Re:Ask HN: Do you think the next Apple is going to apply to YC?
by 7Uzyd7H80egR on Sunday March 21, 2021 @11:41AM
(#26531243)
I don't think so. Accelerators like YC are less appealing these days, at least to me. IMO this also has to do with tech startups being more mainstream than they were 10+ years ago. With how the startup space has evolved, the value YC offers over bootstrapping or other funding options is less than it was previously. Even the pedigree has dwindled. I used to be impressed with all founders/companies coming out of YC, but now the market seems so saturated that it's nothing special. When I look at YC companies they are typically boring - the same old, over and over again. That's not to say they are bad businesses, but they don't seem as "contrarian" or innovative as they were a decade ago and I don't think a truly innovative company would want to attend or fit into YC (or any accelerator).
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:Ask HN: Do you think the next Apple is going to apply to YC?
by carmen_sandiego on Sunday March 21, 2021 @12:30PM
(#26531593)
I would say tech startups are beyond mainstream and are pretty clearly a bubble, at least in the informal cultural sense. In some ways, like you say, it's easier to take advantage of all the extra ecosystem that comes with that and to get yourself off the ground without 'institutional' help.
At the same time, _funding as a signal_ is losing meaning with all the cheap money floating around, so it becomes harder to distinguish yourself in the noise. Even if you have a truly great/revolutionary/whatever product, the changing parameters make mis-timing things more likely.
Personally, I'm less worried about early stage and more worried about what the state of the startup world will be when we eventually do need to raise larger amounts of money.