
All 60 startups that launched at Y Combinator Winter 2016 Demo Day 1 - BinaryIdiot
http://techcrunch.com/2016/03/22/y-combinator-demo-day-winter-2016/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+techcrunch%2Fstartups+%28TechCrunch+%C2%BB+Startups%29
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mkohlmyr
Perhaps I'm not giving the batch enough credit (there are some incredibly
interesting companies in there) but it strikes me there is still a lot of
fluff in between the gems.

I can't help but think YC would see that, so - unless they expect those
companies to be acquired quickly - other than if it is an attempt to corner
the incubator market (once they are in every deal, they have all the leverage
over both startups and VCs) I fail to understand why they need their batches
to be this large. They could have a batch half the size or smaller and pour
more gasoline on fewer (better) fires.

A few of the companies seem like ones that could have bootstrapped or funded
via kickstarter. They don't strike me as businesses that will make venture
capitalists back their money in any considerable way.

All that being said I absolutely love the shift toward hard tech and Africa.
But I can't believe there's another 60 to come...

~~~
tomhoward
This comment has been made about pretty much every batch of YC, right back to
when it was only 8-15 companies.

The response is the same now as it has always been in the past: YC knows it
can't predict in advance which companies could be home runs, so its approach
is to "bet on the field" (which, thanks to power-law returns, actually works
in startup investing in a way that it doesn't in horse race betting).

Remember, Airbnb and Dropbox were roundly panned when they first appeared out
of YC, and in both cases were very nearly not accepted at all (Dropbox was
rejected on the first application. Airbnb was accepted even though YC thought
their home-sharing business was stupid and would most likely fail. YC accepted
them because they were impressed that Airbnb had bootstrapped themselves by
selling breakfast cereal).

Plenty of other companies that looked like winners early on have failed, and
others that looked ridiculous have gone on to become very successful.

But nobody knew which would be which at demo day.

To understand more about YC's m.o., read these PG essays:

[http://paulgraham.com/swan.html](http://paulgraham.com/swan.html)

[http://paulgraham.com/altair.html](http://paulgraham.com/altair.html)

~~~
stuckFounder
> Remember, Airbnb and Dropbox...

This comment has _also_ been made pretty much every batch.

Trotting out companies that were picked before the growth strategy was
implemented as evidence that the growth strategy is a good idea doesn't make
sense.

Dropbox and Airbnb were massively successfully with in 2-3 years. What are the
big successes from 2013 to the present?

~~~
peripitea
Cruise and Zenefits jump immediately to mind.

~~~
stuckFounder
Cruise was started by Twitch co-founder, again pre-dating the strategy. And
Zenefits, LOL.

~~~
tomhoward
_again pre-dating the strategy._

YC has been actively seeking to grow as fast as it could since 2009-2010, and
was funding over 70 companies in a batch as early as 2012, then they scaled
back in 2013 after experiencing growing pains.

Plenty of well-known companies have come through in that time eg, Pebble,
Stripe, Firebase, Parse, Crowdtilt, Coinbase, Instacart.

Cruise went through YC in 2014, after the time you (inaccurately) assert was
the beginning of the "growth strategy".

BTW when Criuse first hit HN, commenters were generally nonplussed or critical
[1], just as they had been with Justin.tv (some dude with a camera on his
head??) and then Twitch (watching other people play video games??).

From the dude with a camera on his head to Twitch's $1Bn exit took 8 years,
and even at year 7 people didn't think it was a winner [2].

So, go easy on the new guys hey? :)

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7933045](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7933045)

[2] [http://justinkan.com/the-99-percent](http://justinkan.com/the-99-percent)

------
eruditely
This is a good batch, a few interesting things that caught my eye

[http://www.uplabs.com/](http://www.uplabs.com/) UI Resources for developers

[http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/10/function-of-beauty-
backed-b...](http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/10/function-of-beauty-backed-by-y-
combinator-offers-customized-shampoo-and-conditioner/)

> Personalized hair products

I'm thinking about purchasing this right now, or am going to rather

[http://www.shypmate.com/](http://www.shypmate.com/)

> Reduces shipping costs from Africa --> America by a factor of 10 apparently
> in their example, sounds like something fundamental and necessary.

[http://www.alphaflow.com/](http://www.alphaflow.com/) Beautiful UI, manage
real estate investments.

UI is really coming in everywhere isn't it? Beautiful.

[https://www.truebill.com/](https://www.truebill.com/) I REALLY need something
like this, it helps you manage your subscription payments and I always get
charged an extra time or two. Gosh I hate it -_-. I've lost so much money this
way.

That's it for me at first pass.

