Though I've thought YC is a great idea (and implementation), it struck me as being focused on funding the creation of software, to the exclusion of hacks which are not primarily composed of code. As my joy and expertise come from being a sysadmin, this tends to exclude me (as I suspect it also excludes, perhaps by design, EEs).
I was pleased to see that the RFS series included ideas for software-hardware combos, but I was disappointed that the example was Meraki, since they're still, AFAIK, mostly software.
Although the new funding formula is a step in the right direction, it remains exclusive of ventures needing more than just the living expenses of the founders.
Specifically, I perceive a tremendous market inefficiency in RDBMS implementations, which, even at modest scale, end up costing too much for (often "hosted) hardware and/or don't perform. However, because the point is to do a better implementation of something that is otherwise costly, even the proof of concept is likely to require upwards of $15k in hardware.
Granted, it could be leased, but, if that means buying brand name, the amount financed could easily double, perhaps even triple, which would be $5k-$8k over 4 months and a subsequent excessive drain for the remaining 20, if they occur.
The $100k LoC BootUpLabs offers is almost enough to overcome their unfortunate location and incubator model, since it may well result in a complete, launched product, with no debt baggage.
Of course, this is still an order of magnitude below where VCs would come into play.
Comments
Though I've thought YC is a great idea (and implementation), it struck me as being focused on funding the creation of software, to the exclusion of hacks which are not primarily composed of code. As my joy and expertise come from being a sysadmin, this tends to exclude me (as I suspect it also excludes, perhaps by design, EEs).
I was pleased to see that the RFS series included ideas for software-hardware combos, but I was disappointed that the example was Meraki, since they're still, AFAIK, mostly software.
Although the new funding formula is a step in the right direction, it remains exclusive of ventures needing more than just the living expenses of the founders.
Specifically, I perceive a tremendous market inefficiency in RDBMS implementations, which, even at modest scale, end up costing too much for (often "hosted) hardware and/or don't perform. However, because the point is to do a better implementation of something that is otherwise costly, even the proof of concept is likely to require upwards of $15k in hardware.
Granted, it could be leased, but, if that means buying brand name, the amount financed could easily double, perhaps even triple, which would be $5k-$8k over 4 months and a subsequent excessive drain for the remaining 20, if they occur.
The $100k LoC BootUpLabs offers is almost enough to overcome their unfortunate location and incubator model, since it may well result in a complete, launched product, with no debt baggage.
Of course, this is still an order of magnitude below where VCs would come into play.