Ask HN: How many billion dollar YC companies had traction before YC?

7 pointsjsonchen4 comments

Stripe: Known founders (sold a company for several million) but had few users.

Dropbox: Launched on HN before YC interviews, might have had traction.

Airbnb: Maybe some from before they pivoted?

Twitch: Evolved from Justin.tv, which had some traction, but Justin.tv evolved from Justin casting his life. No traction beforehand?

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It takes a long time to make a billion dollar company, but with the increased emphasis on traction, I wonder if accelerators like YC are thinking too short term. Would an unknown Justin Kan or Alexis Ohanian even get funded today without traction?

Pretty sure most of the $b companies got there in like 4 years or less.

I don't get the feeling that they require traction in the sense of pure # of users, but rather they want to see high engagement among the users you do have. Goes back to what PG says in his essays, better to have 100 people love your product, than 1 million who sort of like it.

Even so, was that true of any of the billion dollar companies before they joined YC, though? I'm not sure it was.

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