Warn HN: Lots of Launches Coming
Every cycle we warn startups not to wait
till 2 weeks before Demo Day to launch if they can
avoid it, because there's always a glut of startups
launching then. Every cycle they do anyway.
It's now 2 weeks before Demo Day, so there are going to be a lot of new startups launching in the coming week.
Please be nice to them. For you their launch may be "yet another YC startup," but for each individual startup this is their big moment.
95 comments
[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 198 ms ] threadAs for launching around the same time, I'm of the opinion that if your own (non-YC) startup is good enough, it will stand alongside, or even above some of the YC guys and perhaps "cash in" on the startup fervour around at the time.
Has the culture around here gotten so hostile that a "be nice" request is needed?
http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/submissions&q=%28...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2868110
I agree, it'd be nice to have them all in one place.
With very few exceptions, I enjoy seeing what the YC crowd releases, but isn't this going a bit to far? Aren't we the perfect audience to provide constructive criticism? On the other hand, if you're asking us to be empathetic at the same time, I couldn't agree more.
Go YC!
I think the two other culprits are the de-personification that can so easily occur in our interactions and the tendency to interpret statements with the worst possible meanings. This problem never seems to happen when the person is someone we know in "real life".
Enough with the thread hijacking :) ... and if this gets much deeper I'll have to consult with my psychologist wife as I'm sure there are proper terms for most of these behaviors. (And yes ... I am her live-in case study)
I'm usually quite pleased with what comes out of YC. That said, in this competitive market, I don't think that being nice (just because) helps anyone the week after launch.
I personally look forward to the day HN tears apart my project so I can say I truly learned something.
I suspect "be nice" is more about how people talk to each other than the content of what they're saying.
There’s a huge difference between honest helpful critique and semi-bullying criticism which is often a feeble attempt of someone to make people feel better about how little they have risked and achieved in their lives - and if not it’s usually just a simple pissing competition.
‘Shredding’ someone’s work is usually as helpful as breaking someone’s window and trashing their home to show they are at risk of being burgled.
Point out the weaknesses like you would point out to your own offspring because a new business is like a child - it’s vulnerable and needs some protection and love at first. In time it will be able to stand up for itself.
'Shredding' a startup when it’s little is like bullying a kid when it’s young to show them how vicious the world is.
Sorry for the very mixed metaphors :-)
Which - if still bad then - should be correctly harsh and honest.
"I'm usually quite pleased with what comes out of YC. That said, in this competitive market, I don't think that being nice (just because) helps anyone the week after launch.
I personally look forward to the day HN tears apart my project so I can say I truly learned something."
"Your home page sucks"
Criticism, not useful.
"You should have a better call to action on your home page. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do here."
Constructive criticism, very useful. It tells someone what's wrong so that it can be fixed. If they're very nice, they'll add a suggestion too.
It's foolish to ignore someone's advice just because they're criticizing your project. Often times, if they're criticizing civilly, it's because they want the project to succeed. If you brush them off as "haters", you're just doing yourself a disservice. Honestly examine all criticism you receive. Yes, plenty of it will be useless criticism from people who want to bring you down, but if you don't pay attention to the ones that care, you're throwing away valuable advice and only hurting yourself.
And just what market are you referring to?
There is a difference between false praise and every thread looking like "What's this?! You dare call yourself a startup? You're attempting to solve a problem which other people have attempted to solve before, and your solution looks like something two guys could have made in three months! Why are you in YC and not me?!"
Ideally, we'd be aiming for constructive advice. "I would not use this" can be constructive advice, but it isn't most of the time I have heard it here.
Read what you've written again, with the Comic Book Guy voice. Does it sound in-character? Then it's probably unnecessarily harsh.
Aside: Let's not forget Leo LaPorte calling Arrington an *hole live on his program for getting "the disclaimers out of the way" when Leo was reviewing a handset and insinuating that Leo's review would be influenced as a result of him getting a review unit.
