knew about it sooner.

~~~
biot
Just buy an electric skillet for a fraction of the cost and then use one of
the many cooking apps out there which already prompt you with times, etc. An
electric skillet has the benefit that it will keep precise temperature without
any action on your part. Pantelligent seems to have reinvented an expensive
solution for a problem that was solved over half a century ago:

[http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=electric+skillet+vintage](http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=electric+skillet+vintage)

~~~
tlb
I prefer my Pantelligent because I can clean it like a normal pan (with soap
and water in the sink), instead of like an electrical appliance (wiping
carefully, trying not to get most of it wet). Also, it heats up faster so you
can cook eggs in 4 minutes (1 pre-heating, 3 cooking).

~~~
biot
Many electric skillets are fully submersible and dishwasher safe. They pretty
much all have removable plugs that has the thermostat control and what's left
is a sealed unit. As for heating up, that's a function of your skillet vs.
stove wattage which varies from appliance to appliance.

------
run4yourlives2
I look at this site and a part of me thinks that there is a segment of the
population that is seemingly incapable of doing very basic things like
sleeping, cooking or buying clothes without being handheld by the computer in
their phone.

I'm being a little overboard of course, but I really wonder how dependent we
will be on our machines to survive at all in a generation or two.

~~~
cowsandmilk
I have mixed feelings. I once had a roommate who literally could not drive 2
miles to work every day without her GPS. She turned it on every day and had
been working there for over a year. Simultaneously, that bike that talks to my
phone's GPS could be very useful when I'm trying to bike places I haven't been
before. Of course, sometimes turning down the wrong street on my bike is where
cool discoveries happen :)

~~~
jessaustin
ISTM the special capabilities of the special bike should be accessories that
anyone can install on most any bike, rather than only available built into
this one bike. A startup should specialize in those special capabilities, and
leave the production of existing products to existing product companies. That
is _especially_ true for bicycles, which are both standardized enough that
parts and accessories are largely interchangeable and differentiated enough
that most cyclists already have their favorite bike(s) that this company can't
hope to replace.

------
socialist_coder
It pains me to see so many "first world problem" solvers. Nothing can
illustrate the problem of the startup tech industry not tackling "real
problems" like this list.

And hey, I can't even talk; I make freemium mobile apps so it's not like I'm
solving real problems either.

It just sucks and I wish it was sexier and more profitable to go after real
problems rather than silly stuff like e-sheets or digital frying pans that
perfectly cook your grass feed beef steaks.

~~~
woah
I would dismiss a lot of stuff on that list, but not the e-frying pan.
Automating cooking could be a huge labor-saver, and really help with women's
rights, like the washing machine in the last century.

~~~
socialist_coder
I guess you could also argue that a lot of this stuff is a stepping stone
towards a Star Trek future. We'll never get robots preparing our food if we
don't start with e-frying pans, right?

------
taneem
It would be fairer to the companies at the bottom of the list if you had the
list randomly resort itself with each page load, instead of being rendered in
alphabetical order.

~~~
spydertennis
yeah but then it would be harder to find things when revisiting the list. oh
wait you cookie everyone and preserve the order on an individual basis. sick.

------
bdegman
Wish this was posted a week ago :)

~~~
jl
I know! Next year we'll be more planful.

~~~
ethbro
If only there were a startup that provided a Christmas gift reminder
service... ;)

------
physcab
Thanks for putting this together. I peruse HN pretty much everyday and I
haven't heard of half of these products. Pretty neat.

------
caskance
Reading the description of Memebox after it caught my eye while scrolling was
by far the largest disappointment I've had today.

~~~
cheniel
Why?

~~~
bjterry
Not the person you are replying to, but based on the name one would expect it
to be related to Internet memes.

------
duck
Honest question - how does something like Level Frames (and lots of others I
see here that I've never heard of) meet this definition of a startup -
[http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html)?

------
onion2k
The "Function of Beauty" link takes you to a page that asks you to enter the
name and email address _of the recipient_ \- they're asking you to enter
someone else's personal information. That's appalling.

------
bambax
The Vanhawks bike looks incredibly gorgeous (first time I learned of its
existence), however isn't it better to buy a smart sports watch like the
Garmin Fenix for example, and use any bike with it?

Also: no mudguards??

------
darrelld
The LeTote link is broken. Goes to ttps//letote.com/gift_cards

:)

~~~
jl
fixed

------
sotojuan
give me tap! looks perfect for me. Guess I'm getting myself a small gift.

------
egeozcan
> Sirum connects unopened, expired medications to patients in need.

I guess it was supposed to be "unexpired".

~~~
teng
Ah thanks for this. Fixed now!

------
hn9780470248775
SkyMall is back!

~~~
nostromo
Yet.ly: a yeti statue that monitors your heart rate, sleeping patterns and
stress level, just like a real yeti.

~~~
adevine
I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad that I know exactly which Yeti statue
you are referring to.

------
secondbond
Fantastic. I am surprised to learn that people gift condoms too for christmas.

------
simplexion
I wouldn't bother with that automatic device. It is very expensive for a
bluetooth odb2 device. You can buy them for bugger all on Amazon and buy the
Torque app for $5.

------
bduerst
Can you print the Spark Gift out at all?

