

Saying no to Y Combinator - mystrous
http://inseam.mysterioustrousers.com/post/4755893912/saying-no-to-y-combinator

======
dasht
That wasn't "saying no".

You asked for an invitation, received one, and then withdrew.

a: "Hey, good lookin'. Wanna get some coffee and maybe see if there's any
chemistry between us?"

b: "Hmm.... Yeah, ok. Let's go."

a: "On second thought, I don't."

This isn't to say at all that you did the wrong or a bad thing at any step
(necessarily).

"I sent the club a wire stating, "PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON'T WANT
TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER". " --
Groucho

~~~
bconway
Given the other posting on that site from today, I think the author's grasp on
reality may be tenuous at best.

[http://inseam.mysterioustrousers.com/post/4756987071/school-...](http://inseam.mysterioustrousers.com/post/4756987071/school-
assignment)

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patrickk
Two things:

1) I hope they considered the equity equation-
<http://www.paulgraham.com/equity.html>

2) The old VC joke - "Equity is like manure. If you hoard it up in one spot,
all you have is a big pile of ___. But if you spread it around, all kinds of
beautiful things can grow."

100% ownership isn't everything. Bill Gates became ridiculously wealthy while
owning between ~43% and ~10% of Microsoft shares (adjusted over the years.)

<http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/gates/2008/flash/>

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phamilton
In a community where the future of the economy is claimed to be tied to the
growth of tech accelerators, I found this article quite interesting.

In a community where tech accelerators are declared to be the start of the
next tech bubble, I found this article quite interesting.

In a community where Paul Graham Fanboy-ism accusations are often tossed
around, I found this article quite interesting.

As frequently as I jump between the above opinions, I found this article quite
interesting.

The article isn't about taking the high road. It's not about sticking it to
the man. It's a glimpse into their thought process when they turned down
something a good chunk of the people here on HN spend their time working
towards.

I don't think these guys are wrong for wanting to do things their own way.
They've even got the humility to say that they might even screw it all up. But
they aren't jumping on the tech accelerator bandwagon, for better or for
worse. Since they are the only ones familiar with their product model, they
know best what would help them. I imagine they felt quite a lot of pressure to
take the interview, but they let their judgement prevail over the
emotional/social pressure. Props.

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TylerJewell
I'm an investor managing an innovation program for Quest Software (NASDAQ:
QSFT) at <http://www.quest.com/innovation-accelerator/>.

If those guys are reading, I'd follow up with a question of what's really
important to them: \- Control of the business (key capital & strategic
decisions) \- Long term gains on an individual basis \- Contacts & network
needed to establish distribution, deals, and partnerships \- Minimizing the
number of relationships that need maintenance

If, as there article indicates, they really want to be in control of their
success and failure, there is a number of ways to achieve total control
without owning 100% of the company. So they should really think about the
various options they have available to them. I can appreciate the desire to
not have investors - even non-controlling minority interest ones, as even
those people need to be nurtured and relationships developed.

So, as a message to the authors, would hope that they seek out some additional
inputs as there are a number of clever ways for them to structure their
business to achieve their goals, and to gain the benefits that come with YC.

~~~
mystrous
There's a possibility we may seek other options in the future but for now we
both feel doing our own bootstrapping (we already have a successful app that
pays the bills) is where we need to be.

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michaelpinto
Bill Gates built his company on corporate clients. Walt Disney built his
company on bank loans. Steve Jobs built his company on venture capital. There
is no wrong way or right way — just do what works best for you. Also doing it
one way doesn't rule out doing it another way at a later point.

~~~
mystrous
Absolutely right. We simply decided this wasn't the path for our company.
Folks here seem to think we were ripping on investment which is not the case.

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citizenkeys
Since these guys don't want the interview, I guess that means there's room for
one more... ;-)

~~~
mystrous
Yep. And we wish them good luck.

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k33n
Some people I've never heard of said no to a small amount of angel money? Stop
the presses.

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answerly
This post suggests that YC is in some way incompatible with the idea of doing
what is best for your customers. It's a strange conclusion based on the
significant amount of public evidence to the contrary.

~~~
wmf
Some ideas are probably compatible with a lifestyle business but not with a
VC-backed business. Without any details there's no way to know whether that is
the case here.

