Traditional local advertising is not what retailers want. They want not just for you to see an ad - they want you to come into the store, to be a repeat customer and to spread the word.
— Sam Altman
The nice thing about Reddit is, we don't have to sell your data or build a profile of you or do stuff that makes people feel uncomfortable.
Loopt isn't a service that keeps you locked in, staring at your screen.
Ideas are cheap and easy, and there are a lot of them.
I love working with really early stage startups where the outcome is still in doubt. Maybe they'll go on to greatness, or maybe they'll never get off the runway at all.
Whoever Boost works with, Sprint will work with. And whoever Sprint works with, Verizon and AT&T will as well.
Being a public company is really terrible for most companies. I'd say Facebook and Google have done a pretty good job of standing up to the incredible quarterly pressure to hit numbers, but most companies - and I've observed a lot now - don't do a very good job of that.
Everyone is looking for the hack, the secret to success without hard work.
Background updating is absolutely the future.
That culture of frugality and discipline is really important for the Y Combinator mindset.
One of the things we urge Y-Combinator companies to do is to have profitability in grasp. If you need to get profitable before your A round of money, you ought to be able to do that.
Virgin America flyers tend to be more likely to be using a mobile device and tapping social networks - even at 35,000 feet.
People hate searching.
Communication services need interoperability to succeed - and Loopt is the first such service since SMS that is available across all major U.S. wireless carriers.
Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups.
I don't invest in companies where my mental model is that they need to get themselves acquired in the next few years - or ever.
Seed investing is the status symbol of Silicon Valley. Most people don't want Ferraris, they want a winning seed investment.
Anonymity breeds meanness.
If you go to a paintball subreddit, paintball companies can advertise to you.
I suppose if I didn't have Loopt, I'd have to, I don't know, pick up the phone and just start calling people, a lot more texting and certainly more Googling.
Startups on the inside are always badly broken.
Generally, you want to raise capital either when you have to or when it's really easy. If the company desperately needs money, and they can't figure out any other way, then they need to raise money. Or if someone's offering you easy money on good terms, you should take it because you can use it for good things.
Many of the companies in the mobile location space are trying to figure out different ways to tie what they're doing to commerce.
The way to really scale a venture firm is with software.
You shouldn't try to manufacture progress.
Location is the sole difference between mobile and traditional Web.
Technology magnifies differences, and it's been replacing or obviating jobs for a long time. But what happens as that case accelerates? I'm not one of these doomsayers who says, 'There will be no jobs.'
The Loopt mobile app is all about giving you the latest local deals and insider tips.
Facebook and Instagram are spiritual brothers.
Check-ins are cool, but kind of a pain.
You really want a company full of missionaries, not mercenaries.
A lot of people don't love their bank.
It's easy to say, 'I'm going to build something that already exists,' but it's difficult to clearly and succinctly describe something new.
I grew up with a computer, and many of my friends were people I met online.
The biggest part of Loopt is about discovering the world around you, never replacing a social experience - only adding to it.
Asking what I'd do without Loopt is almost like asking what I would do if I didn't have a smartphone because the feature set has become the norm for me.
If you ask a founder how their company is doing, they always say, 'Oh it's great. We're totally crushing it,' and that's almost never true.
Very ambitious startups often take a long time to work - or sometimes they take a very long time to look ambitious.
I think you can say a lot of evil behavior by companies is short-term optimization.
It's so important for startups to get their culture right at the start. They need to feel unique and that they are on their own important mission in the world.
People appreciate when you make an effort to speak their language.
The start-ups that do well are the ones that are working all the time.
I believe in the future, and to be a good investor, you have to believe in the future.
With Loopt Star, consumers get to tap interactive rewards wherever they may be.
Tech companies tend to do tech best.
Do I think every culture will embrace location technology? Yes.
The crowd's a really powerful force on the Internet, and people finally understand how to harness that.
If you look at people who have an iPhone or Android and are under 40 and are dissatisfied with their bank, it's actually quite a large market.
All throughout my life I have been deeply immersed in startups, either because I was running one or investing in them or helping them.
