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Ask HN: Why not start a pay-for-advice service at YC?

4 points by rikacomet ↗ HN
I'm curious, why YC community can't open a pay-for-advice service, for non-YC funded companies? I'm sitting on a startup, and I could really use some paid advice.

YC got a wonderful traction, thanks to HN, yet such a terrific opportunity goes unnoticed!

My suggestion: 1. Advice should be divided per function, like Legal, Financial, Technical.

2. The price should be for startups, lower than market price of these services separately.

what do you think my fellow HN users?

9 comments

[ 91.8 ms ] story [ 1242 ms ] thread
mouseroot
sounds kinda like the reason why most people would rather look-up guides to video games on the internet then buy the strategy guide at thier local wallmart, also advice is kinda like an opinion just because you get some advice doesn't mean its "good" or worth the payment also how would you know the source is credible...its on the internet anyone could claim to be someone else....I think its an alright idea BUT I would never pay someone over the internet for advice when experience is more valuable
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rikacomet
answers to almost all questions are out there, we just don't know the right answer's location. If someone connects me to the right spot, to the right advice.. to stay confident in my plan A over B, if its coming from YC founders, it would be credible enough for me to pay them.
dglassan
You're basically asking them to be consultants...I don't think they'd be too thrilled to get into the consulting business.
rikacomet
Not full time consultants, and being a consultant to a startup is way different.

1. They are already doing it for the YC funded firms. 2. Unlike real consultants, they can build startups, fund startups, get involved more. 3. YC has lot of traction for this, I feel a good idea is being overlooked.

OafTobark
Horrible idea.

1. It's more time consuming than you think

2. Doing it for YC funded firms make sense because they have vested interest. This is different than being bombarded with a ton of questions much like a support forum, for which their time is probably better spent on YC as a whole.

brudgers
The idea does not scale and YC is already constrained by the amount of workload each partner handles.

In other words, to take on consulting work held to the current quality they would need a lower ratio of companies to partners and the added work of consulting would offer linear profits rather than the potentially exponential profits from investing.

And that's assuming market rates rather than the friends and family discount proposed.