When I see my quote about the new batch of Y Combinator companies printed in this CNET article by Daniel Terdiman it just looks weird to me, different than how it sounded to myself when I thought/said it (bolded the part about the innocents):
While some of the teams that are part of Y Combinator include tech industry veterans, many are made up of first-time entrepreneurs, and that’s something Arrington finds refreshing.
Arrington said he appreciates that the teams coming out of Y Combinator tend not to be jaded and are mainly made up of “young guys that have never been screwed over” by standard Silicon Valley politics. And these teams are “re-energizing Silicon Valley with the fresh blood of innocence,” he said.
Of course, Arrington has a vested interest in the success of many of the companies presenting here. He said CrunchFund will likely invest in about 15 of the startups in the current Y Combinator program.
I meant “innocents” not “innocence” but the meaning clear. Only in print it sounds so jaded and sinister – like we’re sending lambs to slaughter.
What I was thinking when I said that is more about the “man in the arena” stuff, how entrepreneurs should fight on in the face of constant criticism from the press and other people who express jealousy through criticism, as well as the exhausting, cumulative and soul destroying wear and tear that entrepreneurs endure as willing or unwilling participants in Silicon Valley politics.
If you’re an entrepreneur, you know what I mean. If you aren’t, you probably don’t.
Anyhow, back to Y Combinator. Twice a year I get to sit in on a magical event, where dozens of new bright eyed and bushy tailed founders get on stage and show the world what they’ve built.
They talk about how they want to change the world. And no matter how absurd their dreams (one founder today said “our software will literally be installed on every Internet connected device in the world”), I can’t help but be swept up in the moment.
So what if a year from now some of these founders will have failed miserably. So what if others get churned through the machine and come out the other end a little less than whole. A few will become giants and lead future generations of entrepreneurs. And in six months or so a whole new batch of ’em will be coming through again. And they’ll be just as bushy tailed as the last ones were.
Today was a good day in Silicon Valley. It was Y Combinator Demo Day, where everyone is a unique and special flower, with nothing but happy days full of promise to come.
Uncrunched 