> We don't have a PR firm. I do think YC paid for an ad once in 2006 in the Stanford college newspaper, but we don't really do marketing. The thing we rely on most of all is founders we fund telling other people about our program.
Really? That answer seems somewhat misleading, I don't know if intentionally. YC's biggest place to advertise is HN. In fact, look below right now -- 'Apply to YC'. In addition to reminders of when the applications are due showing up in frontpage, etc.
Exactly. Y Combinator's marketing appears to be Hacker News, Startup School, the Female Founders Conference, Open Office Hours, and touring colleges -- essentially everything YC does more or less for "free" that serve to promote its main programs.
>Really? That answer seems somewhat misleading, I don't know if intentionally. YC's biggest place to advertise is HN. In fact, look below right now -- 'Apply to YC'. In addition to reminders of when the applications are due showing up in frontpage, etc.
That answer is not misleading IMHO. Apart from their own website such as this, they don't market through other venues such as radio, tv etc.. Never heard of YC until I was doing research through the web and found hacker news.
I thought about this more and in fairness I think since we don't charge for startup school, female founders conference, etc we should sort of count that as marketing. Though I also honestly believe they are good for the world.
At Viaweb in 1997 we were trying to reach mail order merchants, which PR firms were effective at, because they all read the same several magazines. It's not clear that PR firms have the ear of prospective founders in 2015.
Take note of what website you're visiting :-) news.ycombinator.com.
Is it really fair to call content on their own website marketing? I suppose there is a sense of the term in which that's true, but given the context I'm not sure that I would say so in the context of objecting to their claim.
This is true. However, you can get to any topic you want easily using the search feature. A Table of Contents is provided, making front-to-back reading by topic pretty trivial.
I've taken many university courses using this book and managed to read all the required material on NCBI without much effort.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 95.1 ms ] threadedit: I don't mean it in a mean way, just curious.
Really? That answer seems somewhat misleading, I don't know if intentionally. YC's biggest place to advertise is HN. In fact, look below right now -- 'Apply to YC'. In addition to reminders of when the applications are due showing up in frontpage, etc.
Ten years later, people now see YC as "we can give you a better future/make you rich/famous/etc if you work hard and receive our magic touch."
It's a very word-of-mouth spreading meme. "This company makes you rich, be one of us, shub shub."
That answer is not misleading IMHO. Apart from their own website such as this, they don't market through other venues such as radio, tv etc.. Never heard of YC until I was doing research through the web and found hacker news.
And HN, sort of.
For more on this, see http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/06/03/jessica-livings...
Is it really fair to call content on their own website marketing? I suppose there is a sense of the term in which that's true, but given the context I'm not sure that I would say so in the context of objecting to their claim.
.
"Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future" - http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804...
"Republic" - http://www.amazon.com/Republic-Hackett-Classics-Plato/dp/087... (classic, feel free to grab a PDF)
"The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy" - http://www.amazon.com/Principia-Mathematical-Principles-Natu... (classic, feel free to grab a PDF)
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" - http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...
"Molecular Biology of the Cell" - http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Bruce-Alberts/d... (different edition, forgive me; free through NCBI, thanks jkimmel!)
"Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age" - http://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-Computer/...
"The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer" - http://www.amazon.com/Supermen-Seymour-Technical-Wizards-Sup... (note: "that one's particularly good")
"Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories" - http://www.amazon.com/Hateship-Friendship-Courtship-Loveship...
"The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership" - http://www.amazon.com/Score-Takes-Care-Itself-Philosophy/dp/...
"The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time" - http://www.amazon.com/Beak-Finch-Story-Evolution-Time/dp/067...
"The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison" - http://www.amazon.com/Constitutional-Convention-Narrative-Hi...
"The Art Of War for Lovers" - http://www.amazon.com/The-ART-WAR-FOR-LOVERS/dp/0671000632 (fixed! sorry about that...)
"Hold 'em Poker: For Advanced Players" - http://www.amazon.com/Hold-em-Poker-Advanced-Players/dp/1880...<...
It actually is "The art of war for lovers" by Connell Cowan
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/317214.The_ART_OF_WAR_FO...
http://www.amazon.com/The-ART-WAR-FOR-LOVERS/dp/0671000632
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054/
I've taken many university courses using this book and managed to read all the required material on NCBI without much effort.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89265.The_Art_of_War_in_...
http://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Middle-Ages/dp/1481954636/ref=...