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Would you rather be accepted into Y Combinator or get 5 million dollars?

3 points by kkt262 ↗ HN
Would you rather be accepted into Ycombinator's prestigious program? Where Heroku has made a 200 million dollar acquisition and other companies are poised to become billion dollar companies, but many have still failed to even make a dollar.

Or would you rather straight up receive 5 million dollars in cash. You're set for the rest of your life monetarily as long as you don't squander it.

8 comments

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benologist
You're really putting YC up on too much of a pedestal... for $0 you can build something that attracts investors and sells for more than $200m. With or without YC you have an almost 100% chance of that not happening.
kkt262
Or you could crash and burn and not earn anything for your whole life. The other option is to have 5 million dollars.
jeffool
I'm no hacker. I've applied to a few startups in marketing and writing friendly capacities, given my experience in journalism. But I've never attempted a startup, or by extension applying to YC...

Even considering the insight gained and the contacts you make, I'd rather have $5M. It alleviates my immediate problems and gives me freedom to do as I wish.

I just can't imagine it being so amazing that I'd say no to the freedom that comes with money. I can't imagine most would.

html5
Accepted into Ycombinator. From my prospective, if you believe in yourself and the business enough then you should be able to make considerable more (as your example of Heroku). The other reality is that 5 million isn't a lot of cash, assuming that is pre-taxed. While you could live a modest life with that amount of money, could you face yourself in the mirror at 75-80 and say, "I give it my best shot" versus "I never tried and don't know if...". I couldn't live with the doubt or unknown of what could have been.
byoung2
Both. $5 million becomes $3 million after taxes, and assuming I can average 8% returns, with capital gains of 15% and 3% inflation, I'd be at my current salary. That gives me the cushion to bootstrap my startup without having to work a day job, and when I get a prototype and traction, I'll apply to YC.
true_religion
I'd invest it into my current company and apply to YC for my next idea, in the next round.

Can you see the headlines on TechCrunch already: "Five million dollar man to join YC", "Man who makes millions rain has a new idea, VCs interested", "Lucky Millionaire claims: 'I make my own luck', anyone buying?".

It's not a zero sum game you know. ;)

HedgeMage
I'll take the cash. I'd never do an incubator anyway (I have a family and responsibilities, I can't just run off and live somewhere else for a few months). There's no reason not to use some of the cash to support my next handful of startup ideas, either. :)