[HN Gopher] Welcome Home, Garry Tan ___________________________________________________________________ Welcome Home, Garry Tan Author : todsacerdoti Score : 584 points Date : 2022-08-29 13:04 UTC (9 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.ycombinator.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.ycombinator.com) | richarlidad wrote: | Welcome back, Garry! | threefiftyone96 wrote: | Congratulations, Garry! Huge fan of your work, especially the | high-value YouTube material. | | One question: what does this mean for Initialized Capital? | Sytex wrote: | Congrats Garry! | justinzollars wrote: | Garry is an awesome individual. Not only a mentor in tech, but a | community advocate in San Francisco! I'm so happy about this | news! | exhaze wrote: | I think Garry changed my life in 2013 and might be reason why an | awkward inarticulate engineer got into YC. He believed in my me | and my cofounder. | | To me, Garry is one of the people that embodies the spirit of YC. | See some kind of potential in early founders (my cofounder called | this "a twinkle in his eye"). Believe in them. Give them a shot. | | Being a founder is SO lonely. Especially when few believe in what | you're doing. | | So happy that Garry's back. | [deleted] | cheeko1234 wrote: | Please revive Posterous! | swyx wrote: | could you elaborate what Posterous did well, for those of us | who never saw it? | graderjs wrote: | I liked the ability to cross post to Twitter, Facebook, Plurk | etc. It was like the one place blog control panel, make a | post there and spread it out. | swyx wrote: | have you tried Buffer for that? any pain points there? | | (asking because i have minor pain points but not sure if | enough) | panicpanicpanic wrote: | He did in the form of Posthaven [1] but I'd say please keep it | updated. The last post on the Posthaven blog is five years | old.[2] | | [1] https://posthaven.com/ [2] https://blog.posthaven.com/read- | about-how-fly-has-helped-wit... | wahnfrieden wrote: | Incredible, a public + private UGC hosting service with no | service terms or code of conduct (that I could find, even in | onboarding). That's so brave lol | nik736 wrote: | This is good news. Congrats! | maram wrote: | "Garry Tan is a moral canary in a coal mine. When people hate on | Garry Tan, they out themselves as either evil or stupid, because | in fact Garry is as close to a 100% good guy as you get". --Paul | Graham https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1460931338131890180 | -------- | | Congratulations Garry! Your blogs were my inspirations when I was | running my startup. I always remember this line: | | "The ideal startup team involves really two major roles -- | builder, and hustler. I used to say it took three roles | (designer, engineer, hustler).....In reality, I think designer / | engineer can be abstracted to builder". | stakkur wrote: | I have no strong opinion of Tan, but calling a person who | happily worked for (and profited from) Palantir a 'moral canary | in a coal mine' seems a bit of a stretch. | purple_ferret wrote: | Yeah but that was before he had the type of money to buy the | moral high ground | LewisVerstappen wrote: | Tan worked at Palantir prior to 2007, so if you're blaming | him for Palantir's work with ICE then... | | > they out themselves as either evil or stupid | stakkur wrote: | Based only on your comment, I'm guessing you're unaware of | Palantir's work with intelligence agencies even when Tan | was there. Also, Thiel's mission from the start was this | kind of work. | | I served in the Marine Corps. I've had some exposure to | Palantir's 'offerings'. It's a fucking nightmare of a | company, morally and ethically, and it always has been. | systemvoltage wrote: | I've studied Thiel, he's just not mainstream left. If you | want to listen to him with good faith, I enjoyed this | interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM9f0W2KD5s | | Doesn't come across evil to me unless by evil you mean | just not mainstream left, which might be the correct in | the valley. | sterlind wrote: | I tried to watch that interview. It's just dry, boring, | slow and abstract (to me) but I'll grant you it wasn't | what I was expecting. | | My issue with Thiel is his hypocrisy: he warns about | surveillance AI and how it's evil, which is just rich, | since he founded Palantir and holds shares of Clearview. | systemvoltage wrote: | Someone asked him directly this question and he addressed | it in quite a lot of detail, something along the lines of | two morally good ideas of extreme transparency and | extreme privacy. I don't agree with him though, I | personally stand strictly on the conservative/classical- | liberal side that there is no compromise that's | acceptable with regards to 4th amendment. | hellomyguys wrote: | Peter Thiel's in-house philosopher Curtis Yarvin is a | monarchist. So yes, I guess you're correct he isn't | mainstream left... | chx wrote: | Not "mainstream left"? I guess the right, what was once | the far right but today is just the right is indeed not | "mainstream left". Make no mistake where he stands: he | was one of the largest donors of Trump, served on his | transitional team and has once written "I no longer | believe that freedom and democracy are compatible". | | https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter- | thiel/educatio... | systemvoltage wrote: | There were hundreds of doners to Donald Trump's 2020 | campaign, let alone 2016 campaign. If not directly, then | through other superPACS including FAANG companies [1]. | | https://www.opensecrets.org/2020-presidential- | race/donald-tr... | | If your viewpoint is so myopically constrained by a | single data point, I don't know what to say. | | I find