YCNYC: A lost opportunity

"Perhaps he’s not a great speaker, but I’m not so sure."<p>I'm not a great speaker. The awkward delivery he describes is unfortunately pretty much the norm. Believe it or not, I used to be even worse.

Seems like the OP's post stems from just being over-critical (seems like he really wanted to find issues with the event), as well as expecting a bit too much from the event...almost too much to really live up to.<p>While nothing presented was especially groundbreaking, I'm just happy YC decided to venture to the east coast. That in itself is better than nothing. It's their first event over here, and a decent one at that. As for next time, the OP's request of getting MBAs to wear ties and developers to wear black shirts is a bit opposite of startup atmosphere. Dress codes are kind of frowned upon. Plus, if you did that, it'd turn into a high school dance with ties on one side and black shirts on the other.<p>Oh, and if PG and company would have spent a good amount of time on "YC, the school, their process" I think there would have been a large amount of disappointed folk. Why go to a YC event of you don't know what YC is? I'd speculate most there were quite familiar with YC and its process and were looking more for startup advice, similar to the stuff given.

Having gone the other night, I understand what the author is saying and agree with a lot of it.<p>That said, one of main points of the keynote was that chance meetings are what make places like NYC and the valley so conducive to startups. The loose structure really lent itself well to socializing, and so this was the perfect event for those chance meetings.<p>I personally got a lot out of it, and would love seeing more meetups like this.

The original invitation did clearly state it was geared towards jobs seekers under the premise of a meetup. YC even asked for your resume, and one of the qualifying questions was related to your interest to apply. Not sure why OP is surprised.<p>PG delivered, if you observe his prior interviews you will notice that is his style. Personally, it feels authentic, and transparent. A trait many speakers lack.<p>The serendipitous nature of the event added to the allure, it encouraged folks to have a conversation.<p>Video department could of used some help but that's just nitpicking.<p>This all comming from someone who didn't get invited, yet drove from Philly, one of the first one there, waited in line, and was magically allowed in.<p>Well done, YC.

MBA's in ties and hackers in black tees. What is this, YC Presents <i>Grease</i>.

A more accurate title would be " Why I was disappointed with YCNYC". I personally had a wonderful time and gained several future leads.

I know I shouldn't say this, but does anyone read this critique as just so east coast? Someone goes to an event on startups and they are annoyed because no one handed them action items or facilitated their networking more?<p>On the west coast it's mostly a matter of things arising from chaos. You do what you can in terms of nailing the logistics (pizza, beer and fast moving lines) but the meat is who you get into the room, not what the person at the microphone is saying.<p>I'm not saying YC and pg couldn't have made it better, the OP should be lauded for some of the critique. (Criticism of YC tends to be controversial.) But the OP seems to have accidentally discovered exactly some of the differences between east coast and west coast cultures.

Good write-up, Justin.<p>My frustration was this:<p>I feel like diversity fuels creativity and innovation. I like finding myself in a room with a variety of different sorts of people, and the YCNYC event felt like I was in a room with approximately 1000 copies of myself. The most visible example of this was the number of women present. I <i>personally</i> know many times more women in technology than I saw in that entire crowd of a thousand or so.<p>I know that YC is going to appeal to a certain sort of person, but I would've been much more impressed with the whole event if it had been apparent that the organizers had gone just a little bit out of their way to reach out to different kinds of people who work in technology in the city. There are so many, doing so many amazing things, coming from so many backgrounds. Get people together who don't normally talk and see what new ideas start forming.<p>If NYC has any chance of outranking the Bay Area when it comes to start-ups, it's going to be because the NYC scene learns how to leverage the extreme diversity of talent out here. Not because a thousand young, male nerds get in the same room together to talk about the same stuff they all just read on Hacker News.<p>Anyway. That's my rant. I did enjoy PG's talk, even though he has a kind of odd aspect on stage. Glad I went, but it could've been something more than what it was.

I think the post is just too harsh. I understand where you are coming from, but:<p>- “be transparent”. You have to expect that startups are going to be looking for talent (founders are always recruiting).<p>- “tell us what we don’t know”. They don’t know what you don’t know (nevermind what a 1000 people don’t know). They just tell you their stories and at best you would be inspired and motivated. They succeeded at that.<p>- “engage”. They spent several hours talking to people. I would rather them engage this way than to engage stage to audience.<p>Having all these people in one room was the great thing about this event. I met other founders who are trying to make it, MBAs who are looking to join startups, cs students and YC alum. Not to mention pitching to many people, engaging in discussions about my startup and getting feedback. I would not label that a lost opportunity.

