Slashdot Mirror
Y Combinator Accidentally Let 15,000 People Into an Exclusive Program, Now Has Decided To Do It On Purpose (recode.net)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Recode: When Y Combinator accidentally admitted 15,000 people to its 3,000-person Startup School online program last summer due to an almost funny technical glitch, it was an embarrassing moment for one of Silicon Valley's marquee brands, and a rollercoaster of an experience for emotionally vulnerable startup founders. Suffice it to say, mistakes like this don't typically happen in the well-to-do, perfectly manicured world of Silicon Valley startups. But this all offered a chance to test a big question: Does Silicon Valley only work if there is some exclusion, some selectivity, and some prestige? Or can access to what makes a startup a success -- the right connections, the right money, the right know-how -- be available to everyone who signs up? The answer -- in YC's eyes -- is: Yes, it can. So from the chaos of those accidental admissions and rejections, YC is now going to make this same "mistake" on purpose.
The accelerator program is discarding the application for its Startup School program, YC told Recode, effectively turning a selective program into a massive open online course. This is different from YC's core accelerator program -- the well-known training program that has birthed companies like Airbnb and Stripe -- which remains selective for now. Startup School is a relatively new 10-week program run by YC in which founders watch online lectures, submit status reports on their companies, and participate in discussion groups with other entrepreneurs trying to make it. While YC has more work to do to diversify its core, highly selective accelerator program batches, Startup School draws about half of its participants from overseas. YC thinks the new, bigger startup school program worked -- at least if you look at the program's completion rate. YC says that when 3,000 startups started the program in 2017, half of them completed it. And when 10,500 started the program in 2018, about half of them still completed it. So maybe Silicon Valley success does scale! But then again, about 4,500 of the 15,000 people dropped out of the program this year before it even began. "YC coped with the surprise 10,500 participants by running two programs -- assigning a successful startup founder to advise each of the 3,000 startups that it meant to accept, as it normally does, and then requiring the other 7,500 to nominate a leader internally to serve as the sherpa," Recode reports. "The latter situation didn't exactly always work, YC admits."
"Those groups were chaotic. Not a lot of people followed up or stayed engaged," said Olive Allen, a startup CEO who was accidentally admitted. Her advising group of about a dozen dwindled to three by the end of the program, she said. "Then again, not much can be done to engage all 15,000 people. It's always on you as an entrepreneur at the end of the day." "Some of the 3,000 founders who were correctly admitted said their experience seemed pretty normal," the report adds. "But when 12,000 rejects are earning the same credential, that rubs some folks the wrong way."
The accelerator program is discarding the application for its Startup School program, YC told Recode, effectively turning a selective program into a massive open online course. This is different from YC's core accelerator program -- the well-known training program that has birthed companies like Airbnb and Stripe -- which remains selective for now. Startup School is a relatively new 10-week program run by YC in which founders watch online lectures, submit status reports on their companies, and participate in discussion groups with other entrepreneurs trying to make it. While YC has more work to do to diversify its core, highly selective accelerator program batches, Startup School draws about half of its participants from overseas. YC thinks the new, bigger startup school program worked -- at least if you look at the program's completion rate. YC says that when 3,000 startups started the program in 2017, half of them completed it. And when 10,500 started the program in 2018, about half of them still completed it. So maybe Silicon Valley success does scale! But then again, about 4,500 of the 15,000 people dropped out of the program this year before it even began. "YC coped with the surprise 10,500 participants by running two programs -- assigning a successful startup founder to advise each of the 3,000 startups that it meant to accept, as it normally does, and then requiring the other 7,500 to nominate a leader internally to serve as the sherpa," Recode reports. "The latter situation didn't exactly always work, YC admits."
"Those groups were chaotic. Not a lot of people followed up or stayed engaged," said Olive Allen, a startup CEO who was accidentally admitted. Her advising group of about a dozen dwindled to three by the end of the program, she said. "Then again, not much can be done to engage all 15,000 people. It's always on you as an entrepreneur at the end of the day." "Some of the 3,000 founders who were correctly admitted said their experience seemed pretty normal," the report adds. "But when 12,000 rejects are earning the same credential, that rubs some folks the wrong way."
> Suffice it to say, mistakes like this don't typically happen in the well-to-do, perfectly manicured world of Silicon Valley startups.
Um... have you ever been to Silicon Valley? It's all seat of the pants fixes to last-minute crazy error all the time...
"mistakes like this don't typically happen in the well-to-do, perfectly manicured world of Silicon Valley startups" [citation needed]
almost funny technical glitch my ass
That's only #432 of Trump's self-impeachment fails. "Russia, if you're listening.." - I mean cmon now. The guy wasn't even plausible in fake wrestling, and apparently he has yet to say "you're fired" to anyone's face in reality.
I pinch myself daily now. What the fuck fake universe is this, that a moron that thick, the literal world's DUMBEST TRAITOR, somehow is still fucking around at the top of the US food chain like none of this is real?
Only in a world where Fox News could be a Nixon-era idea of people literally involved with that, and then have Henry Kissinger and Oliver North both as frequent contributors in plain sight. What the fuck America.
I've got the missiles, where's the coke?
Uh can i get a summary for the summary? I recognize all of those words but have no clue what this is about. Online training classes?
Even the company doesn't make sense; "y combinator is an american seed accelerator"... so they sell fertilizer?
I thought I had /. ad blocking on but this one got through. ;(
I'd there is evidence he has committed a crime then take him to court and prove it.
If there isn't, then shut up about it because the time for evidence has been and gone.
Nigeria did a competition for government loans to entrepreneurs where instead of ranking loan applicants on the feasibility of the business it screened for a few major checkpoint criteria and then did random awards of loans.
Surprisingly, the random effect did better than previous years of ranking loan applicants based on only business potential and preparation.
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/05/20/478883658/episode-702-nigeria-you-win
I pinch myself daily now. What the fuck fake universe is this, that a moron that thick, the literal world's DUMBEST TRAITOR, somehow is still fucking around at the top of the US food chain like none of this is real?
Have you ever considered that maybe some of your premises are not real? That maybe you have not been told the truth? When things don't make sense, I tend to seek out more evidence until they do.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
I was a great chance! So not all people are so lucky. Most people have to work and it really matters what your job is! so, it's better to do your best during applying. I'd start with ordering a CV on https://craftresumes.com/engineering-resume-writing-service/