Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

At least from the perspective of a potential customer, I now view Y Combinator as a red flag for a service provider, for a variety of reasons.

The two big ones: YC companies try to "grow" too fast without any concern to the dynamics of how their market is supposed to work after they've achieved their targeted scale. The basic playbook seems to be: give stuff away for free until you kill the incumbents, then jack up prices to way more than what the incumbents used to charge while simultaneously reducing the services/products offered.

There's also the issue of companies basing their business models around regulatory arbitrage, ignoring the rules that incumbents (are forced to) live by and then using their size to try to get away with their past misbehavior.




I don't see how this is specific to YC and not to other VCs too, unless you do mean to include other VCs too in your viewpoint.


YC at one point went out of its way to encourage regulatory arbitrage as a viable business plan.

It's great for investors, it sucks for everyone else, and it's a huge part of why tech is so hated right now.


That's an interesting perspective! Do you feel YC companies get too pampered / arrogant?




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: