I was actually pleasantly surprised by the hosts. Was expecting them to come off as complete morons (having watched some of Fox Biz) but they did a decent job.
Direct link: <a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/25897600/funding-tech-start-ups.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.foxbusiness.com/search-results/m/25897600/funding...</a>
What's interesting about this is seeing how something that we know a lot about is conveyed to the general public in a few brief clips. It must be difficult to choose exactly what to say.
I was surprised that the hosts actually let Paul speak for more than seven un-interrupted seconds. When the interview first started, the game of "I'm going to say some stuff that I think you might say and ask you if that's what you want to say" seemed to have begun, but the hosts thankfully scaled back to occasional yapping.
Watching the video reinforced my desire to apply to Y Combinator. I've read in the guidelines that submitting multiple ideas is acceptable, and even preferred. It's also clear the majority of accepted startups are product-oriented (I'm considering automated subscriptions to a web service a product in this case), rather than service-oriented.<p>My company is following the Guy Kawasaki method of offering services/consulting to generate immediate cash flow, while working on product-driven solutions in the background. I strongly believe the product I'm currently working on will succeed, though I don't believe it will ever be a good acquisition candidate for Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc. I'm wondering how important that is for acceptance into Y Combinator.<p>Even the services I'm offering have an extra entrepreneurial twist. With a nod towards Anomaly (<a href="http://anomaly.com/" rel="nofollow">http://anomaly.com/</a>), I have one carefully-screened client with whom I'm essentially working for equity rather than cash. Thus far I've been impressed by his performance and contributions to the project.<p>In summary, I'm hoping that someone here will evaluate what I've written and respond with a convincing argument for why I should:
A. Apply with my 'big picture' vision, incorporating most or all of the above - keeping my fingers crossed that what is essentially an agency with multiple business models has a chance at acceptance
B. Apply with total focus on the app - even though it's not a good acquisition candidate
C. Wait to apply until I have a product-driven idea that is a good acquisition candidate<p>Thank you in advance for any light to be shed. I hope my questions possess some semblance of universal applicability.
Successful Pittsburghers:<p>Andrew Carnegie sold US Steel to J.P. Morgan and ended up in New York.<p>Mark Cuban sold Broadcast.com to Yahoo and ended up in Dallas.<p>Paul Graham sold Viaweb to Yahoo and ended up in Silicon Valley.<p>I'm determined to be next. Working on it.
I didn't realize it until I watched, but with a single word, pg tells you the answer to the question posed by one of my favorite books, "The Ultimate Secret to Getting Absolutely Everything You Want," by Mike Hernacki.