Y-Combinator

Snap. Forbes magazine put out an issue featuring Y-Combinator. The cover has a picture of cofounder Paul Graham. I am wondering why there is so much buzz about this company.

Yes. I get it. Paul and his company backed some winners like Reddit, Loopt, and Justin.tv. What I am trying to figure out is why having Graham's backing is so important?

Initially you got a $5k investment from Graham. That's not much money at all. Now the initial investment has risen to $11k plus a little more depending on how many people are in your start-up. That is still not a lot of cash.

Maybe this is all a big marketing thing. If you are in with Y-Combinator, you are going to have the clout and access to a lot of rich angel investors and venture capitalists. But isn't it best to bootstrap yourself and keep all of your company for yourself?

There is only one way to find out. Either try to join Y Combinator, or strike out on your own and see what happens. Let's do just that.

Angelgate Scandal

Mike Arrington of TechCrunch goes to some joint called Bin 38. He sees a number of super angel investors meeting there. They disinvite him from their get together. Mike suspects the worst. He thinks there is some type of collusion between these people. It must be so. Why else would they not want him there?

Hello. The dude writes stuff in TechCrunch. You don't want your private business being the next blog story. Too late. Mike has been making insinuations and posting secret emails and such. LOL. Don't we have something better to do then to follow the hype about unsubstantiated rumors?

Look. Product good stuff. Get customers. Be excellent. Then with a little luck, success is going to come your way. People are going to want to back you. Who knows? You might be the next Google or FaceBook. Probably not. But you might be. And if you show some promise, the angels are going to find you and invest. Turn the tables around and have them fighting for you. Then it won't matter what these angels discuss in their private dinners. They will all want you taking their money and returning a huge ROI. But hey. I guess the Angelgate diaries make for some good page hits. Whatever.