- @jboggan, agreed. YC knows how to pick em.
- We're only planning on one acquisition for now.
- Yep, it's a mix of cash and equity -- we haven't quite finalized all the details -- and everything will vest (as is standard), but you'll at least be able to buy a car on day one.
- The equity is valued based on our Series A valuation, which, unfortunately, was substantially less than $100 trillion :-)
- It's definitely an expensive proposition for us, but awesome people make awesome companies, so we think it's worth it.
More at restartfund.com. Feel free to shoot me an email as well (noah@liketwice.com)
But that doesn't mean the industry doesn't care about them. Look at how many stories mention "founded by ex-Googlers/Facebook", "YC-backed", etc. Sure, these are just from tech blogs, but if they add it in there it's because the readership reacts to that information, most often positively.
Besides, I don't think any industry doesn't care about credentials, since at least someone's reputation is their credential. For example, I don't know much about John Resig besides the fact that he created jQuery. That fact would open him many doors. It's not about education, but it's still credentials. Don't you think YC would instantly back him?
More to the point, I'm totally convinced that adding "YC-backed startup" to your resume, even if said startup never really went anywhere, is a very strong credential in a lot of places and I wouldn't be surprised if people use it that way. I'd even say that I'm sure many YC applications are "YC or nothing" in that if they don't get in, they won't start a company. It doesn't hurt to apply but the upside is fantastic: you get access to a great network, media coverage, some automatic seed money… and that YC stamp you can put on your resume.
But the pitch feels a bit dishonest given that the $1m will be "a mixture of cash and equity"
A mixture could mean a $10k signing bonus and $990k in stock. And then what type of stock. And then at what valuation. etc.
But still, got to respect the hustle in that pitch.
Twice could probably do up to 5 such acqui-hires with $1M cash. It fits nicely with their second-hand clothing theme, while ensuring some consideration from any YC team on the verge of liquidating their existing organization.
...is the Valley still a good place to launch given the enormous expense of talent there these days? Raise money there but hire remotely now seems like a better formula.
Using things like YC for credentialing depends on the relatively unusual characteristic of the internet startup industry that you can do "real work" in the field with no little to no startup capital or association with a big company. For this reason, software companies have always been impressed by project credentials. Aside from a short burst when Google was really focusing on Stanford/Berkeley PhD's, traditional educational credentialing never really took root in the industry. I have a hard time seeing how things like YC will replace traditional credentialing mechanisms in other fields. Is Lockheed-Martin going to look at your jetenginegithub.com account to decide whether to hire you?
The statement about doing "real work" is right on the money for why and how this experiential model might transfer into other industries and economic spheres. The aerospace example is rather a wonderful counter-example for those very reasons. But wherever the ragged red edge of the world is (at the border where software is eating it) I think that this model of education and experience will trump existing forms of credentials.