~~~
scottkduncan
Shypmate idea is great but there are some obvious risks, like unwittingly
becoming a drug mule. I wonder how they counteract that.

~~~
giarc
From their FAQ

>Shypmate does not process requested items until it has been paid for. Once
payment is confirmed, Shypmate will purchase item(s) within 24 hours and have
it mailed directly to a Shypmate Traveler.

So it looks like the products come from established online retailers and not
from "my buddy is going to drop off a package to your house, don't open it,
just deliver it".

------
jeremy_k
As a former Track & Field athlete I thought Trac
([https://www.tracchicago.com/](https://www.tracchicago.com/)) was really
interesting. To have the ability to get automatic timing / splits in practice
would have been amazing. I can remember the distance coach always having to
run around and yell splits to everyone; I'm sure he wouldn't have minded
focusing on other parts of the workout besides time. I wonder how well it
would handle people running distance and sprinters running on the track at the
same time?

Also the fact that they have disposable chips used for races at $1 each would
have given my HS (this was rural Oregon in a HS of ~250 kids) the ability to
have automatic timing at our hosted meet(s).

Really cool stuff for a sport that doesn't get a lot of attention.

~~~
JimmyAustin
Potentially silly idea, but could this be (cheaply) replicated by a phone with
a slow motion camera pointed across the finish line and an armband with a QR
code on it facing towards the camera?

~~~
Cyph0n
I think RFID chips guarantee higher precision and much more reliable. If a
leaf falls in front of the camera, or something suddenly changes in the
background, that could easily distort the image.

------
BinaryIdiot
I'm curious as to how safe Nurx is. Some birth control can cause serious
health issues if your background and / or current health are not taken into
account. Is an app that asks questions "good enough" to remove the liability
of a doctor prescribing something that could hurt / kill someone? Or am I just
way off base? If anyone can elaborate it would be helpful :)

~~~
smt88
> _One of our doctors will review your request right away. If she needs more
> information or has relevant advice, she may call you before writing your
> prescription._ [1]

1\. [http://www.nurx.co/howitworks.html](http://www.nurx.co/howitworks.html)

~~~
BinaryIdiot
I read that. The part that concerned me was not being there and looking at the
patient. Birth control can cause some serious side affects. Granted it's a
small portion of the population if I recall correctly but even so the patients
are not doctors and may not understand the seriousness of answering a question
incorrectly (or may not realize they are or their health could have changed
since the last time they, say, had their blood pressure checked).

Hence I'm curious what type of liability this opens them up to. Like I said
maybe it's nothing / not a big deal but I was hoping if someone knew they
could comment.

~~~
ghshephard
Presumably a doctor would know all this, and would take appropriate
precautions prior to prescribing any medication.

And, there is also such a thing as acceptable risk. Incorrectly used, even
over the counter medicine such as aspirin can result in fatalities (Reye's
syndrome)

~~~
danieltillett
Aspirin does not have to be incorrectly used to be a problem. Give something
to enough people and someone will have a bad reaction.

