What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars

Re:What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars by vaksel on Friday June 05, 2009 @11:47PM (#644444)

not really applicable, since YC invests in 40-45 companies at a time

edit: I was talking about the "one shot" comment

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Re:What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars by noonespecial on Saturday June 06, 2009 @12:06AM (#644463)

Ask anyone who's ever submitted a YC application (and been rejected!) if they think that the selection process is in any way trivial.

YC invests in 40-45 of the best companies of thousands that apply. Even trying to imagine a selection process that chooses 40Bn worth of YC companies makes my brain hurt.

I think that no matter how hard you tried to stand it up, it would flatten out like warm jello to "anyone who writes a few coherent sentences on the application gets some cash".

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Re:What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars by mahmud on Friday June 05, 2009 @11:57PM (#644454)

for 40B, people will get into starting up for the salary.

don't start a company to make ends meet, start it to execute a haunting vision that you can't get rid of (ever wonder why people quit their jobs, often to their financial detriment, to startup? yeah, it's a curse.)

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Re:What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars by gruseom on Saturday June 06, 2009 @12:38AM (#644494)

start it to execute a haunting vision that you can't get rid of

I agree with this - only partly, because it isn't necessarily in a person's control - but a haunting vision that you can't get rid of is a real asset. It's easier to devote insane effort to something that your intellect and/or soul are deeply invested in than to something arbitrary or trivial. I wonder whether luck is more of a factor in the latter kind of project.

In any case, I am having this experience these days, quite unexpectedly as I never set out to have it and used to feel dismissive when hearing people talk about "vision". I'm grateful for it. It makes it easier to crawl over broken glass.

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Re:What if Obama gave Y Combinator 40 Billion Dollars by zaidf on Saturday June 06, 2009 @12:40AM (#644495)

  for 40B, people will get into starting up for the salary.

That will simply be another challenge the application process will need to address. That's assuming it even becomes a problem.

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