> Want to talk to people who have seen hundreds of companies deal with what you’re dealing? YC is great for that.
The way I read your post, saying you "can get" very valuable advice immediately followed by saying some advice was wrong undermines that "can" pretty solidly. I'm not just looking at that sentence in isolation.
Could we get an estimate of how much of the advice was right, weighted by how non-obvious each thing was and how much of an impact it would have to follow or not follow?
> The way I read your post, saying you "can get" very valuable advice immediately followed by saying some advice was wrong undermines that "can" pretty solidly.
I disagree. Getting advice from subject matter experts is almost always of great value. The chances of that advice being on-target for you are never 100%, but that doesn't mean the advice is without value. It just means that it's not infallible.
In the end, as with literally everything about running a business -- VC backed or not -- you need to take in all of the quality information you can get and decide what's important/relevant and what's not.
Having access to more information is a Good Thing, even if some particular bit of information isn't helpful.
Also, while access to subject matter experts is one of the benefits of a group like YC, it's not necessarily the most important. Even if that's not useful to you, the other benefits may very well be.
Disclaimer -- I'm personally not interested in doing VC-backed ventures. For me, the juice isn't worth the squeeze, so I'm not asserting that YC is some sort of panacea that is valuable to everyone. But it is obviously of great value to some. Part of what an entrepreneur needs to learn how to do is how to determine what is of value to your startup and what is not. Every venture is different, and has different needs.
I just had this discussion with my child. I tried to advise them through experiences based on my trip through those same experiences. So I gave them advice like 'don't rack up student debt' and "don't buy a house that costs more than 3x your salary".
Turns out, even though I had the same experiences (went to college, bought a house, etc.) my advice doesn't seem to fit today's world. At some point, they should just quit asking me for advice. #DitchTheSherpa
100% right is likely impossible, but the way it was written it made it sound as if it was right 50% of the time, which is essentially the worst you can do. Anything below or above that is valuable. Obviously, the closer to 0% or 100% the better.
The way I read your post, saying you "can get" very valuable advice immediately followed by saying some advice was wrong undermines that "can" pretty solidly. I'm not just looking at that sentence in isolation.
Could we get an estimate of how much of the advice was right, weighted by how non-obvious each thing was and how much of an impact it would have to follow or not follow?