This is perfect for a gift exchange.

~~~
bobhaigler
Yes, you can print out a commemorative certificate and a gift card. A sample
is available to view before purchase.

------
__jal
Typo on the Pebble ad. "...models are 20% just…"

~~~
buechs
Good catch! I pinged Colleen. Thank you!

------
cpach
Wow. So many YC companies I had never heard of!

------
thesimon
SparkGift seems to be for US-residents only. Does someone know an alternative
for Europe?

~~~
bobhaigler
Yes, currently we're only setup for US residents. Europe is on the roadmap,
but unfortunately we're not there yet :) Happy to answer any questions.

------
kissickas
Cool idea, some great products there.

But why would pre-order only items be included in this time-sensitive list?

As a side note, I am shocked at how non-HN-user-friendly most of these sites
are. I saw an insane number of tracking scripts blocked and most were rendered
completely unusable without JS.

------
vacri
As an aside, gift certificates/cards aren't particularly suitable for a 'gift
idea' list. Gift cards are what you give when you can't think of anything.

------
ing33k
I got some startup ideas after visiting this ;)

------
lkfnlkewmf
Isn't what sirum is doing illegal?

------
teddyh
Some of the pictures are ridiculous:

The Pantelligent picture just shows a picture of _a box_ with “Pantelligent”
written on it, not the actual product.

The uBiome one is straight-up meaningless clip-art (of a robot holding a
wrapped present) with the company logo badly pasted on. Sure, the nature of
the product makes it hard to get a picture of it, but the clip-art could most
certainly have been chosen better.

The Craft Coffee one only shows pictures of _text-only ads_ for the product,
not what you would get when you actually subscribe.

------
ColinWright
Hmm:

    
    
        502 Bad Gateway
    

Plus:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10754546](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10754546)

~~~
sandslash
Should be back up now!

------
nautical
Still down
[http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/ycgiftideas.com.html](http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/ycgiftideas.com.html)

~~~
sandslash
Just updated. Should be working now.

Edited the link :)

~~~
nautical
Yo ! its up :)

------
notliketherest
This website design makes me feel queasy.

~~~
jjmanton
I am not liking this new trend where everything must animate as you scroll.

------
yoodenvranx
Sorry for ranting, but this type of modern webdesign and "user interface" is
_horrible_.

Who in their right mind thinks that putting a button called "Show me the list"
dead center of the page? Hey guys, I have a novel idea: instead of adding a
button, just _show_ me that list!

And do you know what happens if you press that button? The website scrolls
down a ~300 pixels and then you can see the first 1.8 entries of that list!?
F*ck this shit! You have ~900 vertical pixels at your disposal and all you
manage to do is to show me TWO lousy items?

I actually tried to scroll down the list and it took me FORTYFOUR (!) scrolls
of my mouse wheel to reach the end of the page. 44 scrolls to see a list of
just 40 items?! This is horrible! In what world do you live if you think that
this is a good user experience.

There is a lot of stuff killing the web right now, but one of the things
nobody ever talks about is this horrible "modern" design which is nothing more
than a wasteland of white padding, waste of space, way too large fonts and
oversized picture banners which take way too much bandwidth too load.

In my opinion we should introduce a whitespace-to-content or padding-to-
content ratio which punishes bad webdesign.

Another offender for this is medium.com. Yes, it has good content, but you
have to hunt for it in the wast amount of padding and oversized images.

Just go and have a look at the mediums frontpage. What do you see? A few
words, two buttons and a large image. In order to see any content you have to
scroll down and even then they manage to only show you 2 items at the same
time. If you want to see more you have to scroll constantly.

/rant

~~~
adevine
I strongly disagree. While I'm usually also one to rail against extraneous
whitespace, I think it's important to consider the purpose of the list.

For example, if I'm searching for a contact in a contact list, I want as
little whitespace as possible, because I want to be able to quickly scroll to
an individual item very quickly. This is really a "searching for one item in a
list" use case.

In this example, 99% of users won't be looking for any one specific thing. The
whole point of the site is to show new stuff you aren't aware of. In that
context, the fact that the scrolling behavior optimizes for stopping at each
item it turn (lots of whitespace, the animated fade-in) is a benefit, because
I won't know anything special about one product versus another.

Also, the experience is clearly optimized for mobile. And the type of
"daydream and browse" experience that this site is geared towards screams
mobile use case.

~~~
graeme
I exited the list very fast. I wanted to quickly skim over it to find products
of interest, then consider the promising ones. That took far too long, so I
just left.

~~~
yoodenvranx
> That took far too long, so I just left.

Yes, exactly! The only reason why I actually scrolled all the way down was to
figure out how many scrolls it takes to get to the bottom. Otherwise I would
have just left after the 5th item.

------
praveenster
L better not a beta product.

------
therobot24
> Eight is a smart bed cover that learns about you and improves and
> personalizes your sleep experience -- you can even program one side of the
> bed to be a different temperature than the other. Starting at $249, Eight is
> available now for pre-order and set to ship in April 2016.

LOL wut?

After scrolling through the rest, this has to be one of the best collections
of first-world problem junk.

------
lquist
Honest question: Are you serious?

What kind of person thinks to themselves, "Man, I really wish I had a gift
idea list based on a particular financial investor."

~~~
rhino369
Most gift lists are all the same. This one is sort of outside the box. I
enjoyed it.

~~~
arasmussen
Me too. It actually had things on it I'm considering buying.

