Hacker News Reader

Comment by sailormoon | Hacker News Reader

I am sorry if this is completely obvious and I am missing something. But I just do not understand, not one little bit.

Why did you fly to America to get $5000? It is not a large amount of money. I am surprised it covered your air fares.

So why? I do not feel the need at all. You did. I would like to here why. Did they really say something in the interview that justified all that time and expense?

update: I have no idea whatsoever why this is being downvoted. There is no way I would fly to the US to collect a pathetic $5k. I'd genuinely like to know why people think it is a profitable thing to do so. Thanks.

View on HN

You're being downvoted because people think the answer to your question is so obvious that you must be trolling. However, I'll assume you're being sincere.

The money is the least important aspect of getting in to YC. What matters is the advice they provide and the community/network aspects. These things are so valuable that they are a huge state change for most startups.

This is not obvious to me at all. I admit I have difficulty conceiving of advice so compelling I'd travel to America to receive it.

Fair enough I guess. People pay what they think it is worth. That's capitalism; no argument from me. I am not trolling. Carry on.

The travel expenses is reimbursed by YC up to a certain amount. It's no expense for the founders except time.

I'm curious what led you to Hacker News if you don't see the value of YC more than the money.

Lots of people (me included) are on Hacker News because of the community and the quality of articles (as compared to Digg, Slashdot, Programming.Reddit, etc).

It shouldn't be that difficult to imagine. It's a very old tradition to travel long distances in search of specialized knowledge. Practically every famous medieval scholar did. But of course the tradition is way older than that. In the mid 6th century BC Pythagoras went to study in Egypt, and his biographer Porphyry said "It was from his stay among these foreigners that Pythagoras acquired the greater part of his wisdom."

Sure, but the world has changed in the several centuries since.

Today travelling across the world to receive information isn't something most people would do - or even think about. After all, the price of information has crashed even more than stocks in Lehrman Brothers.

That's not the point being made. The point is that the concept of travelling for wisdom should be familiar. Like fighting dragons to get princesses.

Actually travelling great distances as part of one's education is more common, not less. I wouldn't be surprised if at least a million people a year move to distant towns to go to college or grad school every year in the US alone.

From wikipedia:

"""It is not easy to determine how far Pythagoras was indebted to the Egyptian priests, or indeed, whether he learnt anything from them. There was nothing in the symbolical mode of representation which the Pythagoreans adopted, which bore the distinct traces of an Egyptian origin."""

And further: """The philosophy and the institutions of Pythagoras exhibit what might easily have been developed by a Greek mind exposed to the ordinary influences of the age."""

It's beyond advice. It's the energy, community, contacts, drive, and exposure that you get to a community of like minded entrepreneurs. Getting _into_ that community is something that may change you for the rest of your life. Even just going for the _interview_ may be a life changing experience, regardless of whether you are funded.

In Silicon Valley, you see something similar in companies - there is this massive meritocracy and cross pollination that takes place. Companies get successful. Employees vest out and go form new companies. Then they reach back into their (metaphorical) Rolodex and pull colleagues from years passed who went through the most intense interview ever - working side-by-side for multiple years. It's why I recommend anyone from outside the valley interested in technology, particularly early in their career, to take any job they can get with a good valley company, and pay absolutely no attention to their salary. None. Once you are established, the money will follow.

But it's all about getting in the door, taking that first step. YC is one of those first steps for startup founders.

What's obvious to the people who downvoted you is that the YC program is about much more than $5k. http://www.ycombinator.com/about.html

I'm sorry, but even though the money is the least part of the package, I need to correct you on this one: it's not $5,000, it's at least $10k (2 founders) and probably $15k.

Saying it's just $5,000 is disingenuous.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com