Two New YC Partners: Justin Kan and Aaron Harris
blog.ycombinator.com
blog.ycombinator.com
Of course it's easier said than done. If you're busy running YC it's hard to have the occasion to meet and find people who are not part of the same frat house.
I think the issue with YC now is a bottom up issue. It's hard to bring outside partners if you have no working experience with them. Those that you can work with, are mostly YC alums who were vetted through the YC culling process which often breeds the same people.
So YC might want to use a similar approach as CRV. If everyone is so confident about a team then maybe they are picking the same old people. In contrast if there is a strong dispute, that might be a good sign.
At least you bring diversity and maybe some unusual bets into the YC and ultimately in 4-5 years end up with a more diverse group of partners.
That being said, this might mean a big change in the application process, as the current early round filtering process by the alums will most likely eliminate diversity.
[1] http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattlynley/how-a-boston-venture-capi...
> Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
I'm not sure I respect the ability to convince people to keep trusting you after repeated failures, eventually culminating in a position of oversight over other people's start-ups. Between this, Loopt, and "tutorspree", it's starting to seem a bit like "Those who can't do ... have a privileged position from which it really doesn't matter anyway"
Upon reflection, these resumes might actually be perfect for YC -- these are founders that convinced people to invest in their high-risk ventures, repeatedly, without actually ever having to deliver the goods.
In this world of over-inflated valuations and empty bubble companies, that's a very valuable skill-set to have.
None of the companies I've started has lost the investors' money (yet). Some of them weren't that successful (Kiko) but still sold for a small profit.
Twitch / Justin.tv is a 120+ employee company that makes money and supports over 100 full time broadcasters who make their living on our platform (and has hundreds of thousands of casual broadcasters). Over 45 million people look at Twitch videos every month. While there are many more successful companies, I don't think you could call that a failure.
Socialcam was a spinoff of Justin.tv that was acquired for $60m on less than $2m raised capital.
The jury is still out on the Exec / Handybook acquisition, but I think the online-to-offline home services space is a growth space.
I think I've earned a few investors' trust and I think I have some experience with founding early stage tech companies.
I went to a Paul Haggis speech where he said that when asked how to become a successful film maker, his response was 'Make a movie and have it win the Oscar for best picture - that's how you become successful.' So true, and yet so false. I'd rather have people who fought and struggled give me advice - and so I think Mr. Kan is a great choice, probably the best choice in that realm.
Besides, it appears to some extent that YC is bringing him on siloed in his marketing prowess. PG seems continually impressed that Mr. Kan self broadcast for as long as he did. It's not the first time I've heard PG mention it, but it's not what Mr. Kan is best at. He's best at seeing the angles in the game. Like I said, he's a play maker. My only concern would be that he would push too many pivots on young, unproven companies. But we all have biases that need to addressed, in our actions and in our advice.
Myself, I take too many long bets, and would probably encourage others to do so as well.
Some VCs come with banking backgrounds. I like the ones that come as entrepreneurs first. Their advice is hard earned.
exec was sold/acqui-hired to a company called Handybook.
so Handybook kept the regular scheduled appointment. they came once and it was terrible. they came a second time and it was terrible again. so i cancelled the service.
that was a few weeks ago, i have yet to replace them.
so right about now, my toilet is starting to become disgusting.
i get a disgusting toilet, and Justin gets a partnership.
The difference is that most people, including Justin, would likely clean their toilet instead of griping about it on an internet forum.
And if you're physically disabled, there are plenty of maid services aside from Exec.
I think I see the solution to your problem...