
YC is joining Alexis Ohanian's Without Their Permission Tour - kn0thing
http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-is-joining-alexis-ohanians-without-their-permission-tour
======
rayiner
Its amusing to me to see the tech industry continue to play the underdog card.
"We don't need anyone's permission (not when we have the full backing of Wall
Street, the advertising industry, and some of the most profitable corporations
in the world)."

You saw this with SOPA and PIPA. A "grassroots" movement, supported by a slate
of tech companies, some of which are by themselves comparable in size to all
of Hollywood.[1] I support the position, I support the underlying message, but
I find the pretense rather silly.

[1] Global Hollywood box office and DVD revenues are about $90 billion
([http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/how-much-does-
hol...](http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2012/how-much-does-hollywood-
earn)). Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are listed as opposing SOPA, and are
each in the $50-$80 billion range. Apple, which stayed neutral on SOPA but is
usually more aligned with the content distributors than the content producers,
is about twice the size of Hollywood at $170 billion.

~~~
pg
Alexis is not the tech industry. This is a guy doing a book tour. And as for
SOPA, while some companies opposed it, the opposition to it was _far_ more
grass-roots than the support for it.

~~~
selmnoo
Isn't this submission about Y Combinator joining him on that book tour?

> _We’re thrilled to announce that Y Combinator will be joining Alexis Ohanian
> on the road starting next week for the Without Their Permission tour._

I think this is how a lot of people here will inevitably read this: The most
famous startup incubator is going to be joining Alexis, a well-liked guy,
Reddit cofounder, on a tour to promote his book (and by extension, the
personalities of the participating parties themselves -- this is just the
nature of promotion tours, you don't just raise the profile of a book, album,
or movie, you're also raising the profile of the parties involved). The first
three stops are Harvard, MIT, Tufts. At each stop there are successful YC
alums telling budding entrepreneurs that YC is the way to go. Something I
don't necessarily disagree with because I like YC, I'm just pointing out that
it's perhaps a bit disingenuous to reduce what's going on here to "just
Ohanian's book tour".

~~~
kn0thing
Sorry this wasn't more clear, but this is a 150+ stop booktour:
[http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-
dates](http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-dates)

It's not limited to just the stops where there'll be YC members.

------
chasing
"Without Their Permission* Tour"

* As long as we're the ones doing it to them. If they're doing it to us, they need to get our permission.

~~~
FedRegister
Ethics? In my science and technology? I'm sorry, I'm too busy bootstrapping my
lean startup gearing up for a long runway so I can exit right before the
pivot. I'm sure someone else like the EFF can figure out the ethics part. I'll
just cut them a check.

~~~
mdakin
"Look out honey, 'cause I'm using technology! Ain't got time to make no
apology" -Iggy Pop

There are people who work on the ethics of science and technology full time
and they are awesome. If every technologist worked on ethics full time nothing
would ever get done. I recommend checking out the work of the STS department
of MIT though Open Courseware if you are interested in ethics.

[http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-
society/](http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/science-technology-and-society/)

Also, if there is _actually_ something unethical going on, it's best to
enunciate it using straight/clear prose following the satire if you actually
want to affect the external world.

------
agentultra
The introduction to the book is ripe with a myopic optimism wrt. the
egalitarian effects of the Internet. It doesn't touch the inequalities in the
redistribution of wealth in the technology sector, the secondary effects it's
having on unskilled labor and the social impact of a hyper-competitive market
of over-achievers. It's a little off-putting but the author is highly
successful and a philanthropist so I'm looking forward to see if he is capable
of drawing any interesting conclusions by the end of it.

Given the reviewers of the book however I think that curiosity has certainly
bested me this time.

~~~
Meekro
Paul Graham actually wrote an essay about this:
[http://paulgraham.com/inequality.html](http://paulgraham.com/inequality.html)

I agree with pg -- eliminating inequality would almost eliminate incentives to
take great risks, and would be a disaster for the economy.

~~~
agentultra
Economic inequality is a broad concept and only one in which I don't think the
Internet is playing as positive a role as Alexis is bragging about in the
introduction to this book. I know the Internet has made _some_ people rich but
it's not as flat and egalitarian a world as his optimism and unbridled
enthusiasm seem to admit.

However I am reserving any conclusions until I've finished reading it.

------
jqueryin
Does anybody know why Alexis is skipping the Southeast? I'd love to make it
and we have some very big cities, but he's not headed for this direction
according to the schedule:

[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AroQUykhIn54dEQ...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AroQUykhIn54dEQ4b21RbHhiRUphSEwxVVlCV3g3cUE#gid=1)

~~~
kn0thing
[http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-
dates](http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-dates) Skipping out?

Georgia Tech

University of Georgia

University of Florida

University of Central Florida

UNC

Duke

Wake Forest

Vanderbilt

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_United_States](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_United_States)

Did I miss some?

