Perhaps it wasn't the most useful comment I've written, but I think I have a strong point.
It's not the information or know-how that makes YC a game-changer. It's the connections and seal of approval, which are scarce by definition. And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%.
I don't begrudge YC, really. It's a brilliantly run business and it's probably done a lot of good for the world. It's just fun to snark about these things because, honestly, most of the people "out there" (the ones who actually think protesting Google Buses makes some kind of sense) are going to react more harshly than I do. I just make fun of shit.
> It's not the information or know-how that makes YC a game-changer.
YC is composed of equal parts capital, smarts and process. That's not taking into account the connections or the seal of approval, those are results not inputs! You could claim they are inputs now but it wasn't always like that.
> It's the connections and seal of approval, which are scarce by definition.
Connections are not scarce at all. You - and anybody else - have the power to reach out to those that you want to reach. Assuming you play at 6 degrees for a bit you'll find a link to whoever you want to reach. What makes the difference is that once YC gives you that coveted 'seal of approval' (and that's also not that scarce, vast numbers of start-ups have received it) that some people will throw money at you.
But that's a curse and a blessing at the same time, for many of those recipients will receive the 'curse' and only a few will eventually see it as a blessing. But all of them agree: the experience alone was well worth it.
Now I'm not a YC alumnus, nor will I ever be one but I think that if a very large number of people that go through a program think it is worth it then that has my vote.
The seal of approval is something that VCs that do not wish to do their own vetting have come up with, they have basically outsourced their vetting to YC because YC does so much better a job of this than they could ever do by themselves that they might as well try to get in on the feeding frenzy aka demo day.
And YC has forever been expanding the size of their batches based on capacity available for processing. So the scarcity element would seem to be under control and reducing.
> And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%.
On the contrary, all the material will be made available, so you too can benefit from this.
Stanford is merely a convenient vehicle.
> I don't begrudge YC, really.
I'll take your word for it. But it seems as if you do hold some kind of grudge and a pretty deep one.
> It's a brilliantly run business and it's probably done a lot of good for the world.
So why all this negativity then? It's like walking around on a square attempting to insult random people for either being successful, connected, part of some perceived secret cabal or some other figment of the imagination. That's a strange line to walk.
> It's just fun to snark about these things because, honestly, most of the people "out there" (the ones who actually think protesting Google Buses makes some kind of sense) are going to react more harshly than I do. I just make fun of shit.
Well, it's good to have that on the table then because I honestly believed that you were serious in the way you present yourself. You're obviously a pretty smart fellow, the bit that I did not understand is if you're so jealous of all this why are you hurting your personal rep at this level. But if you're just 'making fun of shit' then that explains things sufficiently for me, I tried to make sense of it. My mistake.
>> And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%.
>On the contrary, all the material will be made available, so you too can benefit from this.
This is missing his point. The student in the same room as these speakers will have considerably more access to the individuals speaking than someone merely watching the lectures online. In addition, those students also have the stamp of approval that comes with being a Stanford student.
This situation isn't creating this privilege, but it is reinforcing it.
That said, it also creates some lesser opportunities for the clever and determined outsider that didn't exist otherwise.
That Stanford session will be over-subscribed to the point that any access privilege is relatively minor, as well as just a moment in time but the treasure trove of footage resulting from it will last for a lifetime.
The bubble will probably wind down in the next 3 years, and douche companies Snapchat and Clinkle have done so much damage to the credibility of technology (even though their founders are douches, not technologists) that, after those assholes finish vaporizing billions, it could be another 50 years before anyone with money takes us seriously.
The problem is that most of the people "out there" don't separate the Google-Glass-wearing douches in most of the executive roles and true technologists. They lump us together and think we're like them. Which is why they hate us.
I used to be much angrier about the non-meritocracy of the Valley, but in 2014, we're near the end of the bubble cycle anyway. I've decided to be forward-thinking and wait for the crash.
After the crash hits and the carpetbaggers leave, it'll be up to people like me to rebuild the technology world. I hope that, when we do it, we create one in which engineers and scientists and makers matter again.
Our hosts are betting that Michael is right about part of this, the part that is far enough removed from their lives that they might be considering it objectively.
There has never in the history of mankind been a time when engineers, scientists and makers mattered more than they do today.
8 (or 18, or 38) years ago, before the douchebags tracked the mainstream business culture into startups, reduced engineer equity slices dramatically, and generally made the sorts of people who built the original Silicon Valley into second-class citizens.
There are many who argue that the 1970s was the Golden Age of Silicon Valley. People who actually wrote the software were treated like real people, and equity slices reflected it. None of this 90-hour-work-week-for-0.03% bullshit.
seriouslypleasedropit here, I've commented on your blog.
I've come to the conclusion that it's impossible to completely flatten things. There will always be an in-group.
But new in-groups can be created. That's basically what YC has done in the last 20 years. Further, in-groups can actively help outgroups. Pell grants are a great example of this.
YC wants startups with promise. Build one, join the in-group, and then shape the world according to your will.
It's not the information or know-how that makes YC a game-changer. It's the connections and seal of approval, which are scarce by definition. And now the Stanford -> Funded pipeline is even stronger, which means that everyone else is slightly (imperceptibly) more an outsider fuckhead employee on 0.04%.
I don't begrudge YC, really. It's a brilliantly run business and it's probably done a lot of good for the world. It's just fun to snark about these things because, honestly, most of the people "out there" (the ones who actually think protesting Google Buses makes some kind of sense) are going to react more harshly than I do. I just make fun of shit.