Just maybe? The VC industry is going to wake up and go back to value investing - not FOMO throwing cash at everything, no matter the price
But Dave McLure says it's business as usual
http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2011/08/08/early-stage-i...
Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.
To those startups who do not fight with valor? You will be subject to the mob, as was Airbnb. Even the Emperor will not be able to silence the cries for blood!
Startups... I salute you.
LET THE LAUNCHES BEGIN!
Founder: Yes, investor.
Investor: You will not be funded.
Founder: Which wiser, older startup is to take my place?
Investor: My funding will pass to others, to hold in trust until a better startup is ready to launch once more. The internet is to be innovative and profitable again.
Founder: Investor?
Investor: Yes. My decision disappoints you?
Founder: You wrote to me once, listing the four chief virtues: Novel concept, challenging problems, technical excellence, and forging new streams of revenue. As I read the list, I knew my startup had none of them. But I have other virtues, investor. Group purchasing. That can be a virtue when it temporarily eases the deal fatigue that everyone's experiencing. Social sharing, perhaps not in a way that generates revenue, but... there are many ways to measure value. Mashups copying one site but adding a single tweak from another site, because it's been done before so must be good. But none of my virtues were on your list. Even then it was as if you didn't want me for your investment.
Investor: Oh, Founder. You go too far.
Founder: I search the faces of other apps... for ideas to copy, to make you proud. One seed investment, one small round... where you wrote out a check for more than the $150K I've already received. Would have been like feeding a third world family for a thousand years. What is it in my idea that you hate so much?
Investor: Shh, Founder.
Founder: All I've ever wanted was to be like all the other apps out there.
Investor: [Gets down on his knees] Founder. Your derivative idea of a startup is my failure as an advisor. Come [Gives Founder a hug]
Founder: [Founder hugs Investor and cries] Investor. I would have copied all the apps in the world... if you would only invest in me!
[Founder begins to asphyxiate Investor while they hug, Investor grunts]
Commodus was a nerd whose dad wanted a jock son...like Maximus.
I doubt you really stand behind that. Maybe you really mean, for example, that a majority of the YC startups make things that aren't useful to you.
and the actual link: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2403290
Perhaps it's a reference.
no sense in wasting the launch PR boost when everyone is getting swarmed with pitches
"Leaky (YC S11) is Hipmunk for Car Insurance"
I honestly don't care if your new company is "* (YC S11) Is The Facebook for Unicorns," since it really tells me nothing. I have to figure out what a Hipmonk is before I can understand what they do. Hold on while I call the Dalai Lama to ask about the difference between a monk and a hipmonk.
Of the YC S11 batch with announcements up, it seems the Snapjoy folks are doing it right (from the front page):
"Snapjoy (YC S11) Will Organize Your Photos For You"
Now the Snapjoy announcement above provides concise and useful information about what they could do for me, the potential customer.
If all YC (and non-YC) startups describe what they do in the title in 10 words or less, everybody wins.
The important part is, from the Snapjoy announcement I was able to identify myself as a potential customer. Though I do have a car and car insurance, for me they are already solved problems, so I did not identify myself as a potential customer of Leaky (even if I actually am). If I told my mom that "Leaky is the hipmonk of car insurance," can you imagine the resulting conversation? My mom's hearing isn't great so you could be certain that hilarity would ensue, along with repeating myself and doing a lot of unnecessary explaining.
If I told my mom that "Snapjoy can organize your photos," the resulting conversation would be far less entertaining, but far more useful and far shorter.
This site is about making good PR (with some rare mistakes, such as in airbnb's case, but there is really big money involved at the time of the next giant bubble bursting =) and promoting their business and ways of making money, as almost every other site on the net.
So, honestly, why they should provide you with the content you like for free? ^_^
"This site is about making good PR"
Parent adresses what is (not) good PR.
"So, honestly, why they should provide you with the content you like for free?"
Because they want us (early adopters) to use their product.
Which part of that is difficult for you to understand?