I know we aren't hitting them all, but we are going to 77 schools (150+ stops)
over 5 months, which is already unprecedented for a book tour. I wish we could
go everywhere folks have asked, but there's only so much time I can take my
team away from their lives and loved ones.

~~~
jqueryin
I agree: pretty insane scheduling.

I guess I was assuming you'd target the top 20 largest cities. When you passed
through North Carolina, for instance, you skipped over Charlotte. It's a solid
2 and a half hours away from Raleigh, so not an easy trip for students.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_population)

You could setup something at UNCC. They have an enrollment of over 26,000.
[http://uncc.edu](http://uncc.edu)

------
markkat
I saw the talk at U of M. It was both insightful and entertaining.
Unfortunately the Q&A was dominated by questions about Reddit. I wanted to
hear your thoughts on bitcoin, but knew you'd never get through the line at
the mics. Have you written about it anywhere? Ever thought of selling the book
for BTC?

~~~
kn0thing
Do you see the 'donate bitcoins' link on the sidebar of
[http://withouttheirpermission.com/](http://withouttheirpermission.com/)?
That's because after the book dropped I started getting PMs on reddit from
folks who had.. err.. acquired it ... and wanted to comp me. Pretty rad.

I'm an investor in coinbase.com and buttercoin.com, so I'm rather optimistic
about bitcoin. I've spoken about this a bit to the media + in public:

[http://www.geekwire.com/2013/reddit-cofounder-alexis-
ohanian...](http://www.geekwire.com/2013/reddit-cofounder-alexis-ohanian-
bitcoin-excited-dad-starts-talking/)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1p4i9z/bought_my_bo...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1p4i9z/bought_my_book_in_bitcoin_and_alexis_ohanian/)

[http://video.msnbc.msn.com/all-
in-/53222831#53222831](http://video.msnbc.msn.com/all-in-/53222831#53222831)

------
wil421
No Southeast! I guess that Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Auburn,
University of Alabama, Clemson, University of South Carolina etc. didnt give
their Permission!

~~~
kn0thing
What? I had a packed house at Georgia Tech:
[https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.607940125907956.10...](https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.607940125907956.1073741829.502521506449819&type=1)

Are you not seeing the full schedule? [http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-
dates](http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-dates)

------
minimax
Alexis what do you think about shifting the startup capitalization process
entirely to bit coin? Like what if I don't want to take fiat money investments
and I don't want my shares to be listed on fiat stock exchanges? Maybe there
should be some flag on Angel list or something to indicate whether investors
are sophisticated/progressive enough to do a bit coin round or understand a
bit coin based cap table.

~~~
samtp
I subsist on 100% locally mined and tumbled Bitcoins. All my bills including
food, rent, and even my employees salaries are paid in Bitcoin. I am
liberating them from the fiat prison camp and setting them free into the
Cryptocurrency Paradise. I am Harriet Tubman 2.0 beta.

~~~
chasing
You eat "food?" I've been eating nothing but Bitcoins for months with no ill
effects. And all of my employees are made out of Soylent.

------
rexreed
He's going to be at the Microsoft NERD in Cambridge, MA on Dec. 9 (open to the
public): [http://www.meetup.com/Boston-
TechBreakfast/events/146649912/](http://www.meetup.com/Boston-
TechBreakfast/events/146649912/). Not sure if YCombinator will be there, but
maybe someone can invite them?

~~~
alxndr
Does a tour called "Without Their Permission" really need to be invited?

~~~
rexreed
Maybe not Alexis, but YC might want the invitation to come and do their Office
Hours @ the event if they are interested.

------
maerek
More importantly, this is the first time I realized that there was a
YCombinator _blog_.

~~~
amirmc
They used to post stuff on Posterous and when that was shut down, they moved
to Posthaven (set up by one of the partners, Gary Tan, who was cofounder of
Posterous).

It's not really a blog as such but more a collection of press/news about
portfolio companies.

------
todazar
Make University of Toronto happen! Glad the tour didn't stop at Waterloo :)

~~~
kn0thing
U of Toronto is happening 1/13/2014 [http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-
dates](http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-dates)

And sorry to break it to you, but....
[https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605366512831984&set=...](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=605366512831984&set=pb.502521506449819.-2207520000.1386017275.&type=3&theater)

(Waterloo)

~~~
todazar
It said "In Progress" for UofT on the spreadsheet, but glad to hear that it's
on the itinerary!

Annddd, you took it the wrong way. Much love for Waterloo, I meant I'm glad
you aren't _only_ stopping at Waterloo for Canada :)

------
chatmasta
Are you guys just stopping at these places and hoping people come to you? Or
do you have an event scheduled at each one? I'm specifically talking about
Yale.

~~~
katm
We have an event scheduled at each location, and we're scheduling additional
office hours at a few of the stops. Shoot me an email at kat at ycombinator
and I can get you more info about the event at Yale.

------
j2labs
I wonder if they asked for permission?

------
jobmatchbox
If you take a closer look at the bus, it says "Powered by YCombinator" right
by the door.

------
joseakle
Why isn´t it on Kindle? For overseas customers it´s not always ideal to have
to pay for shipping.

~~~
adamfeldman
Kindle-edition listing on Amazon: [http://www.amazon.com/Without-Their-
Permission-Century-Manag...](http://www.amazon.com/Without-Their-Permission-
Century-Managed-ebook/dp/B00BAXFJ16)

~~~
kn0thing
Aye! Thanks. Also available B&N, iBookstore, etc

------
ntoshev
US only?

~~~
kn0thing
Sorry, just 3 stops in Canada: Waterloo, U Toronto, and McGill
[http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-
dates](http://withouttheirpermission.com/tour-dates)

