Ask HN: YC for non-consumer technology startups?

6 pointsbobz15y ago5 comments

Most of the high profile YC success stories seem to be consumer-facing, web and mobile startups. Others, like Heroku, are still tightly bound to that same business community, serving mostly agile web based startups.

What do people think about YC for other business types? I'm particularly interested in disruptive technology innovation in established, well financed industries.

Questions:

* Has YC been interested in opportunities like this?

* Would YC be as helpful for opportunities like this?

* Are there any notable success stories?

Thanks!

5 comments

5 comments · 4 top-level

mindcrime15y ago· 1 in thread

For what it's worth, this: http://ycombinator.com/ideas.html speaks a little bit to your first question. It seems that they are definitely interested in areas other than just consumer-facing web and mobile applications.

As to the rest... I'll be interested to hear those answers as well.

silverlake15y ago

Yeah, items #4-7 are all enterprisey things. Several others look like stuff for businesses.

dstein15y ago

It is somewhat ironic that a lot of PG's essays talk about finding the "next Google" or "next Microsoft" and investing in disruptive new technology. But when you go through the YC companies at http://yclist.com/ they are almost exclusively consumer/social web apps and knock-offs of existing services. Few would qualify as new technology.

revorad15y ago

http://octopart.com

HackrNwsDesignr15y ago

www.techwildcatters.com does more enterprise projects and not consumer.

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