Comments on: Lessons of YCombinator: Things I’d do differently after 2 startups http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/ Tracking the Internet Evolution Wed, 09 Jul 2008 05:58:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: The F|R Interview: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham - GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-876627 The F|R Interview: Y Combinator’s Paul Graham - GigaOM Sat, 03 May 2008 09:00:18 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-876627 [...] 2005, Y Combinator has seed-funded 250 founders and over 45 startups including Justin.TV, RescueTime, Weebly and Zecter. Many other “YC shops” have quickly achieved liquidity events, among them [...] [...] 2005, Y Combinator has seed-funded 250 founders and over 45 startups including Justin.TV, RescueTime, Weebly and Zecter. Many other “YC shops” have quickly achieved liquidity events, among them [...]

]]> By: Weekly linkdump #123 - max - блог разработчиков http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875538 Weekly linkdump #123 - max - блог разработчиков Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:43:35 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875538 [...] Уроки одного из успешных стартапов, профинансированных Y Combinator, Things I’d do differently after 2 startups [...] [...] Уроки одного из успешных стартапов, профинансированных Y Combinator, Things I’d do differently after 2 startups [...]

]]> By: Sean Murphy http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875541 Sean Murphy Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:12:39 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875541 If you are giving a product or service away I don't think you can assert that you have "product/market fit." You have a very compelling application, but until you figure out who is going to pay you for it, and how much it's worth to them, I don't think you can put a check in the box next to "product/market fit" since you don't pass this test from the same Marc Andreessen post you reference ( http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the-pmarca-gu-2.html ): And you can always feel product/market fit when it's happening. The customers are buying the product just as fast as you can make it -- or usage is growing just as fast as you can add more servers. Money from customers is piling up in your company checking account. If you are giving a product or service away I don’t think you can assert that you have “product/market fit.” You have a very compelling application, but until you figure out who is going to pay you for it, and how much it’s worth to them, I don’t think you can put a check in the box next to “product/market fit” since you don’t pass this test from the same Marc Andreessen post you reference ( http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the-pmarca-gu-2.html ):

And you can always feel product/market fit when it’s happening. The customers are buying the product just as fast as you can make it — or usage is growing just as fast as you can add more servers. Money from customers is piling up in your company checking account.

]]> By: john@7fff.com http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875542 john@7fff.com Thu, 03 Apr 2008 21:37:52 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875542 Tony, Didn't you have a working prototype before you engaged with YC? Tony,

Didn’t you have a working prototype before you engaged with YC?

]]> By: Adam Wride http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875543 Adam Wride Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:55:13 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875543 Love that you launched quickly. Putting the software in front of your users as soon as possible takes away so many of the what ifs AND (more importantly) puts into your consciousness things that you hadn't even considered. Love that you launched quickly. Putting the software in front of your users as soon as possible takes away so many of the what ifs AND (more importantly) puts into your consciousness things that you hadn’t even considered.

]]> By: links for 2008-04-03 at Topper’s Blog http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875551 links for 2008-04-03 at Topper’s Blog Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:37:11 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875551 [...] Lessons of YCombinator: Things I’d do differently after 2 startups « FoundRead Rescuetime is one of the coolest products out there… here Tony Wright talks about what he did right and wrong (tags: rescuetime ycombinator advice startup entrepreneurship) [...] [...] Lessons of YCombinator: Things I’d do differently after 2 startups « FoundRead Rescuetime is one of the coolest products out there… here Tony Wright talks about what he did right and wrong (tags: rescuetime ycombinator advice startup entrepreneurship) [...]

]]> By: Fellow Entrepreneur http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875550 Fellow Entrepreneur Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:13:04 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875550 Just curious...what kind of multiple and liquidation prefs does YC get on their 6%? Just curious…what kind of multiple and liquidation prefs does YC get on their 6%?

]]> By: Mickipedia » Blog Archive » My del.icio.us bookmarks for April 2nd http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875549 Mickipedia » Blog Archive » My del.icio.us bookmarks for April 2nd Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:00:39 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875549 [...] Lessons of YCombinator: Things I?d do differently after 2 startups « FoundRead - [...] [...] Lessons of YCombinator: Things I?d do differently after 2 startups « FoundRead - [...]

]]> By: Hey Y Combinator aspirants! « Minelabs http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875548 Hey Y Combinator aspirants! « Minelabs Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:18:16 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875548 [...] Mistakes and Good things [...] [...] Mistakes and Good things [...]

]]> By: Tony Wright on Startup Lessons from Y Combinator « The Pursuit of a Life http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875547 Tony Wright on Startup Lessons from Y Combinator « The Pursuit of a Life Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:01:36 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875547 [...] Y Combinator Tony Wright of RescueTime has a wonderful post at FoundRead talking about his lessons learned from his RescueTime / Y Combinator experience. It should be a must read for early-stage tech entrepreneurs. A couple great tidbits: I think we [...] [...] Y Combinator Tony Wright of RescueTime has a wonderful post at FoundRead talking about his lessons learned from his RescueTime / Y Combinator experience. It should be a must read for early-stage tech entrepreneurs. A couple great tidbits: I think we [...]

]]> By: Kord Campbell http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875546 Kord Campbell Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:17:01 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875546 @Tony: Great insight. I usually refer to your 'wrong' list as lack of proper iteration. It's easy to stick to your guns with a great idea and good execution in hand. It's hard to look at it with a critical eye and say, "This could be 10x better people! What do we do to make it that way?" Iterate. Get the product built with *minimal* requirements implemented. The bare nuts if you will. Go show it to 10 investors that might invest and 10 companies that might use/buy it. Take notes, come back, strategize and do it all again. Eventually you'll end up with a short list of things that need to be done with the product. Do a couple of those perfectly, and leave the rest out until later. I've found iteration provides decent market research as a side-effect, given you talk to the proper people. @Tony:

Great insight.

I usually refer to your ‘wrong’ list as lack of proper iteration. It’s easy to stick to your guns with a great idea and good execution in hand. It’s hard to look at it with a critical eye and say, “This could be 10x better people! What do we do to make it that way?”

Iterate.

Get the product built with *minimal* requirements implemented. The bare nuts if you will. Go show it to 10 investors that might invest and 10 companies that might use/buy it. Take notes, come back, strategize and do it all again.

Eventually you’ll end up with a short list of things that need to be done with the product. Do a couple of those perfectly, and leave the rest out until later.

I’ve found iteration provides decent market research as a side-effect, given you talk to the proper people.

]]> By: Denny K Miu http://gigaom.com/2008/04/02/ycombinator/#comment-875545 Denny K Miu Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:16:15 +0000 http://foundread.com/?p=662#comment-875545 Thanks for an insightful post. The following is my own experience on how I failed and how I recovered (over and over). Thanks for sharing. http://www.startupforless.org Thanks for an insightful post. The following is my own experience on how I failed and how I recovered (over and over). Thanks for sharing.

http://www.startupforless.org

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