Ask HN: How are generational companies different from YC's best startups?
2 comments
Many would consider OpenAI a YC startup considering it branched out of YC research, participated in one of the batches in some form, got investment from YC, and was led by Sam Altman (an alum and leader) up until today. Otherwise, maybe it's just a timing thing? Tesla, SpaceX, Google, etc all predate YC, so maybe sample size isn't big enough yet?
Alternatively, maybe big foundational ideas aren't super compatible with the "take over the world in three months" format? I'm not familiar enough with the process to be sure, though, so take this as wild speculation.
Alternatively, maybe big foundational ideas aren't super compatible with the "take over the world in three months" format? I'm not familiar enough with the process to be sure, though, so take this as wild speculation.
Timing and sample size honestly seem like great explanations to me! YC probably would've funded a bunch of current big tech cos if it was founded earlier / had the reputation it does now in like 1995 or something.
I'd like to think (not because of any evidence but just because it's more optimistic) that YC does fund big ideas, there just haven't been many foundational ones since its inception due to a lack of generational / foundational tech breakthroughs or platform shifts. Maybe AI agents will change this?
I'd like to think (not because of any evidence but just because it's more optimistic) that YC does fund big ideas, there just haven't been many foundational ones since its inception due to a lack of generational / foundational tech breakthroughs or platform shifts. Maybe AI agents will change this?
This is my first post.
I've always felt that established big tech companies are fundamentally different from YC's most successful companies (https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?top_company=true) in that they just seem so much more foundational and impactful to the world.
I can't see how any of those YC companies will produce the amount of value FAANG Et al. will produce.
So my question is, how may one go about starting a generational / foundational technology company today? The only example I can even think of in recent memory is OpenAI, Tesla & SpaceX. Note that 2/3 of these have a huge hardware and manufacturing component to them.
It seems like it has been decreasingly common to start generational companies. Is it because they are just harder to start over time? Does that mean future technology startups will never be as big as the biggest technology companies of today? Are software startups particularly limited, competing for an ever smaller pie?
And if generational technology companies can still be founded, then what are some ways in which that could happen? Will they be mostly hard tech, biotech? Or is there room for pure software still? A related but meaningfully different question: Can the founders of generational companies still be young (as in the past) or do you need a ton of expertise now?
Excited to hear your thoughts!