Entrevista con Paul Graham, Co-fundador de YCombinator
Paul Graham es uno de los emprendedores e inversores de mayor reputación en EE UU y Europa. Una voz de peso en el arte de ayudar a start-ups tecnológicas a florecer de la nada.
En 1995 desarrolló la primera aplicación web, Viaweb, comprada por Yahoo en el 98. Es autor de varios libros, del lenguaje de programación Arc y co-fundador de YCombinator, la incubadora en Silicon Valley que ha marcado un punto de inflexión en los modelos de inversión early stage.
Le entrevisté por correo electrónico hace unos días en relación a un artículo publicado hoy, sobre emprendedores, inversores y el proceso de llevar una idea al mercado con éxito. YCombinator ha financiado ya 118 start-ups, algunas de gran potencial como Xobni, Loopt y Reddit. Esta es la entrevista completa:
Q: How would you define YCombinator´s mission?
A: We started in March 2005. Our goal was to be like first gear for startups: to get them properly launched, so that they could go on to raise money successfully from later stage investors.
Q: What´s the background of the founders of Y Combinator?
A: We are four founders: Trevor Blackwell, Paul Graham, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris. Robert, Trevor, and I are all hackers. Jessica came from an investment bank and handles all the business stuff. Robert is also a computer science professor at MIT, and Trevor is the founder of Anybots, which made the first dynamically balancing biped robot.
Robert, Trevor, and I know one another from grad school at Harvard. We started Viaweb together in 1995. It was, as far as we know, the first web-based app (hence the name). It was bought by Yahoo in 1998, where it became Yahoo Store.
Q: How involved do you get in the idea creation phase of a start-up?
A: Usually we work with founders a lot on the idea. One of the most common misconceptions about startups is that they’re simply embodiments of some clever initial idea. In fact the idea they end up with is usually the result of evolution, and the first year tends to be when most of this evolution happens.
Startups apply to YC online twice a year. We invite the most promising ones to meet us in person during one long weekend of interviews, at the end of which we select the ones we want to fund. Those then move to Silicon Valley for at least 3 months, starting in January or June.
During that time we work intensively with them, and at the end of it they present to all the investors in the Valley (and some who fly in) at a big event called Demo Day. We continue to advise them afterward for as long as they want.
Q: Which would you say are the key steps for a tech entrepreneur to get a good idea out there successfully?
A: Pick good cofounders. Launch fast and iterate. Understand your users. Offer surprisingly good customer service. Spend little. Avoid distractions. Don’t give up.
Q: Have you reduced funding activity because of the economic and financial crisis?
A: No. If anything we’re inclined to increase it, because the startups that get started this year are going to be really good ones. People who found startups in this environment have to have courage and commitment, and those are two of the biggest predictors of success.
Q: What would you say are they key differences between the funding process and the creation of a start-up in the US compared to Europe?
A: It seems harder in Europe, for several reasons. There are more government regulations, fewer investors, and in most European countries people seem more reluctant to quit safe jobs than Americans are. Also, although the EU is a bigger market than the US, it’s divided into many different languages.
One subtle but possibly critical difference is between US and European universities. European universities are mostly government controlled and roughly equal in quality, whereas in the US there are a few private universities that are much better than the others. These act as magnets for smart people, who become friends and start startups together. Google is a typical example.
There’s also no one central startup hub in Europe the way there is in the US. You can see that if you search in Google for “Silicon Valley of Europe.” Practically everywhere claims to be the Silicon Valley of Europe, which means there isn’t one.
Interestingly, Spain seemed to me one of the more promising places a silicon valley might grow. The climate is similar, and people seemed very energetic and optimistic. You need optimism to make a Silicon Valley, and I haven’t found as much of it in the rest of Europe, perhaps because it seems unsophisticated. The weak point in Spain seemed to be the universities; but that’s probably easier to fix than lack of optimism.
Foto: mathoov, via Flickr
Tags: Paul Graham, YCombinator
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5 Responses to “Entrevista con Paul Graham, Co-fundador de YCombinator”
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Wow, a post half in English, half in Spanish, is this some kind of transition? Is everything going to be in English shortly? ha ha. Very interesting, so much talking about start-ups, i’m thinking to create one myself.
I notice that this week Mr.Mendez seems unstoppable, a post per day, so much for us the fans that enjoy your writing. Thanks.
Hope I can keep up the pace! Although it really helps knowing that there´s actually someone out there reading and commenting
so thank you!
And, indeed, a language transition is needed; have to start working on that…
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