
Profile of Qasar Younis and YC Investor Day - runesoerensen
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/08/29/inside-one-of-silicon-valleys-most-celebrated-rituals-raising-cash/
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tomblomfield
I'd be interested to know how "Investor Day" went. Any YC founders from this
batch want to give their perspective?

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ncd
I thought it was incredibly valuable, but exhausting at the same time.
Usually, meetings like this would be spread out over days and weeks, giving
you a chance to recover from each pitch. This was relentless: the same
questions every 20 minutes for most of the day.

On the other hand, it was awesome to meet so many people excited by what we're
doing in a single day. The investors we spoke to were engaging and thoughtful,
and we didn't have to worry (for the most part!) about whether speaking with
them was worth our time.

The algo for matching investors with companies seemed to work _okay_, although
there were a few meetings we had to schedule outside of Investor Day with
people who didn't make the cut for whatever reason.

On the whole, it was absolutely worth it and I highly recommend YC keep it as
a mechanism for speeding up fundraising after Demo Day.

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n00b101
> In the days following the event, Younis ... used the organization's software
> to collect data on whether companies raised money on Investor Day. A handful
> of companies had. Others reported positive conversations.

A little surprising that only a "handful of companies" raised, although I
don't know what "handful" means here. 5%? 10%?

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snowmaker
Most YC companies will raise money after demo day, but it usually takes a few
days for deals to close.

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n00b101
That makes sense. I misunderstood that part of the article.

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inputcoffee
Does YC release stats like: how many companies, how many funds, how much
investment went into how many companies?

The piece is quite interesting as an observation of what the mood is like, but
the data will tell us the "truth" about what really happened.

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snowmaker
We haven't in the past. But thanks for letting us know you'd be interested -
I'll think about what we could release.

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rexreed
Is "Silicon Valley" now a short-hand euphemism for all startups worldwide? So
if you're in say Chicago or Baltimore or Bangladesh and you're a startup
trying to raise money, are you participating in Silicon Valley's most grueling
ritual? Yes, I know this article is SPECIFICALLY about the YCombinator demo
day which IS in Silicon Valley. But is the side-read here that it's like this
(or most likely harder) for startups everywhere outside of Silicon Valley? And
is this even representative of how things are really done for everyone outside
of YC in Silicon Valley?

Maybe this should really be titled: Inside one of Silicon Valley's top
Accelerators: the grueling YC Demo Days. TL;DR: This is not the reality that
most startups face when they raise money, but an insight into a unique process
at a unique accelerator in a unique part of the ecosystem.

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xigency
In regards to the figure of speech:
[http://literarydevices.net/metonymy/](http://literarydevices.net/metonymy/)

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rexreed
If that's the case, then the article reads wrong because there's really
nothing like this process for startups everywhere outside of Silicon Valley,
and probably even inside Silicon Valley. It's a false metonymy in that case.

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xigency
Well, now it sounds like you're arguing against yourself.

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maxerickson
What's the second most grueling ritual?

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defen
[http://time.com/35524/ageism-in-silicon-valley-is-causing-
an...](http://time.com/35524/ageism-in-silicon-valley-is-causing-an-uptick-in-
plastic-surgeries/)

