The Value of the Y Combinator Experience

http://www.sachinrekhi.com/blog/2009/02/26/the-value-of-the-ycombinator-experience

by sachin • 17 years ago

52 13 17 years ago

sachinrekhi.com

Shamiq• 17 years ago

I like my knowledge to be well-balanced. Are there any founders who have gone through YC and not liked it?

My current sample seems to indicate they all liked the experience.

(edited last sentence for clarity).

Maven911• 17 years ago

lol yes this is a biased site.

Nonetheless, I so wish I could experience how it feels to be selected by yc.

unalone• 17 years ago

Then get an idea going!

pbrown• 17 years ago

I'd be curious to know if pg and gang do exit surveys to find out what founders thought was valuable and what they thought could be done different/better.

pg3• 17 years ago

We don't do formal ones (we don't do anything formal), but we often ask alumni individually.

wayne• 17 years ago

Even if you had a bad YC experience, it wouldn't be to your advantage to go public with it. You'd burn bridges for little gain.

The only people who seem to bad-mouth investors are ones who've already made more money than they know what to do with (Sabeer Bhatia style: http://www.foundersatwork.com/1/post/2009/02/a-note-about-sa...). YC hasn't had any giant, mega-hits yet that would warrant a founder poisoning their relationship with the investment community.

anthonyrubin• 17 years ago

The classic has to be the ArsDigita story. It seems that Philip Greenspun has removed the story from his site, but I found it elsewhere.

http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/

pg3• 17 years ago

I worry there are people who didn't like us. We've now funded around 300 people, and out of that many there are probably some. But no group has actually told me so far that they thought YC wasn't worth it.

releasedatez• 17 years ago

I think it depends on their exits. My thinking is if the startups have good exits, then they probably should be pretty happy with the experience. Can pg share a little stats on YC startups exits?

sam_in_nyc• 17 years ago

I love the concept of YC to death. I don't think there is a better way to get a web start-up going than to have it incubated in the amazing circumstances that YC provides. Though I've not yet applied to YC, mainly because I saved up my own money for seeding, but also for other reasons, I'd imagine the key benefits being exactly what Sachin has listed in this post.

The least of the benefits is definitely (and should be) the money. Even without money, somebody could foreseeable devote a small amount of time to hack together something. Granted, without funding it won't be as fully fleshed out, or built in as short amount of time, but it's likely that actually doing it isn't going to be the key point of failure.

What YC gets right is they put you in an environment where you're more likely to not just do it, but do it right. Not just the product, which absolutely benefits from the groupthink of lots of smart, devoted people in so small a space, but the company as a whole, for reasons that Sachin has listed.

I'd imagine the hugest benefit of all being the social proof, and investor day. If you're back by YC, you've already got a foot in the door: smart, experienced people have invested at least some money and resources into your idea. These people have delivered great companies before. I guess it's kind of like recruitment day at a top university. The best meet up with the presumed best.

Anyway, I need to ask, are there any such "investor days" open to the public? I'm getting nearer and nearer to launch (now considering filing a provisional patent which could delay things), but I'll have something substantial to show that really deserves attention.

The Value of the Y Combinator Experience

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