
Y Combinator's Altman: What I Worry About in Business [video] - roybahat
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-24/y-contributor-s-altman-what-i-worry-about
======
firasd
Great quote about ‘Unicorns’ (lightly edited from verbal form):

“I looked through the list of companies that have an over a billion dollar
valuation recently, and more than half, I think, were valued between like a
billion and 1.5 billion, and something like a quarter were valued exactly at a
billion. So people are clearly obsessed with getting to this mark, and they
are willing to put all sorts of weird structure on their terms to get there.
If you were looking at the financial data, you would say something is amiss.
You’d say there is some fraud going on or something, if you were just looking
at the numbers. Because they don’t fit the distribution you’d expect. There is
this huge desire to get right to a billion or just over. I don’t care about
it. I think it’s dumb, but that’s not going to make a company great or not.”

As a sidenote, Sam should probably stop antagonizing his interviewers by
dismissing the business pontification featured on their shows :) I agree with
him but it’s also a bit unnecessary.

~~~
zem
nope. pet peeve - symbolism isn't irrational. "a billion dollars" is a
powerful symbol, and may well pay off as much in psychological benefits as it
loses in structural weirdness. or it may not, but it's definitely not clear-
cut enough to dismiss as "dumb".

~~~
firasd
Yes but anytime you are engineering “financials” instead of engineering sales
and customer satisfaction you are headed down a path that warps things. In the
case of unicorn valuations it’s your term sheet: investors who are getting in
at high symbolic valuations are asking for special provisions to protect
downside that you wouldn’t otherwise grant them.

~~~
beambot
All of those (eg. sales and psychology) are interrelated. For example, say
you're an enterprise SaaS company. Saying, "We have a $1B valuation and aren't
going anywhere" actually carries meaningful psychological weight during the
sales process -- weight which could be the difference between winning or
losing out to a competitor. In that regard, it may matter...

------
on_
>
> [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-24/y-contributo...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-24/y-contributor-
> s-altman-what-i-worry-about)

Ahh yes, Dan Altman, a recent hire at SV clone "Y Contributor", talks about
attention to detail, and working with the Samwer bros.

Edit: << pun intended.

~~~
ThomPete
I am not actually sure why people have so much against the Samwer brothers.

Have they done anything particularly despicable?

I know their model is to copy any potential idea coming out of the US which I
don't understand the issue with.

One thing they really did well was to have a structure that makes it easy for
them to localize any company.

I hear the work environment is hard but so is it many other places.

Or maybe I am missing your joke?

~~~
seiji
_copy any potential idea coming out of the US which I don 't understand the
issue with._

Except, they don't just copy the idea, they copy the entire products and
companies wholesale (interface, API, UI, user interaction model). How is that
_not_ bad?

~~~
peterjancelis
I love how everybody in Silicon Valley claims ideas don't matter, only
execution does, then hate on the company that is taking that maxim to its
ultimate conclusion.

~~~
ThomPete
Exactly!

------
ibsufupu
Good job dodging those landmines. It's always nice to hear him talk about this
stuff. What I would like even more is to just hear people knowledgeable about
this kind of stuff just chat. Doesn't even have to be able what they're good
at. I just want to witness their mindset.

~~~
firasd
I know what you mean and there's surprisingly good content on youtube along
those lines. Some examples:

(1) How to Start a Startup (by Sam Altman et al):
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxIJaCMEptJjxmmQgGFsnCg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxIJaCMEptJjxmmQgGFsnCg)
(2) CS183C:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnsTB8Q5VgnVzh1S-VMCX...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnsTB8Q5VgnVzh1S-VMCXiuwJglk5AV--)
(3) PreMoney conference:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOStnEM8wBOYdQ6FFXTnY...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOStnEM8wBOYdQ6FFXTnYfBVjSCsQ7dlQ)

And of course a lot of great podcasts.

------
userium
I agree with the comment about diversity; "Everyone talks about diversity in
tech. I think the best thing you can do is not talk about it but just act on
it".

With over 40% of women leaving tech, we
([http://keepwomen.com/](http://keepwomen.com/)) have been doing research into
this topic and talked to lots of women in tech. One of the things we found out
was the importance of finding a company culture that’s right for you. Those
women who persisted and changed jobs eventually found a company that was a
good match for them. So we think one of the ways to "act on it", is to help
women find a company culture that's right for them.

------
rokhayakebe
I would like to see a YC clone for Dude's businesses, companies that
interested in building a profitable business that pays dividend yearly. No
exit, No billion dollar valuation, actually no valuation necessary.

~~~
rguzman
[http://indie.vc/](http://indie.vc/) maybe?

------
sarciszewski
Anyone have a text transcript handy? I don't like multimedia.

~~~
tristanho
It's very similar to what he talked about here:

[http://blog.samaltman.com/unit-economics](http://blog.samaltman.com/unit-
economics)

At least for the first section of the interview.

------
jaoued
My view is that the ones, who first hand know will succeed are the founders
and co. (even if they sometime doubt)... Investors, etc..., on the other hand,
once they invest will always put the right spin and word to fullfill the
prophecy. Before they invest, most of of them have no clue, hence invest in
large numbers of startup projects with the hope, at least one of each
portfolio will make boom for the entire portfolio.

"Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." dixit
Niels Bohr.

Good interview from Sam though.

------
vasilipupkin
Great interview, but my advice for Sam would be to drop the use of "like". I
think it makes him sound a little bit like a high school student :)

~~~
efoto
As far as I can tell his use of the word is totally appropriate and not even
close to high schoolers "like". Trust me, I have one at home.

~~~
vasilipupkin
perhaps, but I counted like between 4 and 6 likes, that were, like, totally
unnecessary :)

------
wakeless
No [video] ?

------
curiousjorge
he seems like he doesnt know whats going to happen next, just like everyone
else.

