

Ask HN: How many billion dollar YC companies had traction before YC? - jsonchen

Stripe: Known founders (sold a company for several million) but had few users.<p>Dropbox: Launched on HN before YC interviews, might have had traction.<p>Airbnb: Maybe some from before they pivoted?<p>Twitch: Evolved from Justin.tv, which had some traction, but Justin.tv evolved from Justin casting his life. No traction beforehand?
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jsonchen
It takes a long time to make a billion dollar company, but with the increased
emphasis on traction, I wonder if accelerators like YC are thinking too short
term. Would an unknown Justin Kan or Alexis Ohanian even get funded today
without traction?

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coralreef
Pretty sure most of the $b companies got there in like 4 years or less.

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ghobs91
I don't get the feeling that they require traction in the sense of pure # of
users, but rather they want to see high engagement among the users you do
have. Goes back to what PG says in his essays, better to have 100 people love
your product, than 1 million who sort of like it.

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jsonchen
Even so, was that true of any of the billion dollar companies before they
joined YC, though? I'm not sure it was.

