
Welcome new YC team members - sama
http://blog.ycombinator.com/welcome-scott-dalton-adora-brett-nicole-alexis-and-qasar
======
gordonzhu
Of the partners announced today, a lot of people know Alexis and Dalton, but
my guess is that few know Qasar. I worked for him for over two years at
Google. He was one of the product leads I respected the most because he was
really good at product management and managing people. He'll definitely be
missed.

But the truth is that I've always thought of him as a coach. I've grown so
much since my time as a fresh new grad and Qasar was a huge part of that. It's
crazy to think about how many hours he spent listening to my problems and I'll
always be thankful for that (it's funny to think that in retrospect he was
just doing office hours).

Of course he's good at what he does, but his genuine helpfulness and energy is
what I've always respected and appreciated most about him. And it's that
energy that finally gave me the confidence to quit and finally try out all the
things I learned from him. The cycle continues...

~~~
shabih
Agree with this 100%. Qasar is one of the most dedicated and hardworking
people I have ever known. I recall first meeting Qasar several years ago. We
were introduced by a mutual friend and met at Google. Within a year of that
meeting, Qasar put together a team, applied and successfully got into YC, and
sold TalkBin to Google.

While at Google Qasar was one if the sharpest Product Managers on the team. I
joined his team within a few weeks after the TalkBin acquisition. As the team,
product, and scope grew, Qasar focused on building excellent product, never
compromising quality. As a result he quickly rose the ranks because of his
unique ability to balance product and business objectives. All the while he
took great care of the people on his team.

It's truly sad to see him leave Google but he will be an incredible force of
nature at YC. His passion and energy has always been on helping startups and
founders succeed. He spent a tremendous amount of time mentoring and coaching
his team at Google and will bring this same enthusiasm to YC. Above all else,
Qasar is the quintessential example of someone that has more grit than anyone
I know.

He's a no bullshit kind of person that's always helping getting things done.
YC is very fortunate to have him. Even if you are not in his batch, Qasar is
someone you want to get to know.

~~~
qasar
Alexis just told me about these comments. You guys know that I can't impact
your careers anymore right! :) Jokes aside, thank you for the kind words. It
was an amazing few years.

~~~
wasd
Hey Qasar, how do you recommend someone become a better product manager?

~~~
qasar
That's very broad question like "how do you become good at basketball?". I
emailed you some starting points. We can continue the conversation there.

~~~
amirhhz
I'd love to receive some advice on this topic, Qasar, any chance you could
forward me your pointers, too? Plenty of specifics I'd like to know, if
there's potential for follow-up.

------
SandersAK
As someone who recently came through YC (W2014) - I can say that Alexis and
Dalton have been two of the most helpful people within the YC community for us
at Beacon.

In particular, Dalton is someone that helped us when we got rejected after our
first interview, stayed supportive, and always has actionable insight and
advice. He's also just a legend.

As to Alexis, I honestly don't understand how he does all the things he does -
he's just going at like a million miles a minute. As high profile as he is, I
actually think his value is underrated in the YC community.

~~~
7cupsoftea
I wanted to quickly chime in here and second these thoughts. Dalton and Alexis
have also been very helpful to 7 Cups of Tea.

Dalton is always super fast to respond to emails. I've gone back and forth
with him, asking lots of questions, and really drilling down to make sure I
understand what he is suggesting. Without fail, he'll get back to me within a
matter of hours and respond in-depth to my questions. I think his background
in psychology and experience working with younger populations gives him very
insightful perspectives. He is also very honest and supportive.

