Ask HN: What percentage of Y Combinator apps are successful/profitable? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What percentage of Y Combinator apps are successful/profitable?

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I see lots of YC apps covered by TC, featured by few other popular media and wondering what percentage of the app make it big.

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I'd like to narrow the question down to which companies are profitable.

Successful and "make it big" are subjective. Profitable isn't. You either are or you aren't.

I don't work there or know anyone at the company personally, but I'll start the list with one that I remember reading was profitable pretty much right out of the gate: GazeHawk

I also wonder how many of TC featured startups are profitable, not only YC startups.

What about the big ones Does delicious.com make money? Or is it a loss-leader for Yahoo. Upcoming.org, do they make a dime on this app?

Flickr has pro accounts at $25 a year. But is it enough to be profitable?

And don't get me started on whether Twitter is profitable…

I would love to know whether Flickr is profitable. It's obviously an awesome service, but I imagine the running costs must be pretty high.

I hadn’t thought of digging in the Quora archives but according to some answers, Flickr seems to be profitable:

http://www.quora.com/Is-Flickr-profitable-for-Yahoo-and-by-h...

I don't think YC cares a lot about which companies are profitable. YC ideally wants homeruns. And homerun companies are rarely profitable because they are too busy growing. Take YouTube, Facebook etc. They all sacrificed profitability for growth. I bet there are YC companies in a similar position.

That's not true. Sitting in the Boston meetup recently they spoke directly to people who wanted a BIG exit and those who wanted a lifestyle company. They will fund either. Only VCs need the homeruns constantly to earn their risk/reward profile returns.

Thus the emphasis on a lot

That's interesting, in his interview on Mixergy, PG was asked about investing in lifestyle businesses and he did not seem enthused - "there’s got to be an exit for it, equity holders to get any money. I mean, maybe — maybe in the future there is some model where companies pay dividends instead of an exit that like we’ve never tried to get anybody to do that, and we don’t have any real hopes about it. So, no."

Wonder if there's a change in outlook or something else we're missing?

You're probably right. Most VCs want a liquidity event. I don't see why YC would be different --- except that they are more like a seed stage incubator than a traditional VC firm. Either way, they want a return, I'd think.

To me, startups that actually make profit are much more interesting primarily because so many just want to create some buzz then sell out.

This question comes up a lot.

PG says "We don't know ourselves yet, because it takes so long for startups to exit. But we have a decent idea how many are successful at the next stage after YC-- the number who are either able to raise more after YC, or don't need to because they're profitable (or in very rare cases acquired). I think for the winter 2010 batch the percentage was in the low to mid 80s."

VIA - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1694832

PG previously said "According to our data, 98/145 or 67.6% of companies we funded in s2009 or before are funded and/or profitable and/or acquired."

VIA - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1185345

More resources:

Current list of HN startups and spin-offs?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1825396

What percentage of YC startups make it and what percentage fail?

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1276356

Spreadsheet listing all YC-Startups, exits etc:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkkhSN3vaY4jdF90b1l...

There used to be a good list on Wikipedia but it's been "deletionated" over the past few years.

There was a really nice google spreadsheet on HN once that showed all the startups in more than just YC. If I remember correctly, it's purpose was to show which startups in each incubator were dead/still active/got acquired. You could go off of that list and actually do it for more than just YC. I've been looking for the OP but I can't seem to find it.

Here is a link to the spreadsheet, https://spreadsheets0.google.com/ccc?key=t_toYuVyy6fci0MAiIa... Also the original analysis post, http://blog.jedchristiansen.com/2009/09/21/copying-y-combina...

I believe this is what you're referring to?

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkkhSN3vaY4jdF90b1l...

I like your question! Most YC Companies have been named and written about -- why don't you do the research and write it up for us?

You are right but I thought of checking if this information is already available.

There's no way to know yet. Most YC companies haven't had their fate determined yet.

For success you're right. Profitability is a bit more black and white even if they haven't reached their full potential yet.

"Self-sustaining" might be a better metric.

Here are a list of different incubator companies and acquisition price... doesn't answer your question, but may help. https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AkkhSN3vaY4jdF90b1l...

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