Hacker News Reader

Comment by jonnathanson | Hacker News Reader

Makes a lot of sense. YC is evolving into what I'd call, for lack of a pithier phrase, a company-development firm. It's no longer just about kickstarting your company; it's about ensuring your company's ongoing success.

A more hands-on, operational focus helps YC's portfolio companies. It also protects YC's investments when they reach their adolescent stages, where a lot of startups can ordinarily run into trouble.

View on HN

Business Development Companies are actually a thing [0]. They're consulting firms that take equity. So... yeah. You're pretty much right on.

That said, YC is a fantastic way for a young company to identify what's really important and to be reminded weekly (if not daily) to ignore everything else.

P.S. Good luck to all those interviewing for the upcoming batch.

[0] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Development_Company

Sounds like easy money to me. Vague elastic definitions of success are what consultancy is all about.

Is there a similar trend in other incubators of adjusting to help ensure long(er)-term success of companies or is YC really the first to do this?

Other incubators/accelerators have focused on companies at different stages, but none that I know of are expanding, as YC is doing, from beginning to middle (to end?). This makes sense from YCs perspective because anything with network effects increases with more people/cos. Additionally to borrow a phrase from a16z, YC is becoming a full-stack or bundled company: Go to YC to get your start, your growth, and perhaps in the future, your IPO, who knows.

There's definitely a trend, at least among newer VC firms, towards full-service support. Operational guidance, marketing, knowledge bases, best practices, etc. These firms are attempting to differentiate themselves by offering value-added services, and not just capital.

I wouldn't necessarily put YC in the same bucket, given that it's been successful on its own terms for years now. This move feels more like an "vertical" expansion through the lifecycle of existing investments, and less like a "horizontal" expansion into whole new services and models.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com