~~~
ghshephard
I call out Aspirin specifically, because you have to be very careful with
children/teenagers who have flu-like symptoms or are recovering from
chickenpox. This is a drug that can kill in fairly well known situations, but
is available over the counter. Just because a drug is dangerous to certain
people, doesn't mean that it can't, or shouldn't be prescribed by a doctor
electronically.

~~~
danieltillett
Aspirin can kill in a pretty random fashion too - it is just much harder to
show an association in these random cases. The risk is low, but there is
always some risk with any drug.

Oral contraceptives are one of those interesting drugs where not taking it is
more dangerous than taking it (pregnancy is much more dangerous than the
pill). If any drug should be available over the counter and heavily subsidised
it is oral contraceptives.

------
asb
Are Poppy childminders exclusively women? I found it interesting there's not
even a token man in their graphics
[https://www.meetpoppy.com/caregivers](https://www.meetpoppy.com/caregivers)

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Childcare is a very heavy female industry. It's a role that's highly feminized
and the bias still carries very strongly today so yeah I'm not surprised at
all. In fact I'd be willing to bet the amount of men they actually have in the
network is less than a percentage point.

Due to the perceived biases I too would probably only use graphics with women
in it. I'm not saying it's right by any means but ultimately they're here to
build a company and while they can certainly, very slowly, help the situation
being overt may not be the best idea today.

~~~
josephmx
And what would your reaction be if a SV start up didn't even have a token
woman in their graphics?

~~~
BinaryIdiot
Considering I never noticed that this was only females (nor did I care) I
guess I probably wouldn't notice that as well.

------
Nadya
If Function of Beauty's product is even 1/4th as good as their customer
service was - I can see them doing very well.

I saw their thread a while back and was looking to buy new hair product anyway
- so went with them since what they're selling is about the same cost as what
I was buying anyways.

First things first, I purposefully broke their form when it asked me for my
name (entered some Japanese). It was a small matter, but that's what made it
stand out to me. They could have just left it blank or went with the name they
had on file for me but instead they emailed me asking what the name should be.

Then they messaged me _on a Saturday_ to clarify one of my "goals" since it
was contradicting my "hair profile". Slightly bigger matter to have my catered
formula you know... actually catered to my hair and goals. Again, they could
have just took my submission at its word rather than clarify with me but they
chose to reach out.

If the product itself is good, they've already won me over.

~~~
giarc
I didn't look at the site but the idea does seem pretty cool (this coming from
a guy with short hair and a no name shampoo bottle that last 4 months).

Are they teaming up with hair salon's at all? Those are where customers that
want to spend $30 on a bottle of shampoo are located. Partner with the salons
and give them a cut. They could even provide a "training session" with
stylists that can then work through the profile with their customer. The
stylist becomes a brand ambassador.

------
kriro
What is YC's policy (or ethical guideline) about accepting multiple companies
in the same domain? I know (some) VCs enforce an ethics guideline where they
only back one player per domain (A16Z does). Obviously it isn't always easy
because you can't know in advance what startups morph into.

Seems like Prompt and Chatfuel are fairly similar right now though. Any
comments on this from YC and/or the Prompt/Chatfuel founders would be welcome
:)

Was this discussed at all when the decision to accept these two into the batch
was made? Really curious how these situations are handled because it seems
like it could be an even bigger issue for an accelerator like YC that takes
more companies into the funnel than a typical later stage investor. A16Z
mentions the limit to one player/domain as one of the more interesting
constraints on their overall business model. I believe it's roughly on the
same level as partner bandwidth.

~~~
argonaut
This is not true at the seed stage. The back one player per domain rule is
something usually only followed at series A and beyond. a16z, for example,
does not have a policy of only backing one player at the seed stage. In fact,
they scaled back seed investing years ago because despite this stated policy
people still had this misconception.

[http://www.strictlyvc.com/2013/10/20/andreessen-horowitz-
bac...](http://www.strictlyvc.com/2013/10/20/andreessen-horowitz-backs-seed-
investing/)

------
devit
" UnnyWorld – A mobile League Of Legends clone: [...] While cloning popular
games might not be prestigious, bringing the League Of Legends experience to
mobile could be quite lucrative. "

Doesn't sound like the best advertising...

~~~
needz
Aside from that mobile already has a very popular MOBA, Vain Glory.

~~~
orliesaurus
Yeah - it was quite sad to see that company in the batch being the only one in
the esport /videogames field

------
shubhamjain
Coming from India, I really wish Kisan Network becomes a success. Farmers
rarely get the market price for the harvest and sometimes they are forced to
sell their crop for pennies because there is no other way. I think the biggest
hurdle in selling is lack of infrastructure for storing and transportation,
both of which this startup seems to be trying to solve.

