

Y Combinator here I come – update - thatusertwo
http://new.novelog.com/my-first-story/y-combinator-here-i-come-update

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strlen
Hi, here are a few bits of advice based on your current and previous posts.

First, please make sure to proof read your posts and find a few folks who are
willing to help you do so: ability to write well counts a great deal (
_especially_ if you're serious about running a business). Good news is that
you already enjoy writing and thus you are far more likely to invest in
deliberate practice.

Second, I think you drew the wrong conclusions in your previous post. Big
companies are rather predictable: you have (with some margin of error) a
fairly good idea of what the culture, environment, et al are going to be like
when you decide to join one. Startups, on the other hand, vary greatly from
one to another: you're more likely to have a horrible experience, but you're
also more likely to have an amazing experience. You've had an unpleasant
experience at one startup, but it doesn't logically follow that your only
option is to start your own company: there are plenty of companies that are
actually great to work for.

To be honest, I don't think this is the right time for you to do a startup:
looking at your previous posts and comments on this site, it sounds like you
need to build your technical skill-set (looks like the last company you've
worked for didn't even use source control!), confidence, and a network of like
minded people. If somebody asks you "why would I want to move to Silicon
Valley to start a company if I already have a great job?", they have a very
different set of values from somebody you'd want as a founder. Great engineers
(or product managers, designers, and so on) always have many options available
to them _besides_ starting their own company: it's a matter of choice and not
a last resort.

Spend some time improving your online presence: at the least fix the
gramatical errors (e.g., its/it's and build/built), build a few web or mobile
applications (assuming that's what you're interested in), put up a few
projects on GitHub/Bitbucket (but have a few strong programmers review them
before making the repositories public). This will make it easier for you to
show people (potential co-founders, clients, customers, employers, coworkers,
or just like-like minded folks) that you're serious and have potential.

Essentially I feel you're running _from_ something (in this case a job you
didn't enjoy and the experience of being laid off). Instead, put yourself into
a situation where a startup is something you run _to_.

[Edit: corrected a few grammatical errors of my own]

~~~
nardi
The irony of the first few sentences here...

"your advise" -> "advice"

"proof read" -> "proofread"

"invest" -> "invested"

Misplaced comma, missing "a" and "the" in a few places, awkward wording,
unusual omitted/implied words...

I don't disagree with the content, but what's that saying? "Take the log out
of your own eye first?"

~~~
strlen
Good point: I'll go through and do a second round of proofreading.

That said, there's a different standard for blog posts as opposed to comments.
The few posts on my own blog take took several days to write and edit.

~~~
nardi
That's true—blog posts should definitely be held to a higher standard. But so
should comments that correct others' writing. :)

~~~
strlen
Made the edits you've suggested and a few more. Thanks! That said (and I think
we agree on this), it doesn't invalidate my argument (see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque>). The grammatical mistakes I made
_did_ distract from the point I was making (ironically demonstrating it all
too well).

It also wouldn't be good use of my (or my friends') resources to ask others to
proofread an HN comment :-)

------
webwright
Marketing is SO much more than "telling the world about it". But yeah, it's
nearly impossible to imagine a successful company without great marketing.
Check Peter Thiel's thoughts on the topic (they are amazing):

[http://blakemasters.tumblr.com/post/22405055017/peter-
thiels...](http://blakemasters.tumblr.com/post/22405055017/peter-thiels-
cs183-startup-class-9-notes-essay)

------
jonnathanson
Reducing success to "marketing" is too trivializing and narrow. Marketing's a
big part of it, sure, but the how of marketing matters a lot more than the
why. Especially at the early stage, when marketing budgets are wafer thin.

If there's any single variable that seems to be best correlated with early-
stage success, it isn't "marketing" so much as "hustle." How many different
ways can you think of to get the word out about your product? How many people
can you get yourself in front of, and in which novel situations? How can you
inspire better-connected, deeper-pocketed, and more influential people to
evangelize on your behalf?

I've got two friends right now running startups. The first started out in
investment banking, so he's got a big ol' warchest. The second started out in
relatively modest circumstances -- but she's somehow managed to weasel her way
(I say "weasel" lovingly, as a compliment) into blogs, journals, conferences,
Entrepreneur magazine, lectures at our alma mater, and so forth. More
important, she's actually built something and is actively acquiring users, one
small batch at a time.

I'd bank on her over the first guy any day of the week, and I'd have banked on
her even before she started getting all her press and attention. We've all
heard the old cliche about not taking no for an answer. In her case, the
cliche isn't nearly sufficient. I'm pretty sure she's pathologically
_incapable_ of understanding the word no.

I say this with a lot of respect for your honesty, integrity, and bravery in
putting yourself out there. But if you're the type who's constantly starting
and stopping projects -- who seems to put up imaginary barriers before he even
encounters real ones -- then you need to think very carefully about whether
you should be a founder. Joining an existing startup? Sure. But being a
founder? You need grit, hustle, balls, and borderline fanaticism. You also
need an ability to break a bigger picture down into smaller, bite-sized
chunks, and to tackle those chunks systematically. Most people look at the set
of all activities called "marketing" as a single lump of work. Founders look
at "marketing" and see 2,500 discrete activities they need to perform every
month.

~~~
thatusertwo
What you say is true, I need to work on the hustle of building a company, not
just the marketing.

------
sparknlaunch12
_"Truth be told, I’ve had trouble convincing myself that the product is worthy
of the effort needed to make it succeed. I’ve thought about a pivot and will
probably work towards it, but at the same time its hard to know if it has the
potential to be worth the effort."_

That statement plus your co founder staying home probably didn't help.

Why lack of enthusiasm for current product? Why not build the right product,
rather than build the wrong one (and need to fix it later)?

~~~
thatusertwo
Its hard to know what the right product is. I've recently moved, so I'm hoping
I see something that inspires me as to what to do next.

------
delinquentme
Heres an idea:

Work on projects that are more objectively inclined. iPad apps ( although the
guys @ YC like them ) aren't exactly simple to evaluate objectively.

IMO the more objectively _valuable_ something is ... the less marketing
hocking you need to do.

This coming from a BS in marketing and a programmer / hacker. People like to
do simple shit and the _app_ is the current easy eval for YC.

------
SparksZilla
This is a great attitude. My team and I didn't make it into YC either this
round, but I just moved here to the valley today. See you here soon?

~~~
kurtvarner
I also just moved to the Valley and would love to meet up. Here's my story:
<http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup>

~~~
sparknlaunch12
Dude, in your car?

Good luck in the valley!

------
DanielRibeiro
If it serves any consolation, Mark Zuckerberg's sister was unselected as well:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-arielle-
zuckerbe...](http://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-arielle-zuckerbergs-
rachel-sklar-2011-11)

------
spung
Maybe make another update post regarding this topic when your pivot is ready
so you can gain some exposure to it?

~~~
thatusertwo
good idea.

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jimmytucson
You're not there yet. But you get there, I hope I'm lucky enough to be a part
of it.

~~~
thatusertwo
Thanks.

