Early Photos of Y Combinator | Hacker News Reader

Early Photos of Y Combinator

ycombinator.com

368 pointspg69 comments

Wow. It seems like so long ago yet I remember every moment of these photos. Especially the one taken the night we decided to start YC (we actually didn't come up with the name till later on). I think that was a tear of joy/excitement in my eye.

I seem to remember that, at the time, one of the partners was unnamed on the website. Was that you, or someone else?

That was Jessica. She hadn't quit her previous job yet.

Everyone looks so young. Sam Altman looks exactly the same. (he still looks super young)

Perhaps a 'where are they now' would be interesting for the other guys in the batch.

Jessica - you always look like the happiest person in the world. It is infectious.

I will own up to being in one of the groups listed on the whiteboard.

I am pretty sure we were described as "VOIP OFFENSIVE LINEMAN". Or at least I hope that is what was written behind to describe us.

Me and a co-founder were rather large and were actual offensive lineman. The third co-founder was a running back.

We weren't selected (rightfully so). Maybe we should have bulked up the running back before the interview. :)

These pictures are a testament to how much you can get done in six years of work. They're also a great reminder that YC was itself once a startup.

YC is definitely still a startup. Otherwise, they would have replaced that frickin' chili by now.

YC is incredible. If you're on the fence about applying - do it! The worst thing that can happen is that you'll go through an incredibly exciting process of applying, get a polite rejection, and reapply the next time around. The best thing that can happen is that it will change your perspective and your life in a very fundamental way. If you look at it that way, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I wanted to apply just for the experience this season, but there's absolutely no way I could move to SF. I started filling out the app, but don't want to waste their time if there's no way I can attend.

Even if it's only 3 months? I know of a lot of people from NYC/elsewhere that fly in for three months then move back after YC finishes.

Yeah, my wife is pregnant with our first baby - due first week in January. Absolutely no way I'm moving.

About a quarter of the founders in the Summer 2010 batch weren't even US residents, but we thought it was worth moving to the Bay Area for the three months of YC.

Interestingly (and anecdotally) I think more people came from abroad than from the East Coast.

I wonder how these non-US-residents were able to handle their visa issues.

That's unsurprisingly a large topic, but suffice it for now to say that again three months is much easier than a longer stay.

Priceless! It also puts a human perspective to Y Combinator. I get sweaty palms just by thinking of applying (although I will - again) this year, let alone actually making it. These pics show me you're actually humans instead of, well, deities. It makes me a bit less anxious of applying, if only a little bit.

Lovely. Thanks for sharing them. :-)

I remember reading about YC as it started, hooked I was to paulgraham.com's essays. A link to "Beating the Averages" I forwarded by mail is what made a couple friends of mine who had just started a company decide to build sites with Zope and Plone instead of more mundane technologies. It had a deep impact on the Brazilian Python community.

It is unbelievably amazing that YC went from literally a gleam in jl's (and pg's) eye to something that is a clear leader in not only incubators but entrepreneurial thought as well. A case of clearly superior vision getting its due. Such vision to success proportionality is not so common, I think.

> Such vision to success proportionality is not so common, I think

I'm not sure of what you mean, but I would argue that vision is everything, and that vision well executed has to bring success.

When we say that execution is hard, we really mean that execution that implements a vision is hard. Execution without vision is really easy (it's entropy).

Vision is harder, because it's not just an idea (a wish), but a deep insight into the future and how to get there.

Those pictures of young YC remind me of Burano — an island next to Venice that stayed in a kind of "pristine" state: Venice before Venice.

You're somewhat right, vision is crucial. However, it is a necessary but not sufficient condition for success, that's what I meant. Classic (somewhat cliche) example is the early Xerox vision, but I see this everyday youthful energy and vision (and I'm not talking about myself :-) being squashed by various factors in large corporations. In startups the vision to success black box is simpler, but is by no means a linear relationship.

> A case of clearly superior vision getting its due

PG & Company have clearly done a "bang up job", as they say in the UK, but... is it genuinely a 'vision'? I don't know them and their plans well enough to say, but it seems that there is some hill climbing going on there too. "Of course what we decided to start was a lot less ambitious than YC is now."

I think the operational details naturally were arrived at by hill climbing (or descent), as you suggest. However, I suggest that you read pg's early essays, most of the basic vision that went into YC, the no-nonsense "make something that people want" approach is there. That's why YC was successful, if they didn't start from such an initial condition they would have been just another incubator and there are hundreds of them.

