

Tell HN: "Y Combinator: It's such an unfair advantage." - InfinityX0

Brian Norgard's recent tweet:<p>""It's such an unfair advantage." referring to @ycombinator &#62;&#62; what a great time we live in where young people have tools like this."<p>http://twitter.com/BrianNorgard/status/24136354265<p>I read this tweet and thought very quickly that no - YCombinator isn't an unfair advantage at all - it's something much, much less totalitarian.<p>Unfair advantages imply zero-sum games, that somehow the winners and lowers pit against one another in a game of deft and wit.<p>However, the beautiful thing about what Y-Combinator does and what their startups do is contribute in a way that is nonzero - everyone wins.<p>These seed-stage startups are of the type that they rarely "compete", in the purest, man-on-man thought of the word. The nature of YCombinator makes this pretty much impossible - such incremental sums of money would make it highly unlikely that they could compete with anything -- other than maybe a milk stand.<p>Instead, they solve problems and make people's lives better. Sometimes they contribute to zero-sum solutions, getting acquired by other companies, but mostly, their product and service offerings are based on purely zero-sum principles - unique web apps and add-ons that make functioning that much easier - and often, that much more fun.<p>So, to Brian Norgard and others who believe Y-Combinator to be an "unfair advantage", I say - no. I say, thank you, Y-Combinator, for being the advantage that all of us - not just the start-ups - get to benefit from.
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patio11
"Unfair advantage" is sort of a term-of-art in business. It doesn't mean what
it literally suggests. What he is trying to express is that given two equally
situated firms, the one in YCombinator is more likely to succeed, and that
this advantage is durable against easy attempts to duplicate it short of
joining YCombinator yourself.

You will occasionally be asked "What is _your_ unfair advantage?" by business
type folks. They are really looking for defensible sources of competitive
advantage.

It means something _radically_ different if you are asked the question on a
college campus.

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InfinityX0
I can roll with that, definitely. Take my statement then as a more forward
appreciation of what Y-Combinator does as a whole.

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pchristensen
I think the "unfair" is tongue in cheek. It's not that there's an element of
fairness, it's just so beneficial that there's really no reason not to do it.
Sure, some people might not be able to for personal or family reasons. I think
it's like how pg referred to accepting a slot in YC as an IQ test - if you
have the opportunity, there's no better possible choice than taking it.

Side question for pg: has anyone ever been offered a slot and declined? At
this point with the track record and well-defined nature of the program, I
don't see how you could get invited to interview and then not accept.

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cperciva
_Side question for pg: has anyone ever been offered a slot and declined?_

I'd be surprised if nobody had ever picked another micro-VC over Y Combinator
(in particular, I'd guess that there must be some people who have gone to
TechStars). I think YC is fantastic, but it would be crazy to think that YC is
the best program for _everybody_.

