

Is Y Combinator the University of Internet Startups? - thomasswift
http://mashable.com/2008/09/03/ycombinator-university-startups/

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pg
It's certainly a better metaphor than boot camp. Though, interestingly, in
this case the metaphor is accurate even to the misconceptions. This writer
thinks that YC's most important role is as a gatekeeper. That's a common
misconception about elite universities too. In fact the most valuable thing
about going to one is what you learn there, and so it is with YC too, I think.

One way to understand where YC's "center of gravity" is would be to measure
how I spend my time. If YC's role was simply as a gatekeeper, my job would be
done as soon as we'd done interviews to select each new group of startups. Boy
would life be easy if that were so! In fact about 98% of the work is still
ahead at that point.

I tried to explain what we actually do here:
<http://www.paulgraham.com/ycombinator.html>

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netcan
I don't think it's fair to call it a misconception. It is a claim or maybe
even an accusation. One that Universities are are commonly accused of. One
that is being extended to YC.

Universities might similarly defend against this claim by pointing to the
resources spent on educating as opposed to filtering. But I don't think that
this is necessarily a good defence. If anything, it points to an institution's
internal priorities, not its value to potential students.

It seems to me that if YC is consistently successful, it can't avoid becoming
a filter in the eyes of investors. This would eventually come to affect
applicants' perception. If YC increases a company's chance of attracting
investors, this might become the motivation for participation. Investors
listen to pitches or even invest because of YC's track record. Startups apply
because of investors' perception.

Similarly, University applicants often think along the lines of creating an
impressive resume. This is partly because it is true (an Oxford degree is
better at getting jobs then an unknown one) and partly because people tend to
undervalue educational potential of things beforehand.

Throw in the fact that top Universities get the power to choose the best
applicants & it becomes difficult to tell if they are picking winners,
creating them or just in control of some bottleneck.

In any case, I think it's a point of interest.

~~~
netcan
Some bait: [http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/04/secretive-storage-
compa...](http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/04/secretive-storage-company-
dropbox-took-sequoia-funding-in-2007/)

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mattmaroon
Well, it's better than American Idol at least.

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sfamiliar
There's an additional component other than filtering that YC serves: it
provides a pool of talent and experience that helps you out of jams, but
without something like 'formal instruction'. The best features of a finishing
school and guild (apprentice/journeyman/master) are represented. A community
-- not so specialized as a technical or vocational school, but people who are
likely to have common drives and purposes, and whose cross-disciplinary skills
enhance the whole environment.

Maybe a question that needs answering, either by pg or by YC veterans
(graduates?) is what additional purpose doesn't YC serve that it needs to?

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josefresco
YC is less like a university (where they teach building blocks) and more like
a highly selective vocational school (where your skills are directly applied)

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mrtron
I considered going to grad school or taking that money, time and effort and
use it to start a company. It was a very easy choice given my current
situation.

What made it easier was some friends just finished grad school and now have an
average job with slightly higher pay - that doesn't sound appealing.

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rokhayakebe
YC does not look much like a University. Apart from the application process,
there is not much to YC that you can find in traditional academia.

YC looks like what a University should be. YC is a model that is constantly
changing and ameliorating itself using what it learned in previous semester.

At YC there are no professors. There are mentors. OMG. Imagine the amount of
knowledge students would actually accumulate if they were taught from a young
age to find solutions to problems and not take someone else's answer for it.

By the time you get to university you have already developed a curious mind
and if you were to use that for 6 years to challenge your own thoughts on any
subject and seek your own answers, you will come to the work place with a hell
of a ability. Mentors should be available when we need them or to frequently
stop and take a look at what students work on and only only suggest how they
can do better or how to look at problems in a better fashion

YC tells you "Ok, so you want to be the solution to that problem, go ahead wow
me". There is no A or B. There is only a continuous effort to fix the problem
and after you fix it, keep improving the solution.

YC is not like a University, but Universities (Heck the entire Schooling
system) can learn from this model.

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brentr
If anything, from what I have read, it seems more like a university at the
graduate level. You know of a problem, you have the tools to tackle the
problem, but the solution is a big question mark. Your goal is to create a
solution. In essence, you are doing original work.

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furiouslol
true but the diff is that with startups, if you tackle the problem well, you
will be heavily rewarded

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brentr
I don't deny this at all. That's the glory of capitalism! The problem I have
is that I can't find a problem that I could do on the cheap legally. I'm
heavily involved with finance and market data. I can think of numerous ways
something like Bloomberg could be improved, but the costs are prohibitive when
you consider all the data feeds. The only other idea I have managed to come up
with is a Digg-like site with a social network aspect attached to it. The idea
is people submit just like on Digg but they also make recommendations as to
what would happen in the market. They then earn a credibility rating based on
whether or not their prediction was accurate. The problem with that is this: I
don't think there are enough people who would use it to make developing the
site worth my time.

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rokhayakebe
Make it private and charge a hefty monthly fee to participate. Apparently in
Wall Street scarcity and limited access is what makes people rich.

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furiouslol
This would only work if your product gives the subscriber an edge over their
competitors. They wouldn't pay for a product like Google Finance because it
doesn't give them an edge.

Your plan would work for Monitor110 if the product actually worked.

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vaksel
I think its more of an apprenticeship

