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by michaelf 5206 days ago
Is this the first step in YC pivoting away being a "seed investor", where the goal is to pick winners? Does PG see the future of YC as being an alternative to post-graduate education where the goal is instead to develop winners and have a stake in their success?

If this model works out, I wonder if we'll eventually see traditional universities funding startups for top students out of their endowments.

Very exciting experiment, if you ask me.
2 comments
pron 5206 days ago
Agree. I think this is exciting and fascinating, and I'd love to see how this works out. I say this as a person interested in the directions societies take. As someone with opinions, however, it makes me a little sad, because I think education should be as far removed as possible from business. This isn't to say that getting your hands dirty in actual markets doesn't have an educational value, but the most profound knowledge about the world is not gleaned by doing business. Still, interesting.
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DilipJ 5206 days ago
perhaps YC should think of becoming like a business school. Most business schools charge upwards of 100k for two years, and most students borrow that from the federal government. YC could instead "charge" half that amount, teach all the major business principles that one needs to know in a few months (which could basically be teaching pg's essays to a class audience) with the caveat that all or most of the tuition charged will be returned as seed investments to the students at the end
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tatsuke95 5206 days ago
>"YC could instead "charge" half that amount, teach all the major business principles that one needs to know in a few months"

You really think you can teach all the business principles you "need to know" in a few months, huh? But I bet if I said lets take some business guys and teach them everything you need to know about coding in a few months, you'd probably think I was crazy.

Seriously, the "what it takes to successfully run a business" is so underestimated around here it makes me shudder. But, I guess that's probably why most people here aren't actually running successful businesses.

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