
A new type of Y Combinator - urlwolf
https://medium.com/startup-life-3/f44705f97830
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gaborcselle
Having to show results to your fellow founders every week at your in-person
meeting is extremely motivating. Doing everything via Google Hangouts doesn't
allow for the sort of serendipitous encounters that happen at the weekly
meetings. Investors come to Demo Day not just to see the newest batch of
companies, but also to meet with others.

I'm skeptical that this would work.

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monsterix
Edit: I think PG answered this accurately in just one line above. The
following thoughts might help the OP.

I think this has been tried before, with nReduce[1]. And failed. Story of
taking a company off the ground is not so simple. And that story doesn't
separate the role of investors and founders in such a discreet unattached
manner:

> _Founders focus exclusively on the startup. Investors care primarily about
> traction and who else is investing, so these decisions can be made remotely_

No it doesn't work like that. Founders and investors together focus on the
startup == traction i.e. building something that people want. That sense of
togetherness gives the baby startup a chance of survival. Success is not
guaranteed even then, mind you.

For other points:

> 1\. Everything is remote.

I doubt this is even possible. Incorporation, paperwork is but one
moment/small step of creating a company. It could be done remotely even today.

> 2\. Cohorts are rolling.

Perhaps this is possible, however it's important not to discount the energy,
vibe and support system of the batch psychology.

> 3\. Partners are decoupled. You can book time with anyone and you know
> exactly what they specialize in, so there are no wasted meetings.

I think this would be hard on partners simply because he/she would be
bombarded and not have enough time to digest and respond effectively. Also
there is a saying that _when the student is ready, the teacher appears_.

> 4\. Decisions made in 48 hours.

Handling anxiety and calm is one great attribute to have in entrepreneurship.
That said, quicker decision making is always good unless rushed too soon.

> 5\. Demo days all over the world. Demo days would be expanded out to metro
> hubs: LA, SF, NYC, etc. Kickstarter operates well and it’s run entirely
> online.

By 'all over the world' and LA, SF, NYC I think you mean just America. There
could be a solution to demoing all over the world. Getting covered on Tech
news and blogs is a form of it. The question is whom do you want to demo to?

[1]
[http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/28/nreduce/](http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/28/nreduce/)

------
pg
The fundamental flaw here is underestimating the value of in-person
conversation.

~~~
kjhughes
In-person conversation increases the odds, for sure.

But opening the pool of players beyond those who are or can be co-located can
also increase the odds. There will always be more smart players outside of any
region than within.

The problem is that removing the co-location constraint also increases the
pool of potential posers.

Telling the difference is a key challenge. If a distributed organisation can
take advantage of greater pool of resources without being taken advantaged of
by the posers, the in-person advantage might come to be less important than it
has traditionally been.

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rjvir
"Decisions made in 48 hours" would be extremely helpful for startups. Since YC
only skims written applications for a few minutes and interviews applicants
for about 10 min, it seems possible for them to make quick decisions.

~~~
rguzman
They probably do process each application quickly but they get ~10^3 of them.
Even if they spent 10 minutes total on each, that'd still be ~6 days of
continuous work. Factor that it is probably 1500 or 2000 and the fact that
they can't possibly work 24/7 and you get about the time they take to respond.

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tstonez
Sounds like nReduce.com but don't think it worked out. Agree with gaborcselle
that bonding would not be the same without meeting in person. Also cohort
effects are diminished with smaller rolling cohorts. Starting and finishing
something at the same time is a big deal.

Think about your best friends. I would hazard a guess they are probably from
school and college. Now compare to friends you've made taking MOOCs (i.e.,
remote) and at work (i.e., rolling cohorts). Over simplified but you get the
idea.

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ezrasuki
Yes. And it's a stupid idea to constrain an online dating service to let
people only meet on Wednesdays. Cohorts should be always rolling and you
should be able to meet up anytime you want. Also, to get rid of the bottleneck
that is offline meetup, it should let people meet up exclusively through
Google Hangouts. This will let people date virtually all over the world.

~~~
medicine23
Yes and be in a relationship over google hangouts :) Kidding

