Combinator Quotes & Sayings

By the mere fact that we do not go forward, we go backward. — Fulton J. Sheen

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. — Sam Altman

Some people cannot see a priest on a mountain of sugar. — Rafael Benitez

Loopt wouldn't have happened without Y Combinator. — Sam Altman

We all would like to know more and, at the same time, to receive less information. In fact, the problem of a worker in today's knowledge industry is not the scarcity of information but its excess. The same holds for professionals: just think of a physician or an executive, constantly bombarded by information that is at best irrelevant. In order to learn anything we need time. And to make time we must use information filters allowing us to ignore most of the information aimed at us. We must ignore much to learn a little. — Mario Bunge

Some incubators, like Y Combinator and TechStars, were started by successful entrepreneurs wishing to help the next generation learn from their experiences. Other programs, such as Viterbi Startup Garage and Austin Technology Incubator, were created by universities to help young entrepreneurs bridge the knowledge gap from student to funded company. — Jay Samit

Love doesn't happen in an instant. It creeps up on you and then it turns your life upside down. It colors your waking moments, and fills your dreams. You begin to walk on air and see life in brilliant new shades. But it also brings with it a sweet agony, a delicious torture. — Vikas Swarup

In 2007, there weren't any other accelerators, at least that I was aware of. We were almost the prototypical Y Combinator founders: We were highly technical but had never done a startup before. We also didn't know anyone in the Valley - investors, other entrepreneurs, potential hires. YC seemed like a great way to bootstrap that network. — Patrick Collison

I have made a very rude translation of the Seven against Thebes, and Pindar too I have looked at, and wish he was better worth translating. I believe even the best things are not equal to their fame. Perhaps it would be better to translate fame itself,
or is not that what the poets themselves do? However, I have not done with Pindar yet. — Henry David Thoreau

The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct. — William Of Ockham

That culture of frugality and discipline is really important for the Y Combinator mindset. — Sam Altman

Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups. — Sam Altman

When I first heard about Y Combinator, it was one of those ideas that just seemed forehead-slappingly obvious. Good ideas often do, in retrospect. — Mark Fletcher

I actually made a website called Y2 Combinator, which was the Y Combinator that starts Y Combinator clones. There's a very clear difference in the quality between the companies that come from YC and the companies that don't. — Patrick Collison

My girlfriend in eighth grade had been asking her friends when I was going to kiss her. At a dance, my buddy said, 'You better do it now!' I went in for it. I felt like the coolest person on the face of the earth. A week or two later, she broke up with me. — Michael Rady

I look up to Mick Jagger because he's an amazing performer and he's such an individual. I respect him and admire him eternally. — Victoria Justice

Everyone is on Facebook. It is very rare that I can't find a startup. Out of the 72 Y Combinator startups, almost all of them were on Facebook. — Robert Scoble

We have co-opted seed funds. You know, Y Combinator, that was completely our money. We have secret handshakes with a whole bunch of people. Very dangerous, because word gets out that so-and-so's money is Sequoia's money, that would not be a good thing. — Douglas Leone

We were very, very lucky being in the first round of Y Combinator because that alone generated a lot of interest. A lot of readers of Paul Graham were just excited to see what was going to come up. And we were the first ones to launch. — Alexis Ohanian

The world of the egotist is, inevitably, a narrow world, and the boundaries of self are limited to the close horizon of personality ... But, within this horizon, there is room for many attributes that are excellent ... — Ellen Glasgow

other tales, the sailors reach a land of intelligent talking animals who find humans disgusting and rather stupid. — Robin Hobb

The thing about Y Combinator that's cool is that most companies won't happen if we don't fund them. — Sam Altman