
Y Combinator Winter 2014 Batch Rankings and Quick Reference - daniellegeva
http://mattermark.com/app/research/y-combinator-winter-2014
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not_paul_graham
Wow I hate the UI/UX on this page. I know that the page is responsive and
probably designed with mobile-first users in mind, given the target might be
busy people in SF and tapping the down arrow shows the company description,
but:

As someone browsing the site on a laptop, I _hate_ the experience of clicking
on each company's tile at the right most corner for a one line description,
and all I get are two links: one link for the mattermark score on the left
edge and the other for the company url on the right edge. And this disappears
when you click on another company profile. ugh!

Yeah, so for others like me, this [1] is a better format, although I don't
think it has mattermark rankings built in, it has a better interface for users
on a laptop/desktop.

[1] [http://ycuniverse.com/ycombinator-
companies#ycw14](http://ycuniverse.com/ycombinator-companies#ycw14)

~~~
dmor
This is built specifically for mobile usage by people who are at Demo Day. For
a desktop friendly style I'd suggest logging in to Mattermark and viewing the
batch here:
[http://mattermark.com/app/data?investors=YC_W14](http://mattermark.com/app/data?investors=YC_W14)

~~~
jbensamo
opened on iPhone - doesn't work. Expand function always scrolls screen too low
and forces you to scroll manually back up

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the_watcher
It's really interesting how many of these companies seem to be direct
competitors with recent YC successes. The Dating Ring is essentially a carbon
copy of Grouper in description. Algolia looks to compete with Swiftype. Zesty
v. ZeroCater, . AptDeco and Move Loot are competitors within the batch.

Those are just the companies that seem to be solving the same problem in
essentially the same way, and not speaking to the broader competitors trying
to solve similar problems like analytics, mobile communication, etc. Just
those that seem really similar to recent successes. Also, I don't think this
is a bad thing. Competition is a net win for productivity, and increasing the
number of smart people attacking a problem is a good thing.

~~~
hnriot
these are very much me-too companies. Algolia says they are database-centric
but that's just marketing speak, search is search, "database search" is just
facet search where you've told them the relevancy of each facet. TheDatingRing
sounds like an absolutely horrible idea, it's like getting a Realtor but for
the opposite gender. And their website is embarrassing. They miss the whole
point, for many the act of using the dating site is itself rewarding. I've
seen this a lot, people enjoy the online attention. Dating really isn't that
hard, you don't need a realtor to find someone for you. Their real (online)
competitor is facebook. AptDeco are competing against CL which is a waste of
time, no matter how fancy the website.

This crop seems to be really disappointing. I didn't see a single company with
any actual technology, it's all just me-too plus a little spin.

~~~
redox_
(I'm VP of Engineering at Algolia) Be sure I'm the first one hating marketing
bullshit. Our team of 6 is composed by 5 engineers: we're
developers/geeks/tech guys too :) When we speak about "database search" it has
actually nothing to deal with "facet search". The 2 main differences of our
engine comparing to "traditional/document search engine" is the way the
ranking is working and the way we provide instant-search capabilities (not
just "suggest" in a separated data structure like what you could have with
ES/Solr, but real queries): we call that "database/record search". You may be
interested by a blog post we wrote a few weeks ago describing our secret
sauce: [http://blog.algolia.com/search-ranking-algorithm-
unveiled/](http://blog.algolia.com/search-ranking-algorithm-unveiled/). If you
need more details, I'll be happy to chat (feel free to reach me at sylvain at
algolia)

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dalek2point3
even though its low on this list, I'm very excited about rickshaw, which I see
essentially as a stripe for delivery for the real world. gorickshaw.com

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coreymgilmore
Lots of interesting projects here. I am especially interested in Ambition,
this could be a very cool way to drive sales.

~~~
ttruett
Ambition co-founder here, thanks for the interest and you're right that there
are a lot of great projects/products/companies in this batch... it's been an
incredible learning experience working alongside them for three months.

I'd love to tell you more about Ambition... I'll connect via email.

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minimax
Are Move Loot and Apt Deco direct competitors? Is it normal for YC to fund
multiple versions of the same idea in the same batch?

Both look like cool services and I wish either one was available here in
Chicago.

~~~
solve
Yesterday my investor decided to fund a direct competitor to my company.
Solving the same problem, for the same target market, similar looking
solution, slightly different approach. I sense a bit of competitive spirit in
the near future. I've already ramped up the schmoozing to get the investors to
like us more at a personal level.

I guess it's no big deal. Looking forward to leaving Europe for the next round
anyway. With a few exceptions, the higher level VC's here are some of the
worst people I've ever met. They literally hate technology.

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mountaineer
Kimono looks like Dapper[1] all over again, only instead of RSS, now it's all
about APIs.

[1] [http://open.dapper.net/](http://open.dapper.net/)

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jordn
What does the number mean and where does it come from?

~~~
francoismathieu
Mattermark score [https://mattermark.com/mattermark-
score/](https://mattermark.com/mattermark-score/)

~~~
mcintyre1994
Do you know what no score means? Pushbullet seem like they should have one.

~~~
dmor
We don't score companies until we have 4 weeks of data, so for some that we
haven't been tracking for long we just don't have enough info yet - sorry!

~~~
jsun
Has anyone ever studied whether momentum is a good measure for eventual
success (whatever that might mean)?

~~~
andrewchoi
Mattermark is fairly new, so I doubt that many companies would have had a
concrete track record of success.

~~~
dmor
Exactly. We have 1 year of data, and are certainly backtesting. So far the
only thing we can really test is whether momentum helps with fundraising...
more on that soon

~~~
andrewchoi
Good to hear! I was thinking of doing something similar, but no reason to
duplicate effort

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francoismathieu
With Kimono #1, scraping websites is alive and well! I wish Pushbullet had a
score, very useful tool.

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wengzilla
lol. merge conflicts: "<<<<<<< HEAD"

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jbensamo
@dmor : hey! why did Immunity Project disappear from the list? Last time saw
it there it was #3, which is already kind of sad for humanity :-\

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pewpewlasergun
Didn't pg say there was a self-driving car startup? I don't see it.

~~~
cwilson
Not everyone presents on demo day, some opt-out meaning they might not be
listed here.

~~~
josephpmay
I'm pretty sure they did demo. Sama posted a picture of their sensor on
Twitter yesterday.

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deathflute
Does anyone know if these scores have been predictive of success in the past?

~~~
not_paul_graham
AFAIK they haven't. The way they score [1] seems to suggest that they might be
missing out on companies like [https://gorickshaw.com](https://gorickshaw.com)
and enterprise focused companies because these company might not perform well
on mobile downloads, inbound links, twitter followers, facebook followers and
linkedin followers (the six metrics they track and score on).

I personally feel that inbound links, twitter + facebook + linkedin followers
don't add all that much to painting a complete picture of the companies that
might not be in the "social" space but I feel that if they keep at it long
enough and keep iterating, they will eventually figure out how to be less
wrong (Even most top VC firms aren't able to consistently pick only winners).

[1] [https://mattermark.com/mattermark-
score/](https://mattermark.com/mattermark-score/)

