CloudAve

> it can only serve to narrow down the candidate list of companies that the post was in reference to. That is somewhat malicious, given the sentiments expressed.

This seems like an awfully cynical view to take. YC has accepted quite a few startups in its lifetime (564 to be exact [1]), and he mentioned no other specificities aside from that. He could have titled it "My experience at an incubated/accelerated startup", but then there wouldn't be much of an anchor back to reality to drive it into people's heads that: 'hey, this does happen, and it could happen to you'. Not to mention that any of the other 'large' accelerators probably still pale in comparison to YC's startup numbers. Either way, trying to anchor a helpful point into reality does not seem like good evidence for maliciousness. Trying to frame another person's legitimate attempt at helping others as malicious feels more malicious.

>If that wasn't "overwhelmingly" the point he was trying to make, and he was in fact trying to imply that YC startups have an inherently better chance of success than "just another startup," then your comment is moot.

No, because that's a given. The post was talking about cultural aspects, and I in-turn was talking about cultural aspects. And thus here you are (either intentionally, or unintentionally) arguing that there is some deep correlation between a company's specific set of cultural decisions and a company's success. Personally, I'm not entirely convinced that's the case.

>…

API ecosystem poaching is definitely uncool.

Twitters recent moves are disturbing and definitely will have a negative impact on how people view APIs.

The bad decisions by Twitter doesn't mean everything is going to shit.

Amazon is building their ecosystem with consideration of their ecosystem players - http://www.cloudave.com/10992/aws-vpc-and-impact-on-ecosystem/

NPR is retooling their APIs to support partner efforts, licensing, digital rights, etc. - http://www.npr.org/blogs/inside/2011/03/17/134259537/the-npr-api-an-engine-rebuild

This is some tough shit. No quick answers. Its different for different industries, mediums, etc.

Some API owners are making poor decisions, but there are plenty others like NPR, Amazon, and Netflix that are innovating and sharing their stories on problems they face and what went into their decisions.

The key in any of this is don't get swept up in the short term undercurrents. Step back and look at bigger pictures. I've been using APIs for 10 years. Cloud computing for 5.

I feel like we are just getting going. Lots to figure out.

Do you really want equity, or would you rather have cash now?If you forgo equity in favor of salary then dilution, etc. are not issues.

If you are considering equity, what is a realistic sales scenario - $50m, $100m, $1b or $30b ... or $0? PE can swing for the fences because they get lots of at bats. You get one.

Is it time to learn or time to earn?
http://www.cloudave.com/1246/is-it-time-for-you-to-earn-or-to-learn/

Finally, unless the offer of equity is in writing the cart is before the horse. It may just be happy talk to keep you from jumping ship before the deal goes through [I'm not saying it is, but such things happen].

Yea, I think we're actually the same page. It sounded like you were saying that things like making the founding team more comfortable (i.e. paying down loans or a wedding) weren't good investments - it sounded like a classic "arm-chair" type comment. But I think we're talking about two different things.

I think I'm still on the side of letting the founders take some money off the table, but not satiate their hunger. I like Mark Suster's article on this:

http://www.cloudave.com/1616/should-founders-be-allowed-to-take-money-off-the-table/