<story><title>Is Y Combinator worth it?</title><url>https://drodio.com/our-ycombinator-experience/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>marcinzm</author><text>Curious, why does it matter if your paycheck comes from VC money or revenue money? In the end the same amount comes to your bank account.</text></item><item><author>msoad</author><text>As an engineer I would love to work for a company that makes money and pays me from that money.</text></item><item><author>drewrv</author><text>As a founder, self funding makes a lot of sense,
as you avoid dilution and aren’t beholden to a group of people expecting 10x growth every year.&lt;p&gt;But as a candidate I’d be cautious about taking a job at a self funded startup. They’re probably cash constrained so the base salary might not be as much. And if there is equity, I would want management beholden to people expecting 10x growth.</text></item><item><author>mediaman</author><text>Would you disqualify companies that had bootstrapped successfully, were profitable, and did not take any outside money?&lt;p&gt;Not a judging question - I understand the value of a good investor&amp;#x27;s due diligence and backing in improving the odds of sane leadership. But it&amp;#x27;s interesting to think how that can impact a successful, self-funded copmany&amp;#x27;s access to talent.</text></item><item><author>s17n</author><text>Y Combinator has one of the strongest brands of any investor, which matters a ton for recruiting.  It&amp;#x27;s very hard for engineers considering working at an early stage company to determine whether it&amp;#x27;s legit or not, and Y Combinator is probably a better known name than any VC.  Personally when I was looking for jobs I&amp;#x27;d immediately disqualify any company that wasn&amp;#x27;t backed by a relatively small list of investors and YC was on that list.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>codingdave</author><text>Because VCs work by pushing for high returns on some of their investments, not low returns on all of their investments. They therefore push for business decisions to force high growth, when there can be a better chance of success with a slow burn in some situations. So you end up taking business risks to chase high growth, instead of simply focusing on a niche market to stay profitable, and having a flexible timeframe for growth.&lt;p&gt;As an engineer, this does hit the paycheck directly - if they go hire more devs to speed product features to market while at the same time increasing sales and marketing... it can change from a bootstrapped model with no end to the runway into a situation where you do have a runway, and it is counted in months, not years. Instead of steady pay with plenty of time to deliver new product, I&amp;#x27;m being pushed to deliver quickly, and if we fail, we&amp;#x27;re unemployed.&lt;p&gt;And yes, we probably get lower salaries for that model because we are taking less risk. But steady, lower stress work is desired by some of us, and a small bootstrapped group delivers it better than a VC.</text></comment>
<story><title>Is Y Combinator worth it?</title><url>https://drodio.com/our-ycombinator-experience/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>marcinzm</author><text>Curious, why does it matter if your paycheck comes from VC money or revenue money? In the end the same amount comes to your bank account.</text></item><item><author>msoad</author><text>As an engineer I would love to work for a company that makes money and pays me from that money.</text></item><item><author>drewrv</author><text>As a founder, self funding makes a lot of sense,
as you avoid dilution and aren’t beholden to a group of people expecting 10x growth every year.&lt;p&gt;But as a candidate I’d be cautious about taking a job at a self funded startup. They’re probably cash constrained so the base salary might not be as much. And if there is equity, I would want management beholden to people expecting 10x growth.</text></item><item><author>mediaman</author><text>Would you disqualify companies that had bootstrapped successfully, were profitable, and did not take any outside money?&lt;p&gt;Not a judging question - I understand the value of a good investor&amp;#x27;s due diligence and backing in improving the odds of sane leadership. But it&amp;#x27;s interesting to think how that can impact a successful, self-funded copmany&amp;#x27;s access to talent.</text></item><item><author>s17n</author><text>Y Combinator has one of the strongest brands of any investor, which matters a ton for recruiting.  It&amp;#x27;s very hard for engineers considering working at an early stage company to determine whether it&amp;#x27;s legit or not, and Y Combinator is probably a better known name than any VC.  Personally when I was looking for jobs I&amp;#x27;d immediately disqualify any company that wasn&amp;#x27;t backed by a relatively small list of investors and YC was on that list.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>chrsig</author><text>VC money dries up. Revenue money is self sustaining.  From a job stability standpoint, the latter is much more appealing.</text></comment>