How the Biggest YC Companies Got Started | Hacker News Reader

How the Biggest YC Companies Got Started

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27 pointssachitgupta13 comments

Raldi, I made a change in response to your comment: "I think it would be a lot more ethical if you presented it openly as such, right from the start. For example, the big button at the bottom of the page could say, "Subscribe to our interview-of-the-week series!""

The button is changed. It didn't occur to me that people would think that this wasn't coming via email over time. I guess I was too close to this project.

Thanks! I've edited my comment.

The interviews are trapped behind a spamwall. You can't reach them until you divulge your email address. Once you're on the list, only then do they admit that they actually only have one interview available so far, and send you a link to download it.

Edit: Originally, I included the direct-download link here. But Andrew's made some changes to the site's UI in the past hour which directly addressed my biggest objections, so I'm removing it.

Mike, I have the interviews. They're interviews I recorded over the past 6 years.

I'm trying a new way of distributing them. It's an experiment to see if giving 1 interview at a time will get more people to listen to each interview. In the past, I put all the interviews on a single page, but I looked at the data and noticed that most people download the interview with the biggest name and ignore the others. I think the less known people are often more helpful.

And I would never spam you. I'm asking for an email address because that's the easiest way to do this. The original idea for this was to have it come out via RSS so you could get a new one in your podcast app every couple of days. But that seems like a pain.

I think it would be a lot more ethical if you presented it openly as such, right from the start. For example, the big button at the bottom of the page could say, "Subscribe to our interview-of-the-week series!"

Andrew has spent a lot of time and energy compiling this reference. I don't think it is unreasonable for him to get an email address in exchange. We all love free content but we frankly are not entitled to it.

Thanks Garry.

My goal is to give people 1 interview at a time and see if they listen to more interviews than if I give them 10 at once.

I went with email because it was easier than the other options.

Have you considered adding a tip jar, or a for-pay, instant-access-to-any-interview option?

I don't object to him asking for something in return (the email address you mention, plus the embedded ads).

What I object to is the use of bait-and-switch tactics.

Quite possibly the worst article submission ever that is voted up only on its merit of a good clickbait title.

What don't you like about it? Say more. I'm open to your feedback.

It might a combination of these few things:

1. Only a single interview 2. No interviews with actual YC-backed founders 3. Has a spamwall 4. Has a bunch of audio ads at the start

Edit: Andrew has addressed all four issues almost immediately. I believe that my fourth issue was just me making a frivolous point. My initial impression was that there were no interviews at the moment (besides the one with Jessica Livingston) and hearing a few ads after jumping through the hoop felt like I was deceived. Thanks for the clarification, Andrew.

1. Only a single interview

>> I might have explained it wrong. It's multiple interviews. (After reading your comment, I made a change to the text above the email box.)

2. No interviews with actual YC-backed founders

>> I'm sending my interviews with the founders of Airbnb, TwitchTV, inDinero and other YC-backed companies.

3. Has a spamwall

>> I would never spam you. I'm not an anonymous internet guy. Many people from HN have been to my house for dinner of the office for a drink. If I ever spammed, I could never look them in the eye.

4. Has a bunch of audio ads at the start

>> You're right. I'll ask my editor what it would cost to have the ads edited out of all my old interviews. If someone here has a suggestion for how to do it, let me know. It might be too expensive to do to over 1000 interviews, but you're right and it's something I should explore.

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