"It will never work" is such a killer name for a possible cult classic on Investing and Entrepreneurship.

Dammit! itllneverwork.com and itwillneverwork.com are both taken :-(

goingtofail.com isn't registered. (Yes, I know it's not the same name, but I thought it was a good one)

willneverwork.com is available.

not anymore

  Server:		10.12.96.240
  Address:	10.12.96.240#53

  Non-authoritative answer:
  Name:	willneverwork.com
  Address: 68.178.232.100

No. It wasn't me.

Here's a clearer shot. Anyone who wants is free to use it for motivational posters or whatever: http://ycombinator.com/images/itwillneverwork.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Ktufl.jpg

Got him on my wall staring down at me now. More intimidating than I thought. I feel the urge to yell back at him.

I love the 12-inch Powerbook G4s.

Glad to see that someone else thinks this too. I really loved these machines.

The 4:3 screen is what makes them special I think. Wish the new Airs had that option!

I want to know who the "VoIP Offensive Linemen" are. Actually, a lot of the nicknames on that board are pretty funny, and for the most part would make great band names.

Haha one of the lineman is me, although I was only 6' 250 lbs at the time. A co-founder also was one. He was about 6'3 280 lbs. The third co-founder was actually a running back and wrestler, so he was only 5'8 165 lbs or so.

6'5 dude. And in 2005... yeah I was easily still pushing 275. :)

Wait, so you guys actually were linemen? That's even better!

Yup :)

I didn't play in college, though. Just old man flag leagues during the fall and winter. angilly did and #3 wrestled but no football.

But by the time interviews rolled around we were all close to finishing grad school, so our glory days were in the rearview.

Wow. I was one of them. That's hilarious.

We even ate pizza and beer after the interview. Haha.

Amazing to see this, thanks for posting. Exciting to see how much they've grown through hard work and to see how much their vision expanded.

YC is now regarded as the harvard of tech startups. It's great that YC's original vision to put founders first is still instilled in YC today, even further than then as they have more resources and alumni.

This is amazing. I also believe that YC should have own it's own story with pictures like this, for every batch.

This is awesome. I love that its only a few pictures, with descriptions. The stories behind YC and all of its companies (and co-founders) are incredible.

Five hours and no comments about Snapjoy and Posterous enabling this story to be told. This illustrates how effective technology is often invisible.

Who are the folks/companies in the picture at the bottom? I feel like I might recognize some of them, but they're much younger.

According to yclist.com (which is both unofficial and outdated), that first batch was Reddit, Infogami, Kiko, Loopt, ClickFacts, and Firecrawl.

Also Simmery and Memamp. According to my notes, Infogami ended up merging with Reddit as well as one persome from Memamp. Firecrawl became TextPayMe which was acquired by Amazon. Kiko sold on eBay after Google Calendar launched. Details here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkkhSN3vaY4jdF9...

Yep. Steve & I asked Chris (from memamp) to join the team not long after we moved in with him at the end of the summer. We acquired infogami in January of 2006.

wow. justin looks like he's going to mess somebody up. and i wore that exact same shirt this weekend.

If anything Justin looks even bigger now--like he can twist heads off baby seals.

The last paragraph feels like a zen koan. Is a "good investor" not one that finds start-ups which will succeed (and thus make him money)? How do you try to be a "good investor" without trying to find start-ups which will succeed? How far away am I from enlightment?

Love the beer cups in HN orange.

can't believe this was about 6 years ago. congrats on all the success!

Been a fan since it was announced. Glad it has worked out so well.

We want more photos.

Ask and yee shall receive: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100151188843156...

Does anyone know the people in the last picture? Would be cool to match the people to products still up and running

A subversive looking Alexis that is...

And still by far the tallest person in the room. The man is a giant.

Fee-fi-fo-fum...

Subversive? Who me?... I think I still have that TMNT shirt.

Small typo in the last photo's description:

"This is a missing a few people..."

Fixed; thanks.

Thank you, Paul. I love this trip down memory lane.

So, where in Cambridge was the original YC office?

135 Garden St. It was perfect.

http://www.trulia.com/property/3032935568-135-Garden-St-Camb...

Where are the black people?

They are out eating fried chicken.

Seriously, ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

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