I had a nice time and got to meet some great people. The only suggestion for next time is to somehow label the name tags with either company name, programmer, designer, etc. Everyone was just a name to me so I didn't know what they did until I approached them.

pg, overall, I did enjoy the event. As did many others, so it appeared. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but great insight from YC partners and founders. Thank you.<p>It was a bit difficult to network, however. As other posters have pointed out, there were so many attendees and since there were no indicative markings on the badges, it was impossible to distinguish between a potential "match" and a friendly (but potentially unproductive) conversation. But hey, hindsight is 20/20. Looking forward to next time.<p>As you mentioned in your talk, you're unlikely to run into Sean Parker while strolling down 5th Avenue. NYC-area Meetups are enjoyable, as are, at times, General Assembly and other NYC institutions. But as you joked about on stage, they are not a substitute for the daily serendipity and access to talent that Silicon Valley has to offer. This is one of the Valley's greatest strategic advantages. That being said, there is a tremendous talent pool in NYC and last night helped reaffirm this fact. Over the course of my two entrepreneurial decades in this great city, I have never seen a NYC startup event attract such a targeted, valuable and eager audience. It's very possible that the YC brand-name was responsible for this feat. Would YC have any interest in sponsoring a regular NYC networking event? In addition to increasing YC-startup visibility and access to local talent, this could serve as a great boon for the NYC startup community.

FWIW, my 2 cents:<p>1. I thought PG's informal speaking style was actually quite cool, no issues with that. However, he did seem a bit distracted. At times, it felt like he wasn't sure what he wanted to say next.<p>2. There were too many people. Maybe I shouldn't complain, since I am not sure if I would be invited if YC didn't invite so many, but it meant that the speakers/alumni were crowded-out most of the time. Having booths would make it easier to find alumni, but it makes it more like a career fair so I am not sure I like that too much either. Another alternative would be to split up the area into multiple sub-areas for each of the speakers, and have a separate parallel Q&#38;A. I have seen this done successfully in other industry conferences.<p>3. I thought the presentations were generally quite good and left me inspired (and scared as well). Talking about YC's application process would have been a waste of time since most people seemed quite familiar with YC anyway. The one thing I would have changed - having some time for on-the-spot Q&#38;A.<p>4. The lack of explanation about color coding was a major complaint. I would have had 2 icons per badge instead of color coding - one indicating if you were a designer/developer etc., and the other icon indicating whether you were looking for a job, trying to hire etc. Good, obvious icons are way easier to understand than color codes.<p>Overall, I am happy that YC came to NYC, and that I got the opportunity to meet so many cool people. So thank you YC team for that, and for bringing me a couple of steps closer to making the leap :)

I agree it was probably a little bit of a lost opportunity for YC. I was interested in talking to a couple of the YC companies but it was hard to find them in the crowd.<p>Overall I can't complain though. Personally I met some great people at the event and got to shake hands with some alumni. It was a great experience and not a missed opportunity for myself. Thanks YC for that. I will take the sentiments toward the NYC startup scene as a challenge. :)

Does anyone realize the size of the NYC crowd was larger than Startup School - which takes places in the heart of Silicon Valley? Last night was standing room only. I left thinking the NYC scene was thirsty for an event such as YCNYC. If you left complaining, I think you showed up with the wrong frame of mind. I met some fantastic people, and really enjoyed presenting. Props to PG and Co. for bringing a community together.

I have to say that I disagree with the author: Yes the event was a plug for Y Combinator -- but as someone who is interested in the other coast it was a great in person taste of the program that I could never have gotten via a podcast, blog entry or hanging out here. Also in the past I've incorrectly read the program as being a one way ticket to the valley — and I was very impressed that Paul was selling it as a college experience and a network to tap into above all else.<p>And I got to tell you something: It's the first time in my life that anybody from THE valley said out loud "I think it's cool to have a startup in NYC". I've been in the scene here for years before it was cool, and it was music to my ears to hear that. And of course we'd love it if Paul announced that they were coming to NYC -- but I came to realize that if they did that part of what makes Y Combinator so cool wouldn't come along for the ride (sort of like opening CBGB in Vegas).

I personally liked PG's awkwardness. It felt Jeffersonian.

Great event, however would be perfect if more structured networking mechanism is implemented. In addition to color-code on name tag, I would suggest to set up a Google doc to allow attendees to freely sharing their project, what they are looking for (i.e. co-founder or developers) and contact info... before the event. This facilitates to find like-minded / same-interest people effectively, more productive meetup in person at the event. Without this pre-researched info, best luck to find "Sean Parker" in the people sea.

We should consider the first iteration of YCNYC a MVP. Kudos to Renee and the YC team for taking a chance and pulling off a great event. I really enjoyed the evening (see my HN post from yesterday -- <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3043069" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3043069</a>). It was very inspiring, with lots of energy in the room and was a rare opportunity to speak with YC alums. The fact that YC provided free pizza and beer was a great gesture.

Did anyone get the speech on video?

I wouldn't count on the "come work for us" being a planned goal of the evening - it's just that those companies are always on the hunt for new hires and take any opportunity they can to connect with good people.<p>The same thing happened at SydStart the other day - lots of great and inspirational speakers but all of them that were involved with large companies (BigCommerce, Freelancer.com etc.) had a "we're hiring" at the end of their talk.

From the author's remarks, it seems as if this event suffered from the same ailments that our education system has - we teach/perform/guide as if everyone (1) perceives and interacts with information the same way and (2) possesses the same amount of background knowledge. These assumptions are obviously fallacious, but coming up with effective alternatives is a challenging proposition.

Any videos, please?

on first look, I'm pretty sure Justin has flattered PG. :D

Suits shouldn't be allowed to this type of meetup. I definitely saw at least 5 people in suits. so lame.