

Many say that success in business and life often is a matter of

timing. In the case of

Y Combinator

and its recently completed

Startup School, I would have to concur

completely. As Michael Mandel, Chief Economist for

BusinessWeek, shared during his presentation at

Startup School, most economies can be defined by four words: "Boom, Bust, Boom, Bust".

He also said that he believes the Internet is entering a new Boom cycle.

Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm specializing in funding

early stage startups. The company funds startups in batches instead of taking

the usual approach of funding startups individually. Startup School is Y

Combinator's initiative to help more potential entrepreneurs understand the

process of moving from an idea to a company.

Recently, Y Combinator finished work with its first batch of startups from the

Summer

Founders Program. A group of eight companies started this program back in May

2005. Paul Graham, the founder of ViaWeb, which sold to

Yahoo in 1998, author of Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer

Age and a partner in Y Combinator, said, "if I had to guess now, I'd predict three or four of the

eight startups we funded will make it".

According to the final report of the

Working

Group on Venture Capital, a joint effort between the Department

of Commerce and the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry,

there is a fundamental failure in the provision of early-stage financing

for startups in both the US and the EU. So it would seem that Y Combinator and the

Startup School are timed well to fill a clear need. As many of the

speakers at Startup School would agree, filling a clear need is key

to the success of any startup.

As a participant in Startup School, it was amazing to witness approximately 500 aspiring

entrepreneurs gathered for this program. Demand to participate was even more

impressive. I heard from Jessica Livingston, a partner with Y Combinator,

that over 700 people applied. The school was held on the campus of

Harvard University in Hall B of the Science Center.



Although the school was held at the tail end of a week-long autumn rain

spell, October 15, there seemed to be few no shows--and with good reason.

Startup School featured a first rate line-up of experts on the topic of

starting technology companies. In addition, the speakers included representatives

from both Yahoo and Google.

For many, the highlight of the line-up was a presentation by

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple

Computer. Steve delivered a presentation full of energy and insights into

an historical era of the computer industry. He poignantly stated what many

of the speakers pointed out when talking about innovating: "To me, goodness is having

the fewest parts." In other words, keep it simple.

According to Livingston, the list of speakers invited originally

consisted of people that spoke to the participants of the original Summer

Founder's Program. Additional speakers were added to fill in gaps to

ensure that participants heard about all of the aspects Y Combinator

feels are important to know when starting new companies.

Startup School actually was Paul Graham's idea, and it came about even before the first Summer Founders

Program. Livingston recalled that Paul approached her about doing the

Startup School. Along the way, the Summer Founders Program emerged as a

result of their development of Paul's original idea. Following

the success of the original batch of startups, though, they still felt strongly

about trying to help more potential entrepreneurs, especially for

free. Ultimately, Y Combinator felt the best way to help was to

educate people. Essentially their observations are that many of the

people Y Combinator talks with are brilliant but generally are

terrified by the concept of forming a business. This was confirmed

by one of the Summer Founders. In the concluding session of the Startup

School, which included some of the original Summer Founders, Aaron Swartz

shared that when he was explaining his plans for the summer, he did not

tell people that he was going to be working on starting a company. He

would tell people only that he would be working for a company, because

it seemed so absurd to think he was starting a company.

In summary, Y Combinator's Startup School included a stellar group of

startup experts and a lot of concise, easy-to-use startup advice. I'm

sure that many of the attendees left with a new perspective on starting a

company. Another idea that was repeated by more than one speaker was to follow

your passion. By merely attending Startup School, I believe that many in

attendance are on their way to doing exactly that. I met people from Canada, Mexico,

Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, and I'm sure many

other places even farther away from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Traveling

thousands of miles with your own money to hear about starting a company

seems like a great definition of passion, don't you think? I'm convinced

that many future startups will emerge from this first class of Startup

School attendees. I'm also convinced that many of them will apply for the

Winter Founders

Program, although they should hurry. The October 25th deadline is

approaching quickly.