[HN Gopher] Ways YC has changed in the last year
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       Ways YC has changed in the last year
        
       Author : yimby
       Score  : 28 points
       Date   : 2023-09-23 21:24 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | seabass-labrax wrote:
       | It's a risky investment strategy to put so much emphasis on AI
       | startups. Not only do you have the already volatile nature of
       | early-stage software companies (which YC is of course used to),
       | but this is a bet on whether machine learning, chiefly LLMs, are
       | going to continue to outperform other technologies and become
       | sustainable to run.
       | 
       | There's no question in my mind that 'Open'AI is subsidizing the
       | vast majority of LLM research and use today. If the efficacy of
       | LLaMA and its derivatives actually start to approach GPT4+ in any
       | meaningful way, there is quickly going to be a shortage of
       | suitable compute that will completely dwarf the now-subsided
       | Bitcoin mining craze. Plus, untainted training data is going to
       | be harder to find amongst the text contaminated with mountains of
       | early LLM drivel.
       | 
       | As a technology expert, I couldn't in all honesty say that I
       | would want to have money in the YC fund right now. But if it pays
       | off, it could be the biggest software windfall since social
       | networking took off at the beginning of the 2010s.
        
         | Izikiel43 wrote:
         | I guess what you are saying is buy calls for Nvidia
        
           | epolanski wrote:
           | Please don't turn HN in low effort WSB-like comments.
        
         | version_five wrote:
         | If this was NFTs, what would the winning strategy have been?
         | Strike when the iron is hot and hype is at the maximum and hope
         | to get some exits or subsequent rounds asap, or draw it out.
         | From a portfolio perspective, it's just one batch, might as
         | well go all in and maximally capitalize on hype, no?
        
       | gxs wrote:
       | You are being luddites.
       | 
       | COVID having forced you to be remote is not enough to validate
       | this constant preaching from SV leadership (and only leadership -
       | no one without millions in equity ever lobbies for this) that
       | nothing can replace in person.
       | 
       | The fact that Paul Graham compares it to communism is fitting for
       | so many reasons.
        
       | yimby wrote:
       | https://nitter.net/snowmaker/status/1705643839443403263
        
         | debacle wrote:
         | @dang, please change the root link to the nitter thread.
        
           | voytec wrote:
           | On one hand, this suggestion stands in opposition to HN rules
           | (link to source) but on the other is more reasonable as
           | linking nitter provides viewer with more information, as an
           | addition to single post that non-registered Twitter users
           | would be able to see.
        
             | shkkmo wrote:
             | It is like suggesting that the link on a paywalled article
             | be changed to an archive link without the paywall. That
             | isn't the way NH has decided to operate.
             | 
             | Instead, users get taught to visit the comments first and
             | upvote a comment with that link.
        
       | carabiner wrote:
       | Wow, even the bleeding edge, move fast and break things,
       | disruptive crowd has reaffirmed one tradition: "in-person is the
       | best." I think this settles it. WFH is less productive.
        
         | epolanski wrote:
         | No, it only reaffirms, if anything, that fast moving startups
         | benefit from in-person relationship, guidance and communication
         | with peers more than they would over Teams.
        
       | Topgamer7 wrote:
       | Twitter is such a garbage way to convey this kind of information.
        
         | Mistletoe wrote:
         | It's ridiculous how long a character limit based on text
         | messaging has persisted on that platform and also helped ruin
         | human communication across the globe. It's just one of those
         | weird butterfly effect moments that aliens would shake their
         | heads at.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | epolanski wrote:
         | It also limits the audience to people with Twitter, I can only
         | see the first post.
        
       | gumballindie wrote:
       | Well then, i suppose our overlords have decided we must be in
       | person. But since they will "free" us with ai soon what's the
       | point?
        
       | ShamelessC wrote:
       | > Before covid, founders often asked us to run YC remotely so
       | that they would't have to move to SF to participate. We never
       | did...[we feel justified in our decision]
       | 
       | Completely ignoring the founders who still have to move,
       | apparently?
        
         | jacquesm wrote:
         | And not the most elegant display of the power dynamic between
         | investors and founders, to put it mildly. Note that this self
         | selects for people able _and_ willing to jump through hoops for
         | their investors.
        
       | startupsfail wrote:
       | YC is a one-trick-pony. If you have a simple product, it can
       | guide you to get users, investors and to scale it up.
       | 
       | But don't expect anything else. It would not help, if you are
       | outside of that scenario. It easily can screw you, by using any
       | product ideas that you've refined and sharing these freely with a
       | relevant startup in the batch.
        
         | debacle wrote:
         | > by using any product ideas that you've refined and sharing
         | these freely with a relevant startup in the batch.
         | 
         | Do you have an example of this happening in the past?
        
         | ldjkfkdsjnv wrote:
         | One trick pony? They have created 5-10% of all unicorns in
         | existence
        
           | jabradoodle wrote:
           | Source?
        
           | officialchicken wrote:
           | Be honest about winner's bias... there are a lot of dead
           | horses in their graveyard too.
        
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       (page generated 2023-09-23 23:00 UTC)