Hacker News Reader

Comment by sama | Hacker News Reader

I’m very excited about this. YC is the smartest group of people I’ve ever worked with, and I believe that startups are going to be the major driver for innovation and economic growth going forward.

I was thinking this morning about what it was like to start a startup in early 2005 and how much it’s changed now. PG has done a remarkable amount to improve the startup ecosystem for founders—in fact, it’s hard to think of anyone who has done more.

(Also, maybe someday soon we’ll make Hacker News work well on mobile :) )

View on HN

Congrats Sam! Starting with even before we joined Y Combinator in the summer of 2008, you were always a very important advisor to us. I remember when we were first trying to raise money, no investor would talk to us. In our fundraising deck, we had our total addressable market at something like $100M, which was ridiculous considering our vision was just airbeds. We wanted to make it smaller. You told us to opposite - switch the m's to b's. I asked why, and you said that "investors want b's, baby." Ok, I may have added the "baby" part of the quote, but more importantly, you mentored us to think bigger, and you were (alongside the Justin.tv guys) an inspiration for us to join Y Combinator. Since then, you have been super helpful with showing us how to hire and scale a company. Congrats on this next part of your journey. Many startups will be better off because of you.

Very nice compliment right here.

Sam, you already know this, but I just want to say publicly how happy we are to have you leading YC.

Seconded. Motion carried.

So, what about you jl? You'll still have your hands on deck?

Not to be so intrusive, but I recall pg talking about the son -- was that a factor in pg making this decision? To dedicate more time to parenting or something like that?

My role isn't changing at YC. I'm sure our clever son will have PG working on all sorts of projects for him in no time.

Congratulations Sam. Well deserved!

For a few seconds while the post loaded, I wondered if you are really running for president. It seemed improbable, but not impossible :)

It would be awesome for technology focused entrepreneurial focused people did get into the presidency and politics. Maybe guys like Sam one day or Jim Greer of Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/forums/1-kongregate/topics/383925-...

Agreed. I do believe Alexis will end up being the Senator from reddit :)

Senator from New York, eh? I am 30....

That's the minimum legal age to run for senate :)

Agreed -- and Jim has done a lot more critical thinking about our political system than just about anyone else I know.

This is really cool ... while all the YC partners are amazingly talented and giving, you were always the person to go to in the trenches ... wise beyond your years and extremely tactical in how you communicate.

Thanks for everything you've contributed to all of us.

Every startup has a moment where the founder has to ask, "Do I become a professional administrator, or do I hand the professional management to someone else so that we can scale while I keep spending my time on what I want to."

It's good to see that YC has done this prior to a crisis, rather than in reaction to one. It doesn't seem like there's a better use of PG's time than office hours and writing. If this allows him to do more of both, everyone benefits.

Hire pg back to work on HN's mobile interface. He'll still have time to write essays.

Congratulations Sam! It won't come as a surprise to anyone close to YC, maybe just that it happened today. I am sure you are going to have a PG sized legacy when it is your turn to hand over the reins and I can't wait to watch it unfold.

> (Also, maybe someday soon we’ll make Hacker News work well on mobile :) )

Sam, there are already mobile apps for this. But the constantly expiring links due to limitations to Arc should be fixed.

I have always found this to be HN's "Badge of Irony": Funds some of the best, highest velocity startups in tech; Can't get their shit together around UX/Mobile.

It is frustratingly endearing.

I wonder why I've not seen this expressed before, I've thought it every time I see these complaints regarding the HN mobile experience.

Maybe it isn't desirable to have people writing comments on their phone. The comment quality is likely greatly reduced by people writing pithy one-liners on their phones.

The best content on this site are the long expert comments, and those will never be typed on a mobile device.

All that being said, maybe its by design that the UX isn't great on mobile devices... or you know maybe the people that could make the changes just have bigger fish to fry.

The mobile apps all kind of suck though. i keep installing new ones, and always end up back in the browser, exercising my pinch-to-zoom muscles.

PG once said something to the effect that some day you would be president. How right he was! Looking forward to seeing where you take things.

Do you plan on carrying over the Birkenstocks?

no i prefer running shoes

And Tommy Bahama shirts.

Congrats Sam. I love your thoughtful writing style and think you're the natural choice for the job.

Congrats Sam. I hope other founders have taken notice recently that Sam's posts - especially about raising money - are some of the best playbooks you can get your eyes on in terms of starting and fundraising successfully as a startup today. Well done.

Congratulations Sam! Can you share a little bit about how you plan on growing YC?

Congrats Sam! I've come to anticipate your essays as a way to inform my own thinking. I'm certain this is excellent for YC and the entire startup ecosystem.

Congrats buddy... you gave instrumental advice during every funding round we've raised, and we're better for it.

Congrats sam! Look forward to great things from you @ YC.

Does this mean you will have less time to write blogs ?

Congrats, Sam!!! Your blog shows a ton of thought leadership and meshes really well with this.

Congrats Sam! You've recently shown your ability to be a thought leader with your writing, and I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity to show your mettle as an executer as well. Here's to a bright future for YC!

Likewise, to echo the sentiment from PG, you're one of the smartest people I've worked with and I think you'll do great at YC. Congrats!

Edit: so my prediction a few months ago that you'd be joining Sequoia wasn't too far off ;)

Happy to add my congratulations to the wave of orange users already doing so... it's clearly reflective of the impact you've had on so many YC startups. Thanks Sam and can't wait to see where you take YC next!

What will change about YC?

Congrats, Sam! We were stoked to get you as an advisor for AdGrok, and the advice you gave us was remarkably insightful and spot-on. Thanks again.

Awesome to hear Sam! You were the influential voice when we were fundraising and always pushed us in the right direction. Congratulations!

Huge congrats and well deserved! Thanks for all the advices when I was going thru the bottom of my roller coaster ride.

Congrats Sam! Your advice for us has always been great and I'm eager to see how that shapes up with the new role.

Congrats Sam! Thank you for the advice to continually focus, focus, focus even in the face of temptation to do more.

Congrats sama, you gave us help even before we were in YC. Definitely one of the most benevolent in the valley.

Congratulations Sam! Here's to a very exciting future, and looking forward to see how you help shape it.

super excited for this! congrats sam!

Congrats but I won't be satisfied if you don't find time to continue you blog, Sam! ;)

Congrats Sam!

Congrats Sam. Ace news.

Congrats a ton Sam.

Best of Luck.

With the Mobile part ofcourse, you'll do brilliant with rest, no wishes needed there :-)

Congrats Sam, and congrats YC!

Amazing, Sam. Congratulations.

Congrats Sam! Your advice was incredibly useful when I went through YC.

Congratulations Sam :) Looking forward to more big things from you.

Congrats Sam! Looking forward to the big things to come at YC.

Very cool. There's a lot you can do with YC. Good luck!

Congrats Sam! I've learned a lot from you.

Congrats Sam! :)

Congratulations!

Yay! Very excited for you and YC. Congrats!

Congratulations, Sam! Best of luck!

Congrats sam!

Congrats!

Congrats, this is awesome!

Awesome, congrats man!

Congratulations Sam!

Congrats Sam!! Woo!

Congratulations!

Congrats Sama!

Congrats Sam!

Congrats!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com