Why Y Combinator is a waste of time
scribd.com
scribd.com
Yes, if you're banking everything on YCombinator, you will fail. You're doing it wrong. Rethink your approach.
However, if you are doing everything right, and you get into YCombinator too, you will get a lot of value out of that, and you should squeeze the most out of it.
YCombinator is a multiplier. You need to have something worth multiplying first.
I wouldn't discount the article as dangerous, though. If you can get around its linkbaitedness, it makes a good point that someone concerned about making great software shouldn't worry about funding: I'm the only programmer on my project, with two business people and a designer, and already we have built a Windows middleware piece using XMPP and a Ruby/Rails project to exchange messages via XMPP. (I'm a Mac user, but our software requires Windows because it brings a particular Windows app to the Web that I can't quite disclose yet because I'm in stealth mode.)
For coders who don't have business experience, you're better off going with YC so you don't get screwed later. For those who have some business acumen, you might not need the funding or management advice that YC gives. If you're a coder, you will have to learn to have tight budgets. I saved money for two years and invested in the stock market to give me the ability to bet it on this project.
But if you can code, you probably don't need a whole lot of money to keep you going. Whether or not you're YC, I'm sure you'll make it work if you're passionate about what you're doing.
Y Combinator is about people. A whole lot of people who have a whole lot more experience starting companies than you do. And all those people want to help you succeed, like those before helped them. It's a giant fraternity where instead of keg stands you get proven advice from people who've done the hard work of finding the potholes themselves.
If you need to dig a big hole and don't know about a backhoe, you grab a shovel and start working inefficiently. Y Combinator is the construction guy who comes by and tells you about the backhoe. And about digging a hole you can get out of. And about the nearby water line you're probably going to bust open. He saves you a shit load of time and trouble and helps you grow your skill set.
Y Combinator not only connects you with smarter entrepreneurs, it connects you with the best of the startup world. Need funding? Need a CEO? Need an invite to something? YC has you covered. They can't make you drink, but they sure know where all the water is.
* * *
YC helped me grow as a founder and as a developer. It helped me make the best friends of my life. When my co-founder tragically died, Paul and Jessica made sure I could pay the bills—in exchange for nothing (which doesn't scratch the surface of how much my entire class helped). If I had to do it again, I would. Every single time.
If you know everybody; if you have a following; if you have ridiculously talented friends, you probably don't need YC. But everybody isn't you.
Nothing terribly interesting in it, either. Apparently Y-Combinator is "The Man" these days and must be railed against?
Times change so fast.
This is just another "get out there and do something" fluff piece, packaged in an angsty teen way.
This sounds like a serious issue with your MacBook and not Scribd's problem.
I imagine YC are very happy they funded Scribd.
Page views doesn't mean the site is any good. That ranking still puts them far behind sites like youporn and tube8, sites which have no redeeming value, but at least have never crashed my browser, much less my entire computer.
Never mind asking knowledgable people to critique, and if its good enough, even help you improve it. That would clearly be a waste of time.
"A lot of people who applied to YCombinator are probably hacks with derivative ideas and little ability to actually accomplish things. You are probably one of them. A dreamer who sees external capital as a shortcut towards making money without actually working for it."
But contrary to the author's view, YC is also very good at analyzing startup potential. That's how it works -- the business model depends on it. If you don't get accepted to YC, chances are, there's a problem. Of course, they can't accept everyone, and presumably the number of applications is increasing with time, so that problem may be that there are just too many applicants with good ideas. But rejection from YC is a perfect opportunity to reevaluate your idea and your potential. The fact is that there are good startup ideas and bad ones, and being rejected from YC is a hint that you may have a bad one.
If you're still confident and passionate after reevaluating, _that_ is when you run with your idea anyway.