~~~
ensignavenger
In the US, this problem is largely tackled by the formation of Farmer's
cooperatives. Does anything similar exist in India?

------
myroon5
I love the idea of QueueHop. Pretty simple idea that shouldn't be too
expensive and should save stores lots of money and people a bit of time.

~~~
skewart
I'm not sure if it will save stores money or not. A lot of stores don't want
it to be too easy to check out and leave. Getting to the cashier and waiting
in line increases the chances that you'll make another purchase. Stores
focused more on high volume convenience-driven purchasesprobably think about
things differently though, and maybe they'd be more interested in something
like this.

Maybe the bigger possibility is that it allows stores to present and sell
their goods in afar more decentralized way that gets them closer to where
consumers are. If on-demand workers, or drones, could restock inventory, and
shoppers just needed an app to make purchases, then shopping malls could
disolve into the surrounding cityscape.

~~~
durga
Just like how google's predecessors were not keen on search relevance so that
users didn't find what they were searching for quickly - leading to them
spending more time on the website and increasing ad revenue. We know where
that logic led those companies to ;-)

~~~
blackskad
IKEA, on the other hand, designed their stores specifically to keep customers
inside as long as possible. If you don't know the shortcuts (or don't notice
them), you have to wander through the whole showroom & marketplace. And just
about everyone leaves with more than what they initially planned.

~~~
mziel
It only works once. My usual response to such practices is to not return to
the store again (and probably buy online). They lose in the long run.

~~~
sumedh
Maybe it does not work on you but it works with vast number of people.

------
danieltillett
The thing I found most interesting about this batch is they are all pretty
advanced. Although YC has not said otherwise it looks like "build a business
from an idea in 3 months is dead".

~~~
giarc
Another way of looking at it is that maybe the tools available to
entrapreneurs have advanced to the point where a lot more is possible in 3
months. Therefore a 3 month old company today looks like a 12 month company of
3 years ago.

~~~
danieltillett
What I was saying is a bit ambiguous. I wasn't suggesting that you can't build
a business from an idea in 3 months, just that it appears that YC is not
accepting teams with basically just an idea anymore. All the companies
presenting looked to be pretty advanced going into YC. I don't blame YC for
this as it is just a reflection of the great pool of candidates they get to
choose from.

------
ccallebs
I had a watercooler discussion with a buddy of mine where we came up with
PetCube. Apparently we're not as clever as we thought. :)

I only saw two pure-social apps in the list. Is that atypical for a batch?

~~~
jedberg
> I only saw two pure-social apps in the list. Is that atypical for a batch?

Keep in mind that this only the first half. There's a second group tomorrow.

------
betimsl
One of the good things I saw is that stabilized camera:
[https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/revl-arc-the-first-
stabil...](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/revl-arc-the-first-
stabilized-4k-action-camera--3#/)

So cool.

------
tangled_zans
Does anyone have data for how many companies from the previous batches have
survived so far and what their valuation is?

------
pen2l
Oooh, some are pretty cool. Here's a silly question: I'm just some random dude
with zero experience or history of investing. When and how might I be able to
invest in any of the startups listed in this page?

~~~
myroon5
You may need to be an accredited investor, in which case you either need at
least a million in assets or an income of more than 200k. I believe this
restriction is in the process of being removed eventually though.

~~~
ericd
A small clarification, that's a million in assets not including your primary
residence. Something about that being a reasonable proxy for the
sophistication to understand the risks involved and the business (or maybe
just wealthy enough to hire a reasonable lawyer to review the docs?)

------
zby
Looks like another illustration for 'software eating the world'.

------
awqrre
I like Deako but if they would add an electric outlet to the list of products
that can be remotely controlled, it would be nice (maybe even with a kill-a-
watt meter feature).

------
vijithpad
Not even a single marijuana industry startup ?

~~~
orliesaurus
good point!

