

CarWoo (YC S09): Dispelling 3 myths about Y Combinator - tommy_mcclung
http://carwoo.com/blog/dispelling-3-myths-about-y-combinator/

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seldo
The irony of a 32-year-old considering himself "old" and claiming that
therefore ageism doesn't exist at YC is great. I'm not saying YC is at all
ageist, but the fact that at 32 he believes it would already apply to him
speaks volumes about how endemic ageism is in tech.

~~~
pg
I wouldn't read too much into it. I think he simply meant he's old in the
sense of not a college kid-- that he has a wife and kids etc. You probably
know better if you are an HN user, but a lot of people still think that YC
only funds 22 year olds.

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kellyreid
as a 26 year old single man, I must say it takes a lot of stress away when I
don't have to explain it to my SO, my son/daughter, etc. I also don't have to
worry if someone else will starve (I can handle myself, of course).

That said, for those entrepreneurial types, age is rarely a factor outside of
family concerns. I"m just glad i have the opportunity to try this before I get
married and settle down.

~~~
BerislavLopac
Why would you marry at all? As you point out yourself, before you succeed it
carries a lot of ballast, and increases the risk; and once you're successful,
why would one want to tie himself (or herself, for that matter) down?

~~~
btilly
Ah, youth.

When you fall in love, you fall in love. Spending time on the relationship at
that point is highly worthwhile. And kids are their own reward. Seriously,
most of us come hard wired to want kids, and a large portion never realize
that until you have your own.

But if you're not ready, then by all means don't get married. But be aware
that you're missing out.

~~~
BerislavLopac
The only thing you're missing is a lot of misunderstandings, unreasonable
demands and endless fights. Who would want that?

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projectileboy
I've been _very_ happily married for 10 years, so I wouldn't so readily
dismiss it, but if it seems constricting to you, then that's cool - don't do
it.

Not directed at you, but at the overall thread: honestly, I don't completely
get why folks get so revved about others' decisions to get/not get married and
have/not have kids. How are your lifestyle choices threatening to my lifestyle
choices?

~~~
prawn
People feel threatened? Grass is always greener, etc. Each path has its pros
and cons. People would prefer to feel more comfortable in their choice. That's
why they do, not why they should though.

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ora600
I'm currently searching for a new car, so I thought I'll check out CarWoo.

Here are some issues I ran into:

1\. Can we have photos of the different models next to the drop down list? and
maybe a short summary of the differences? I know I want a MINI, but I didn't
even know there are three different kinds, so obviously I don't know which one
I want.

2\. Same for trims. At least a link to the manufacturer site to help me figure
this out.

3\. Mention payments only after I entered all my details? This seems unfair!

4\. I feel incredibly uncomfortable to pay for the privilege of you giving my
details to dealers. Shouldn't they be paying you because you are sending them
buyers?

5\. Also, why should I pay upfront? What if I don't get a good deal out of
this?

6\. I tried to ask all this at the nice chat, but after typing my question and
clicking "submit" my text just disappeared and I never got a reply. I'm using
Chrome, btw.

7\. So no, I'm not convinced, and I see no reason to spend time watching
videos of happy customers. I'm not into testimonials anyway. How about some
statistics? What's the expected dollar value of savings for the model I'm
trying to buy?

I hope my comments are at least somewhat useful, and my apologies if the tone
is snarky - I got upset at the non-working chat.

~~~
myoung8
Sorry about that! Let me address your questions one-by-one:

1\. We'll consider this. However, the vast majority of our users already know
what model they want (i.e. they've done their research before using CarWoo!)

2\. Same.

3\. Split tests don't lie.

4\. Actually, you're paying for the privilege of us keeping your information
anonymous from 10 dealers and only giving it to the one dealer you want to
work with after you've vetted them all through our app (i.e. we save you from
spam), among many other benefits we provide, such as better prices from
competition.

5\. We have a 100% Happiness Guarantee and we're not afraid to use it.

6\. Sorry about that, we use a 3rd-party service called SnapEngage, I'll have
to look into this.

7\. Some statistics for the analytically-inclined:

\- CarWoo! buyers save an average of over $3000 off MSRP (but this is
meaningless without context) \- CarWoo! buyers save an average of $450 more
than any other car-buying service (Costco, AAA, USAA) \- For Minis, CarWoo!
buyers save an average of about $500 off MSRP (relatively low, but Mini
dealers generally aren't that willing to negotiate on price)

Thank you for your comments. Please let me know if you have any other
questions or if you'd like a coupon to use CarWoo!

~~~
tocomment
I question that was bothering me: where does the test drive fit into your
model? Are you supposed to go to dealers beforehand to do that?

~~~
tommy_mcclung
Right now most people take the test drive prior to using our service. We know
it opens the door for dealers to do what they do, but our target customers
tend to avoid the games dealers play anyway so it's sort of a self selection
process that works... for now. :)

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kaiserama
Thanks for sharing.

On a completely side note I noticed that Brendan Schaub had a CarWoo logo on
his shorts at UFC121, so someone at CarWoo must like MMA. Anyway, I've always
been curious about how much those fighters charge to have advertisers on their
shorts...would you mind sharing how much it cost you? :)

Apologies to the moderator gods for the random and off topic question.

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random42
_We have raised over $6M and while YC helped us and we are extremely
appreciative, the hard work we put into CarWoo! and our determination to build
a huge company was the key to our success._

raising venture capital != success. Not for a scalable, repeatable _business_
anyways.

~~~
tommy_mcclung
I meant our success in getting to the funding milestone. We are very well
aware that we are at the beginning, not the end.

~~~
random42
Good to know that you are not counting your chickens before they are hatched.

Best of luck! :)

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btucker
I'd love to hear more about how they lined up their dealer network.

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tommy_mcclung
Through a ton of phone calls :). We followed our buyers and built some
scheduling software to help us prioritize notifying existing dealers and
contacting new ones to satisfy the buyers. Another great topic for another
blog post. Stay tuned.

~~~
btucker
Very interesting. Looking forward to the post!

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colinsidoti
I was biting my fingernails as I read your first paragraph...well played sir.