Alexis is one of the people I most admire. The guy has real integrity. I think
he understands what is truly important in life and lives in a manner that
holds up these values. They are implicit in how he relates to others. He is
also an amazing worker. I remember asking him for a consult on a Saturday
morning. I was thinking we'd connect later on that next week. He got right
back to me and called me on a Saturday morning. I apologized for bugging him
and he said not to worry that if I'm working he is working. Then, to take
things a step further, he connected me with Ashley Dawkins (his Outreach
Director). She is also awesome, quick to respond, and very helpful. The last
point I'll highlight is Alexis is really hopeful. Hope is pretty damn powerful
and I think he gets that in manner that few people understand.

~~~
spydertennis
Fantastic insight into what makes Alexis so uniquely great. I think this is
spot on.

------
Killswitch
Congrats to Alexis! That dude not only created one of the greatest communities
on the internet, but also does some amazing things. He's right up there with
Elon Musk in my list of inspirational people.

~~~
alexis
Thanks, killswitch. There's no reddit without Steve Huffman (now hipmunk
CTO+cofounder) but I will gladly accept my spot on your list, albeit
undeserved, so now I need to earn it!

~~~
whyleyc

      "There's no reddit without Steve Huffman"
    

Or Aaron Swartz of course.

------
AndrewKemendo
So who is going to be the YC ambassador to the East coast now that Alexis is
full time?

~~~
alexis
I'll still be holding it down in Brooklyn when I'm not helping the batches in
MV.

~~~
AndrewKemendo
Maybe you can expand to DC as well - or bring on one of us in the DC area as
your proxy.

~~~
alexis
I come back for every home game I can when NFL is in season...

That and I'm really excited to be a voice for Y Combinator (and startups) in
D.C. -- in addition to just being an advocate for the open internet as a
citizen.

------
adamfeldman
What does the YC software team hack on? Internal tools other than HN?

~~~
sama
roughly: HN, internal tools, and (soon) external tools

~~~
sanswork
Any hints as to what we can expect in the last category?

------
iancarroll
Sorry, but I thought Dalton was already a partner? Did he join YC as another
position and I'm mixing them up?

edit: looks like he was part time, is he full time now?

~~~
dalton
that is correct, I went from part-time partner to fulltime partner

------
habosa
Do YC partners invest their own money into the batch, or do they just help to
allocate a pool of YC money? "Partner" generally means that the person gets a
share of the profits but I know the term is now used more loosely than that
definition.

~~~
sama
all YC partners get a share of the profits, and they help allocate the YC pool
of money.

------
jfornear
Great adds for YC. I've worked for Dalton and can attest that he is one of the
best product minds around — a real visionary. Psychology and systems thinking
are some of the last uncommodotized tools in this industry and he has them.

------
suyash
Can anyone explain how does YC's business model works? They seem to keep
adding several more partners often. I would guess the current toll should be
more than 50. Do these partners also invest their own money in YC or no?

~~~
TheMakeA
Not sure where you got the number 50 from. There's a list of all of the full-
time partners on the site[1], adding the ones today for 17, plus another
handful of part-time partners (6 or so?).

As far as I know, the partners help choose the startups to fund and advise
them. I don't think they invest their own money (except maybe after Demo
Day[2]), but choose how to invest YC's money at the start of each batch.

[1]
[http://www.ycombinator.com/partners/](http://www.ycombinator.com/partners/)

[2] [http://blog.ycombinator.com/new-yc-partner-investment-
policy](http://blog.ycombinator.com/new-yc-partner-investment-policy)

~~~
suyash
Got it, yeah 50 was just a total guess.

------
icpmacdo
Great job Alexis, although I thought you were already a partner :)

~~~
alexis
Thanks. Nope - was Ambassador to the East!
[http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/reddit-cofounder-alexis-
oha...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/reddit-cofounder-alexis-ohanian-to-
join-y-combinator/)

------
larrys
Since HN is a site where _one of the things that people learn_ through
transparency is how different business models operate, it would be interesting
to know (even roughly) how partners fit into the profits or payout from YC
companies that succeed. In other words how profits are allocated.

------
TheMakeA
Weren't Dalton, Alexis, and Qasar already part-time partners? Little
confusing... Awesome nonetheless.

~~~
yurisagalov
They're transitioning from part time to full time :)

