Two New YC Partners: Justin Kan and Aaron Harris(blog.ycombinator.com)
blog.ycombinator.com
Two New YC Partners: Justin Kan and Aaron Harris
http://blog.ycombinator.com/two-new-yc-partners-justin-kan-and-aaron-harris
9 comments
Paul Buchheit and Geoff Ralston never had YC companies and first became well known creating major advancements in email. Trevor Blackwell is a hardware engineer who spends his time building segways. Carolynn Levy is a lawyer. Robert Morris is an academic. Kirsty Nathoo is an accountant with an engineering degree who went to school in the UK. Jessica Livingston has an English degree and is best known as an author who wrote about primarily non-YC founders. Garry Tan is well known for his design expertise. PG has a philosophy degree, spent time in painting school, and has a PhD in CS. That's a pretty diverse group. The fact that the last 3 full time partners they brought on are young YC founders is pretty much meaningless - why would they not bring on the people they have worked with before? It just so happens that recently, most of their work has been done with YC founders. Honestly curious - after reading the bios of all the partners, how would you suggest they bring on more "unusual" partners? Any examples?
What would an unusual partner be?
I wish everyone from Google, Facebook to YC followed the model CRV has been using [1], "Each member votes on a scale of one to four how confident they are in the investment, with one being least confident and 4 being highly confident. A majority of votes in either the least or most confident category is considered a troubling sign."
I think the issue with YC now is a bottom up issue. It's hard to bring outside partners if you have no working experience with them. Those that you can work with, are mostly YC alums who were vetted through the YC culling process which often breeds the same people.
So YC might want to use a similar approach as CRV. If everyone is so confident about a team then maybe they are picking the same old people. In contrast if there is a strong dispute, that might be a good sign.
At least you bring diversity and maybe some unusual bets into the YC and ultimately in 4-5 years end up with a more diverse group of partners.
That being said, this might mean a big change in the application process, as the current early round filtering process by the alums will most likely eliminate diversity.
[1] http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattlynley/how-a-boston-venture-capi...
I think the issue with YC now is a bottom up issue. It's hard to bring outside partners if you have no working experience with them. Those that you can work with, are mostly YC alums who were vetted through the YC culling process which often breeds the same people.
So YC might want to use a similar approach as CRV. If everyone is so confident about a team then maybe they are picking the same old people. In contrast if there is a strong dispute, that might be a good sign.
At least you bring diversity and maybe some unusual bets into the YC and ultimately in 4-5 years end up with a more diverse group of partners.
That being said, this might mean a big change in the application process, as the current early round filtering process by the alums will most likely eliminate diversity.
[1] http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattlynley/how-a-boston-venture-capi...
Agreed. It is quickly becoming a bit of a joke.
The down-vote just proved my point. Thank you!
From the HN guidelines: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
> Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
> Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
I have never seen as many pivots as Mr. Kan. Regardless of what you think about his products/services, he sure knows how to stay in the game. And I respect that. I'm still amazed that socialcam got schooled by vine. I thought he was on time and on the money on that pivot. I never saw vine coming. I imagine he didn't either. He's like the Steve Nash of SV. A play maker. So this is probably a good step for YC. Congrats.
> And I respect that.
I'm not sure I respect the ability to convince people to keep trusting you after repeated failures, eventually culminating in a position of oversight over other people's start-ups. Between this, Loopt, and "tutorspree", it's starting to seem a bit like "Those who can't do ... have a privileged position from which it really doesn't matter anyway"
Upon reflection, these resumes might actually be perfect for YC -- these are founders that convinced people to invest in their high-risk ventures, repeatedly, without actually ever having to deliver the goods.
In this world of over-inflated valuations and empty bubble companies, that's a very valuable skill-set to have.
I'm not sure I respect the ability to convince people to keep trusting you after repeated failures, eventually culminating in a position of oversight over other people's start-ups. Between this, Loopt, and "tutorspree", it's starting to seem a bit like "Those who can't do ... have a privileged position from which it really doesn't matter anyway"
Upon reflection, these resumes might actually be perfect for YC -- these are founders that convinced people to invest in their high-risk ventures, repeatedly, without actually ever having to deliver the goods.
In this world of over-inflated valuations and empty bubble companies, that's a very valuable skill-set to have.
I guess I'll defend myself...
None of the companies I've started has lost the investors' money (yet). Some of them weren't that successful (Kiko) but still sold for a small profit.
Twitch / Justin.tv is a 120+ employee company that makes money and supports over 100 full time broadcasters who make their living on our platform (and has hundreds of thousands of casual broadcasters). Over 45 million people look at Twitch videos every month. While there are many more successful companies, I don't think you could call that a failure.
Socialcam was a spinoff of Justin.tv that was acquired for $60m on less than $2m raised capital.
The jury is still out on the Exec / Handybook acquisition, but I think the online-to-offline home services space is a growth space.
I think I've earned a few investors' trust and I think I have some experience with founding early stage tech companies.
None of the companies I've started has lost the investors' money (yet). Some of them weren't that successful (Kiko) but still sold for a small profit.
Twitch / Justin.tv is a 120+ employee company that makes money and supports over 100 full time broadcasters who make their living on our platform (and has hundreds of thousands of casual broadcasters). Over 45 million people look at Twitch videos every month. While there are many more successful companies, I don't think you could call that a failure.
Socialcam was a spinoff of Justin.tv that was acquired for $60m on less than $2m raised capital.
