Y Combinator here I come – update

http://new.novelog.com/my-first-story/y-combinator-here-i-come-update

by thatusertwo • 14 years ago

30 20 14 years ago

new.novelog.com

jimmytucson• 14 years ago

You're not there yet. But you get there, I hope I'm lucky enough to be a part of it.

thatusertwo5• 14 years ago

Thanks.

webwright• 14 years ago

Marketing is SO much more than "telling the world about it". But yeah, it's nearly impossible to imagine a successful company without great marketing. Check Peter Thiel's thoughts on the topic (they are amazing):

http://blakemasters.tumblr.com/post/22405055017/peter-thiels...

SparksZilla• 14 years ago

This is a great attitude. My team and I didn't make it into YC either this round, but I just moved here to the valley today. See you here soon?

kurtvarner• 14 years ago

I also just moved to the Valley and would love to meet up. Here's my story: http://kurtvarner.com/post/19347794553/man-car-startup

sparknlaunch122• 14 years ago

Dude, in your car?

Good luck in the valley!

spung• 14 years ago

Maybe make another update post regarding this topic when your pivot is ready so you can gain some exposure to it?

thatusertwo5• 14 years ago

good idea.

sparknlaunch122• 14 years ago

"Truth be told, I’ve had trouble convincing myself that the product is worthy of the effort needed to make it succeed. I’ve thought about a pivot and will probably work towards it, but at the same time its hard to know if it has the potential to be worth the effort."

That statement plus your co founder staying home probably didn't help.

Why lack of enthusiasm for current product? Why not build the right product, rather than build the wrong one (and need to fix it later)?

thatusertwo5• 14 years ago

Its hard to know what the right product is. I've recently moved, so I'm hoping I see something that inspires me as to what to do next.

strlen3• 14 years ago

Hi, here are a few bits of advice based on your current and previous posts.

First, please make sure to proof read your posts and find a few folks who are willing to help you do so: ability to write well counts a great deal (especially if you're serious about running a business). Good news is that you already enjoy writing and thus you are far more likely to invest in deliberate practice.

Second, I think you drew the wrong conclusions in your previous post. Big companies are rather predictable: you have (with some margin of error) a fairly good idea of what the culture, environment, et al are going to be like when you decide to join one. Startups, on the other hand, vary greatly from one to another: you're more likely to have a horrible experience, but you're also more likely to have an amazing experience. You've had an unpleasant experience at one startup, but it doesn't logically follow that your only option is to start your own company: there are plenty of companies that are actually great to work for.

To be honest, I don't think this is the right time for you to do a startup: looking at your previous posts and comments on this site, it sounds like you need to build your technical skill-set (looks like the last company you've worked for didn't even use source control!), confidence, and a network of like minded people. If somebody asks you "why would I want to move to Silicon Valley to start a company if I already have a great job?", they have a very different set of values from somebody you'd want as a founder. Great engineers (or product managers, designers, and so on) always have many options available to them besides starting their own company: it's a matter of choice and not a last resort.

Spend some time improving your online presence: at the least fix the gramatical errors (e.g., its/it's and build/built), build a few web or mobile applications (assuming that's what you're interested in), put up a few projects on GitHub/Bitbucket (but have a few strong programmers review them before making the repositories public). This will make it easier for you to show people (potential co-founders, clients, customers, employers, coworkers, or just like-like minded folks) that you're serious and have potential.

Essentially I feel you're running from something (in this case a job you didn't enjoy and the experience of being laid off). Instead, put yourself into a situation where a startup is something you run to.

[Edit: corrected a few grammatical errors of my own]

nardi2• 14 years ago

The irony of the first few sentences here...

"your advise" -> "advice"

"proof read" -> "proofread"

"invest" -> "invested"

Misplaced comma, missing "a" and "the" in a few places, awkward wording, unusual omitted/implied words...

I don't disagree with the content, but what's that saying? "Take the log out of your own eye first?"

strlen3• 14 years ago

Good point: I'll go through and do a second round of proofreading.

That said, there's a different standard for blog posts as opposed to comments. The few posts on my own blog take took several days to write and edit.

thatusertwo5• 14 years ago

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I should do more proofreading and editing.

As for trying to run my own company, the truth is that it's the only thing I know I want. I went into programming because I wanted to build a product that could be a company, and I got the job at the startup because I thought it would be the type of experience that would help me get my company started.

Also, I've had a few interviews for developer position but have lacked the technical knowledge and skills needed for the jobs. At almost 30 I know that a purely technical position is not what I want or what I am qualified for.

DanielRibeiro• 14 years ago

If it serves any consolation, Mark Zuckerberg's sister was unselected as well: http://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-arielle-zuckerbe...

jonnathanson• 14 years ago

Reducing success to "marketing" is too trivializing and narrow. Marketing's a big part of it, sure, but the how of marketing matters a lot more than the why. Especially at the early stage, when marketing budgets are wafer thin.

If there's any single variable that seems to be best correlated with early-stage success, it isn't "marketing" so much as "hustle." How many different ways can you think of to get the word out about your product? How many people can you get yourself in front of, and in which novel situations? How can you inspire better-connected, deeper-pocketed, and more influential people to evangelize on your behalf?

I've got two friends right now running startups. The first started out in investment banking, so he's got a big ol' warchest. The second started out in relatively modest circumstances -- but she's somehow managed to weasel her way (I say "weasel" lovingly, as a compliment) into blogs, journals, conferences, Entrepreneur magazine, lectures at our alma mater, and so forth. More important, she's actually built something and is actively acquiring users, one small batch at a time.

I'd bank on her over the first guy any day of the week, and I'd have banked on her even before she started getting all her press and attention. We've all heard the old cliche about not taking no for an answer. In her case, the cliche isn't nearly sufficient. I'm pretty sure she's pathologically incapable of understanding the word no.

I say this with a lot of respect for your honesty, integrity, and bravery in putting yourself out there. But if you're the type who's constantly starting and stopping projects -- who seems to put up imaginary barriers before he even encounters real ones -- then you need to think very carefully about whether you should be a founder. Joining an existing startup? Sure. But being a founder? You need grit, hustle, balls, and borderline fanaticism. You also need an ability to break a bigger picture down into smaller, bite-sized chunks, and to tackle those chunks systematically. Most people look at the set of all activities called "marketing" as a single lump of work. Founders look at "marketing" and see 2,500 discrete activities they need to perform every month.

thatusertwo5• 14 years ago

What you say is true, I need to work on the hustle of building a company, not just the marketing.

delinquentme• 14 years ago

Heres an idea:

Work on projects that are more objectively inclined. iPad apps ( although the guys @ YC like them ) aren't exactly simple to evaluate objectively.

IMO the more objectively valuable something is ... the less marketing hocking you need to do.

This coming from a BS in marketing and a programmer / hacker. People like to do simple shit and the app is the current easy eval for YC.

Y Combinator here I come – update

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