Did I express any difficulty with understanding? I thought it was just less fanboyism and a little bit of nonconformism.. ^_^ And of course I used to mass down votes for saying things unpleasant to fanboys.
A "High Concept Pitch" one-liner is an excellent device to employ, but like everything, it can be done well or it can be done poorly. Both of the examples I cited from the front page are one-liners, but one is done poorly (e.g. very narrow scope), and the other is done well (e.g. very broad scope).
Maybe Leaky (YC S11) is looking more for investors than they are for customers? If so, then they are using the right language to target the desired narrow scope of knowledgeable investors. But with better aim, could they kill more than one bird with that stone? A new startup announcement on techcrunch is an important opportunity.
The provocative question is, "Would you rather invest in a company actively acquiring investors or a company actively acquiring customers?"
(thanks for the link)
True. Very true. Two weeks before Demo Day must be an insane time.
I see the only difference between you and I is, you are thinking shorter term with _OR_ logic, while I am thinking longer term with _AND_ logic. To be more clear, I want to craft the message to gain credibility with the tech/entrepreneur/investor community, gain additional press, _AND_ acquire new customers. It can be done. You might be living with your initial one-liner a lot longer than you ever expected; choose carefully.
On the other hand, you've lived through this particular insanity, so you understand the pressure cooker the current batch of founders are in at the moment. Expecting the founders, under pressure, to come up with a one-liner that their mother could love might be unrealistic, but it is advantageous.
> TechCrunch is a terrible place for consumer startups to try to find customers.
Our opinions differ a bit on this, and considering who you are, it's probably not the most wise decision on my part. ;)
It's the early adopters -- the enthusiasts -- found on the likes of techcrunch, HN and similar that start the snowball, even on consumer orientated startups. When you craft a message specifically for the tech savvy early adopters, they understand it, but they can't use your message to sell it to others.
It comes down to the, "All things bought are sold," idea, where when you buy something, you sell others on it in some way. You might convince them it's useful, cool, exclusive, smart, worthwhile, or whatever, but you really do sell your purchase to others. A well crafted message makes it easy for your customers to sell for you, particularly your early adopters. Oddly enough, it works on investors and journalists as well since they both have the need to sell their investment/article and hence, sell for you. The need to sell a purchase is the reason why one-liners exist.
In general terms, we agree, but my expectations are very high, and admittedly, they may be unrealistic under the circumstances (launching two weeks before fundpocalypse). None the less, keeping this stuff in mind might be helpful to founders in the long run. I hope it is.
You came up with a pretty good one-liner for TechCrunch :)
http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/08/yc-backed-leaky-is-hipmunk-...
I didn't see any mention of Hipmunk at all on Leaky's website. There's a small mention of Square though:
All design inspiration credit goes to Square. We think their design is the bee's knees.
EDIT: Ah, they do have a referential line, though it's not Hipmunk:
We're like Orbitz for insurance.
Perhaps TC thought Hipmunk was more catchy than Orbitz ;)
That would work for those who know about Hipmunk and those who don't.
The Hipmunk line gives me the idea that I will have a simple page where I can compare options easily which seems to be the case so far as I can tell from their video.
Longer summary: Hits the APIs of every insurance company and fills out their forms for you to get you an actual price, rather than just purporting to.
Leaky "The ONLY way to see real-time quotes from EVERY major insurer."
Edit: Apparently they are doing the same thing as all the insurance comparison companies here, but are the first US company to actually do it properly, so my reaction isn't very fair and your summary is quite good.
Edit to add: I know it's possible but I've seen a couple of cases recently where a submitter changed a title (for clarity) but a mod changed it to match the original article.
It's frustrating because on one hand, you don't want to post an article that's not the source even though it has a clearer (albeit, link-bait) title, but on the other hand, you want the source link even though the title doesn't make any sense.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2813270
I've asked about this before,
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2834531
but the press of other business has kept anyone from answering the question about just why that happened.