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NIGHTOWLS


                                             November  30, 2011
                                             September 25, 2013

An odd, semi-regular gathering: the
"Night Owls" group that meets in
hacker workspaces in Soma in SF.

This is a funny scene from my point of view,
because I'm much like the people who go to them--
a computer professional that gravitates toward
the backshift whenever possible-- but also much
unlike them...

These events are very much about "networking",
a gathering of venture capital pimps and
whores, all interested in talking about their        At one of them, a guy
*fascinating* mobile app startup ideas.              asked me a technical
                                                     question-- I can't
                                                     remember about what, it
   At one such event, hanging out                    was something trendy
   up in the balcony at Citizen's Space,             that I barely care
   Paul Graham's name came up somehow--              about, and there are
   he runs a VC firm called "Y Combinator"--         *many* such things.
   and on impulse I tried to offer my
   opinion of Graham, pointing out that              When I tried to tell
   a lot of his essays are fatuous, that             him I didn't know,
   he got rich a little early to have                I apparently sounded
   much industry experience, etc.                    unexcited and must've
                                                     made it clear that
   A fellow at the other end of the                  I didn't really care,
   table-- doing a remarkable imitation              because he then went
   of a sweaty, hyper, speed freak--                 off into a harrangue
   went off into a defense of Graham                 about why I should care
   and "Y Combinator", something along               because it was obviously
   the lines of "Do you *know* that                  the Next Big Thing--
   'Y Combinator' is one of the most
   successful and imitated VC firms,                 (The number of crazed,
   a pioneer of *data-driven investing*?"            sweaty speed-freak types
                                                     in start-up circles
       So, Y Combinator claims to have               really should give one
       enough data on multiple start-up              pause, and probably would,
       attempts to be able to discern                provided you're not one
       patterns in their profiles?                   yourself.)
       Zipcode right, average ages
       right, hair length too short,
       not enough beards, not enough
       Xs in the name?  This sounded       BUT... I mentioned this guy's
       like some serious snake-oil to      rap to a friend of mine, who
       me...                               follows the doings of Y
                                           Combinator more closely than
   I could barely get a word in,           I, and he finds the whole
   and eventually threw up my hands:       idea unrecognizeable... so
   "I give up! You're not allowed to       perhaps I got it wrong-- or
   criticize rich people."                 the guys pitch was so far off
                                           it's not funny.


                                                One thing that "Y Combinator"
                                                does that makes sense to me
         Another Night Owl who had              is that they tend to do
         apparently been funded by              relatively small grants...
         Graham offered his own                 instead of a 100 million
         mild criticism: like a                 to keep a dozen people
         lot of smart people, his               fully employed, Y Combinator
         advice needed to be taken              might kick in 20k so that
         with a grain of salt.                  a single programmer can
                                                afford to put in 6 months
                                                finishing some code.










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