
Virtualmin Founder Joe Cooper Explains Y Combinator to Slashdot Trolls - staunch
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=234583&cid=19110535
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SwellJoe
Some interesting things (to me, anyway):

This link to my post on Slashdot is better rated than all but one of my
submissions to News.YC. I guess that's why Staunch is in the "leaders" and I'm
in the ghetto with ~100 points. Staunch has an eye for a good story, and I
don't, even when I wrote it.

Steven Levy is utterly ignored when he posts on Slashdot (he replied to my
post, and got no votes). I find that shocking. The Slashdot I knew and loved
would have really appreciated a visit from the author of "Hackers". He's not
some hack writer slumming in the tech department on his way to politics or
sports...he's Steven-Fucking-Levy. Folks ought to show some respect. I'm not
wishing for an automatic +5 from fan-boys (ala Bruce Perens), but it'd be nice
to see some evidence that the idiots aren't running the asylum over there in
Slashland.

Finally, my post elicited a +5 Interesting, but got no replies (other than
Steven's response, and a troll). Sure, I'm all giddy about the magnificent
impact on my karma (Excellent-Excellent...I feel validated), but I'd rather
hear what folks have to say. I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that
everyone wants to post to only the latest stories.

I miss being able to vote on everything. Sure, I get moderator points over on
Slashdot pretty frequently (Karma==Excellent!), but never when I really want
to smack someone down or approve something.

Why does any of this matter? I dunno.

~~~
whacked_new
I'm fairly interested in these problems; they are directly relevant. So thanks
for mentioning them :)

------
jsjenkins168
One interesting observation I've had: I've yet to encounter a YC funded
company that has had a negative outcome from the YC program. I've talked to
several in person and through email and its been nothing but positives.

I realize that its probably the successful ones who will be outspoken and
positive, but still something worth noting.

The equity argument is plain stupid IMHO. I'm actually more curious with the
trend that YC and its copies are creating with branding. It seems to be
turning into a kind of "school" where its companies are identified as much by
association with the program as the company's idea itself. So far this seems
to be very good in generating publicity, but I am curious about the long term
effects of this as there are more successfully funded companies and more
copies pop up.

~~~
BitGeek
The main objection of the "trolls" is the strident ideology being shown.
Here's one of my replies buried in the other thread:

Anybody who build their business on nights and weekends while working a
fulltime job is someone who has shown a great deal of commitment. I've done
this, its damn hard... its hard not to let the startup wither away because
you're too busy with your day job, and its hard not to loose interest after
even 3 months of spending all your time on your job or your other job with
little time for anything else.

Show me someone who built thier company that way, and I'll be interested in
putting money in.

YC seems to attract and be geared for, kids in college who want a summer job
with the prospect of glamorous VC money afterwards. It doesn't matter to them
that they might get a raw deal-- cause they don't have much invested in it in
the first place. And ther's nothing wrong with that.

The problem is that these kids are so adamant and smug that this is The One
True Way To Do A Tech Startup-- that making these foolish short term choices
in pursuit of a billion dollar dream is obviously right... and building a net
worth of $10M by building a $3M/a year real buisiness is a "lifestyle"
business-- a failure in their eyes. They are naieve and strident and there is
no getting thru to them because Paul Graham has them mezmerized by the tune
he's playing.

YC is a great summer camp for entreprenurial college students. But all the
bashing of other ways of going about it that they do are so misguided... and
the focus on only high risk, low probability business models seems misguided.

~~~
rstuart
I stumbled across Y Combinator a couple of days ago after the story on
slashdot. I must admit, it drew me in instantly. Being shacked up for 3 months
developing an idea for a start up with little worry about living expenses is
everyones dream isn't it?

I live in Australia and I have an idea for a startup (which, oddly enough, has
to do with internet dating which I was delighted to see is mentioned in one of
the library articles) but I will readily admit the neither I nor my co-founder
have any idea where to start. I am due to finish my Engineering degree in
November and currently work 4 days a week for a local Engineering firm. As you
can imagine this doesn't leave a lot of time for development of my idea or
research of how to go about a startup.

Given such circumstances, a program like Y Combinator seems like the knight in
shinning amour to me and I'm sure to the "kids" you are talking about. Its
not so much the cash they inject, its the guidance and readily available
support they offer which to me seems almost invaluable.

I can therefore see why there are people preaching that Y Combinator is "The
One True Way To Do A Tech Startup". While I myself am not quite ready to make
that claim I can clearly see where the logic behind these remarks resides.
Judging by your comments BitGeek, you clearly aren't a "kid" but someone who
has some experience in this field. I envy you and have a lot of time for any
alternate routes for a startup like mine you care to suggest. But for now,
from a 22 year old kids perspective that has done only a little bit of
research, Y Combinator definitely seems like the best road traveled for my
startup to be a success.

All I have to do now is apply, fly to the USA and be accepted, simple huh?

~~~
hoan
All I have to do now is apply, fly to the USA and be accepted, simple huh?

Hey, I'm from Australia, went for an interview, and didn't get in. Its not
that simple because of VISA issues...

The real point of this post is to get you email me, because you're in
Australia :)