The jury is still out on the Exec / Handybook acquisition, but I think the online-to-offline home services space is a growth space.
I think I've earned a few investors' trust and I think I have some experience with founding early stage tech companies.
On his two large pivots - turning Justin.tv into Twitch, and then spinning off Socialcam in time to be there with Vine - Mr. Kan has clearly shown that he can be in the right place at the right time. As with having the foresight to sell Exec, an interesting, but troubled space from the get go (as you can see from their internal moves from Exec'ing anything to the more profitable cleaning). I really believe that people who work 'in the trenches' amid both failures and successes, have a lot more to teach than those that win straight out.
I went to a Paul Haggis speech where he said that when asked how to become a successful film maker, his response was 'Make a movie and have it win the Oscar for best picture - that's how you become successful.' So true, and yet so false. I'd rather have people who fought and struggled give me advice - and so I think Mr. Kan is a great choice, probably the best choice in that realm.
Besides, it appears to some extent that YC is bringing him on siloed in his marketing prowess. PG seems continually impressed that Mr. Kan self broadcast for as long as he did. It's not the first time I've heard PG mention it, but it's not what Mr. Kan is best at. He's best at seeing the angles in the game. Like I said, he's a play maker. My only concern would be that he would push too many pivots on young, unproven companies. But we all have biases that need to addressed, in our actions and in our advice.
Myself, I take too many long bets, and would probably encourage others to do so as well.
I went to a Paul Haggis speech where he said that when asked how to become a successful film maker, his response was 'Make a movie and have it win the Oscar for best picture - that's how you become successful.' So true, and yet so false. I'd rather have people who fought and struggled give me advice - and so I think Mr. Kan is a great choice, probably the best choice in that realm.
Besides, it appears to some extent that YC is bringing him on siloed in his marketing prowess. PG seems continually impressed that Mr. Kan self broadcast for as long as he did. It's not the first time I've heard PG mention it, but it's not what Mr. Kan is best at. He's best at seeing the angles in the game. Like I said, he's a play maker. My only concern would be that he would push too many pivots on young, unproven companies. But we all have biases that need to addressed, in our actions and in our advice.
Myself, I take too many long bets, and would probably encourage others to do so as well.
Are they profitable?
Aaron is a great and smart guy but why does having a failed tutoring service make him an ideal partner?
Get to know him and you'll immediately realize why.
Unfortunately that's not an option for most people reading this.
Fortunately his qualifications are largely irrelevant for most people reading this. ;)
Maybe trust YC with who they make partners? They seem to be doing just fine so far...
The two comments below (and the others that will follow) aside, I was thinking the same thing. The article doesn't really paint his qualifications well.
Nor is it really important that people reading this understand.
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Congrats to both, and the execs that work with these guys.
Some VCs come with banking backgrounds. I like the ones that come as entrepreneurs first. Their advice is hard earned.
Some VCs come with banking backgrounds. I like the ones that come as entrepreneurs first. Their advice is hard earned.
Fortunately, the market has the same preference as you, and the entrepreneur-VCs are taking over.
In the VC world it seems to be happening. Less so when you move up to PE.
True, though I think that has a lot to do with the personal preferences of successful entrepreneurs.
I think that puts YC at around 19 full time and part time partners. I'd bet S14 is going to be the largest yet.
Congrats to Justin and Aaron!
Congrats Justin and Aaron!
Wondered what Justin would do after Exec. Congrats to both.
I was an exec customer for house cleaning. they would come every two weeks. i relied on them.
exec was sold/acqui-hired to a company called Handybook.
so Handybook kept the regular scheduled appointment. they came once and it was terrible. they came a second time and it was terrible again. so i cancelled the service.
that was a few weeks ago, i have yet to replace them.
so right about now, my toilet is starting to become disgusting.
i get a disgusting toilet, and Justin gets a partnership.
exec was sold/acqui-hired to a company called Handybook.
so Handybook kept the regular scheduled appointment. they came once and it was terrible. they came a second time and it was terrible again. so i cancelled the service.
that was a few weeks ago, i have yet to replace them.
so right about now, my toilet is starting to become disgusting.
i get a disgusting toilet, and Justin gets a partnership.
> i get a disgusting toilet, and Justin gets a partnership.
The difference is that most people, including Justin, would likely clean their toilet instead of griping about it on an internet forum.
And if you're physically disabled, there are plenty of maid services aside from Exec.
The difference is that most people, including Justin, would likely clean their toilet instead of griping about it on an internet forum.
And if you're physically disabled, there are plenty of maid services aside from Exec.
Homejoy is pretty solid - and they're away cheaper.
Let me get this straight. Justin Kan is responsible for your disgusting toilet? Have you no shame or sense of personal responsibility?
While not a great post by HN standards or necessarily on-topic, this strikes me as the type of tough feedback I would want to hear as a startup founder, or acquirer.
i have yet to replace them.
I think I see the solution to your problem...
I think I see the solution to your problem...
For a disgusting toilet, the cleaning liquid you want is sold under the brand name "The Works". It's more acidic than other brands, so it removes deposits better.
you can always Instacart yourself a toilet brush and clorox
I'm always surprised when people accidentally admit they don't brush their toilet regularly.
try homejoy
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try Homejoy, another YC company.
Of course it's easier said than done. If you're busy running YC it's hard to have the occasion to meet and find people who are not part of the same frat house.