Sep 14, 2026
On what made YC great c. 2009:
- yc greatness is best understood by comparing it to trad ecosystem at that time
- the Pioneer Way yc office was surrounded by trees, equipment suppliers, small scale logistics companies, and of course startups. People were loading and unloading trucks around the corner. By contrast trad VC offices were tucked away in country club grounds on Sand Hill Rd
- YC parking lot must have had cars normal ppl buy because I never noticed one. On Sand Hill you couldn't help but notice Porsches, Maseratis and so on
- when you entered YC you'd walk through a white empty vestibule they never quite knew what to do with, then enter the cheery "orange room" filled with tables and benches for founder dinners. Sand Hill offices were somber forgettable places set up by professional decorators who would never have to work there themselves
- at YC you were greeted by pg in his cargo shorts and polo, and Jessica always brimming with energy
- on Sand Hill you were greeted by an immaculately dressed receptionist who looked like she'd been sent over by central casting. (It was always a woman; I've been rejected dozens of times by venture capitalists on Sand Hill, and I don't think I was greeted by a man once.) She'd offer coffee. You'd decline. She'd walk you to a conference room. The walk was usually long and silent; the only sound you'd hear was the loud clicking of her high heels against the floor. Then you'd settle in around an oversized mahogany table and wait. The wait was never so long that you could call them on it, but somehow always long enough that it felt disrespectful
- in fairness you sometimes had to wait at YC too. This was because Paul was walking around somewhere with a founder, enthralled by an idea they were both brainstorming. And in a few minutes he'd be equally enthralled by an idea he was about to be brainstorming with you
- while waiting for pg you'd look around. On one side there was tlb's Anybots lab, stocked with all kinds of electronics and robot parts. On the other side there were rice cookers (or were they pressure cookers?) pg and co used to cook founders dinners. A Sand Hill partner might take you to a Michelin star restaurant, but nobody on Sand Hill was ever going to cook for you
- there was a structural element. YC partners were writing small checks and treated it as an experiment. They could be very tough on you if you screwed up, but it always felt like they stood next to you, helping you peer into the future to make the thing work
- but partnership in a Sand Hill firm was not an experiment. It was a highly desirable career path, with all the implications that come with that. Almost everyone who worked there was afraid to make a mistake or to look dumb in front of their partners. And so on Sand Hill founders felt like they were looked down upon from Mt Olympus. (What we were too green to realize is that sitting on Mt Olympus is a very precarious thing)
- pg & tlb were hackers. Not in their distant past-- now. Tlb was building robots. Pg was building HN on top of Arc on top of Scheme. It was very difficult to imagine anyone on Sand Hill doing that
- anyone could see the bones of yc-- they were the OGs of building in public. Pg's essays and HN comments would document the choices, the problems, the decisions. Since he worked out many ideas right there on the page, he'd implicitly document his way of thinking and the attitude of self-belief, curiosity, and optimism that's so indispensable while working in the fog
- eventually trad firms would clone elements of YC. Seed funds, batches, blogs, and so on. It worked, but only to a point. Sand Hill ppl would often ask-- what’s the secret? We’re doing all the same stuff, why are you founders so loyal to YC but not to us? Of course everything was out in the open for anyone to see, there wasn't anything insightful to add
/fin