

Would you rather be accepted into Y Combinator or get 5 million dollars? - kkt262

Would you rather be accepted into Ycombinator's prestigious program? Where Heroku has made a 200 million dollar acquisition and other companies are poised to become billion dollar companies, but many have still failed to even make a dollar.<p>Or would you rather straight up receive 5 million dollars in cash. You're set for the rest of your life monetarily as long as you don't squander it.
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jeffool
I'm no hacker. I've applied to a few startups in marketing and writing
friendly capacities, given my experience in journalism. But I've never
attempted a startup, or by extension applying to YC...

Even considering the insight gained and the contacts you make, I'd rather have
$5M. It alleviates my immediate problems and gives me freedom to do as I wish.

I just can't imagine it being so amazing that I'd say no to the freedom that
comes with money. I can't imagine most would.

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benologist
You're really putting YC up on too much of a pedestal... for $0 you can build
something that attracts investors and sells for more than $200m. With or
without YC you have an almost 100% chance of that _not_ happening.

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kkt262
Or you could crash and burn and not earn anything for your whole life. The
other option is to have 5 million dollars.

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html5
Accepted into Ycombinator. From my prospective, if you believe in yourself and
the business enough then you should be able to make considerable more (as your
example of Heroku). The other reality is that 5 million isn't a lot of cash,
assuming that is pre-taxed. While you could live a modest life with that
amount of money, could you face yourself in the mirror at 75-80 and say, "I
give it my best shot" versus "I never tried and don't know if...". I couldn't
live with the doubt or unknown of what could have been.

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true_religion
I'd invest it into my current company and apply to YC for my next idea, in the
next round.

Can you see the headlines on TechCrunch already: "Five million dollar man to
join YC", "Man who makes millions rain has a new idea, VCs interested", "Lucky
Millionaire claims: 'I make my own luck', anyone buying?".

It's not a zero sum game you know. ;)

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byoung2
Both. $5 million becomes $3 million after taxes, and assuming I can average 8%
returns, with capital gains of 15% and 3% inflation, I'd be at my current
salary. That gives me the cushion to bootstrap my startup without having to
work a day job, and when I get a prototype and traction, I'll apply to YC.

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HedgeMage
I'll take the cash. I'd never do an incubator anyway (I have a family and
responsibilities, I can't just run off and live somewhere else for a few
months). There's no reason not to use some of the cash to support my next
handful of startup ideas, either. :)

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stewie2
$5 million dollars

