

Why is only 1/25 of the United States interested in Y Combinator? - babyshake
http://jamtoday.beehold.us/post/48602317/why-is-only-1-25-of-the-united-states-interested-in-y

======
mechanical_fish
This is search traffic data. I spend a lot of time on HN, but I'm not sure
I've ever _Googled_ for "Y Combinator".

The people who will tend to Google the term are going to be folks who don't
really know about YC, but have heard the name and want to know more. A lot of
those folks are going to be prospective investors, employees, acquaintances,
or local media contacts of YC companies and their founders -- YC companies
which, by no coincidence at all, are located where YC is located: MA and CA.

But that's just the caveat, intended to keep us from jumping to the obvious
conclusion: CA and MA dominate the search results because those are the
startup hubs! People who are interested in startups tend to have already moved
there!

And just because that's the most tempting conclusion to jump to doesn't mean
that it's necessarily wrong.

~~~
furiouslol
Maybe those people were searching for "Y Combinator" - the higher order
function, instead of "Y Combinator" - the incubator?

~~~
babyshake
In that case, wouldn't you expect the distribution to be more spread out than
it is?

~~~
jsmcgd
Probably not because the kind of person who would be interested in a Y
Combinator would most likely be situated in high tech industries or more
esteemed universities which are located in Massachusetts and California.

------
pg
Possibly investors looking for directions to Demo Day.

~~~
babyshake
I did consider the effect of investor searches, but I figured the ratio would
be low enough to not make a difference of significance.

Then again, I've never been to a Demo Day.

------
ivankirigin
The #1 and #2 states for startups are disproportionately interested in an
early stage investment firm. Not too surprising.

Also, by population, MA & CA are about 14% of the US. By startup population...

------
easeyenn
To be interested - i.e. to search for more information, they would have to
hear about Y Combinator first - the average person who limits their
information source to Yahoo News may not have heard of Y Combinator. The 1/25
of the U.S. expressing interest in Y Combinator have a starting point of
knowledge about Y Combinator already (from other sources).

------
lbrandy
I'm from PA. I'll be writing a sternly worded letter to google on their faulty
search insights algorithm.

------
josefresco
I'm from MA, seems I fit the mold around here. I'm surprised nothing from at
least a state like NY.

~~~
babyshake
It would be great if YC started posting stats about applications. Good for
startups seeking co-founders, at least...

------
pxlpshr
Austinite here... and I know about 10+ locals that regularly visit HN and
follow ycom companies.

------
matt1
Misleading title ;)

------
lakeeffect
proximity of Y Combinator, it only has a physical presence in two locations.
California and Mass.

Also info is out of date:
[http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat&q=y+combinato...](http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat&q=y+combinator&cmpt=q&date&clp&geo=US)

Lastly, Trends orders the states in reverse alphabetical order.