intellectuals from all corners of political | spectrum to be interesting. Usually, when people dismiss | intellectuals not for their arguments, but by some | ostensible thinly veiled morality or the media zeitgeist; | it is already an indicator that something interesting is | out there. Anyways, all I am saying is that Peter is not | evil in any stretch of the definition as the media | portrays him. He is just not your typical conformist | thinker. | | [1] They only paused after Jan 6th, they were happily | donating to both parties: | https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election- | corporate-go... | wahnfrieden wrote: | you talk about donating to "both sides" however dems are | also a conservative party and hardly a "leftist" | organization, your point is not as strong as you make it | seem | systemvoltage wrote: | I am addressing "mainstream left" and honestly, the main | point of contention is that we should debate about Peter | Thiel, but calling him evil is wrong and extremely | misinformed. | chx wrote: | It is neither wrong nor is it misinformed. | | Do you remember why Thiel invested in Confinity which | became PayPal? Because he thought a digital wallet could | lead to "the erosion of the nation-state". If it's not | self evident to you why that's a bad thing perhaps read | https://eand.co/how-america-collapsed-and-became-a- | fourth-wo... | | Max Chafkin argues that Thiel "has been responsible for | creating the ideology that has come to define Silicon | Valley: that technological progress should be pursued | relentlessly--with little, if any, regard for potential | costs or dangers to society." continued with "Palantir, | his second company, popularized the concept of data | mining after 9/11 and paved the way for what critics of | the technology call surveillance capitalism". | | And of course there was gawker. No, what gawker did was | not right but Thiel's reaction was not right either. | That's some straight up vigilante BS. | wahnfrieden wrote: | It's fine to want the erosion of the nation-state, but | Thiel specifically wants to replace it with a monarch, | not a free society | blast wrote: | He does? Where has he said that? | chx wrote: | > It's fine to want the erosion of the nation-state, | | this is crazy talk. Sorry. | maram wrote: | Not to defend Thiel, but don't you think that his exist | from Facebook (after 17 years) because of the stance they | took at the beginning of the pandemic is worthy of some | attention? | | Specially, that Facebook suffocated voices of Trump's | advisors who opposed the lockdown. | | "Social media, particularly Twitter, YouTube, and | Facebook, was actively suffocating voices, including | mine, that dissented from the accepted COVID narrative. | By August, Facebook told the Washington Post they had | taken down seven million posts "for spreading coronavirus | misinformation." Meanwhile, Wikipedia crafted smears and | distortions of my background and then locked it to | edits". --Dr. Scott Atlas, A Plague Upon Our House: My | Fight at the Trump White House to Stop COVID from | Destroying America | [deleted] | Aeolun wrote: | I dunno, but Palantir has always been a little bit... | | I mean, it's kinda in the name. | hackernewds wrote: | Not really | systemvoltage wrote: | Being a good guy probably ranks the least IMO for leading VC. | You need to be extremely shrewd and calculative, have a great | bullshit detector, need to have solid intuition based on scant | data, good general knowledge, well versed in various industries | and areas of study, pragmatic and brutally honest. I am | probably missing a few more. Speaking generally, nothing | against Garry. | devwastaken wrote: | Do both. There's nothing preventing you from looking at the | numbers, the pitch, and saying "no." In terms of being | "good". You can be honest and kind the same as how one can be | honest and mean. | preommr wrote: | > The extreme left in SF politics (which in SF = the | Establishment). | | ??? | | kind off topic, but I am curious what other people in SF think | about this statement. I don't live there, but I find it | surprising and dubious that the extreme anything is also "the | establishment", not saying it's not possible but seems unlikely | to me. | hackernewds wrote: | ? where do you get this? | preommr wrote: | It's from the twitter thread by paul graham that the OC | linked. It was a response to someone asking who dislikes | Garry Tan, to which Paul Graham replied: | | "The extreme left in SF politics (which in SF = the | Establishment)"[1] | | [1] | https://twitter.com/stevemushero/status/1461013669114892288 | vxNsr wrote: | My guess is: the administration controlling North Korea would | be considered by many to be extreme (left, right, you pick) | but _in_ North Korea they are the establishment. | | So too in SF, outside of cali they would be considered | extreme (left, right, you pick) but in SF they are the | establishment. | | Not passing judgment on whether that's right or wrong just | saying that's what that line could mean. | jmtame wrote: | Exciting news and big congrats to you Garry! | throwaway20222 wrote: | Congrats! Tons of respect. | | What is happening to your current VC fund? I may have missed it, | but who do you hand the reins to? | cedricd wrote: | Jen Wolf and Brett Gibson | | https://blog.initialized.com/2022/08/jen-wolf-and-brett-gibs... | balentio wrote: | While I acknowledge business as a driving force behind tech, I | think if you want to "change the world" all you really have to do | is provide solid financial support to open source tech since that | is where most of the "For profit" inspiration is coming from | anyway. | talhof8 wrote: | Wow, exciting news! | | Congrats Garry. Feels like a John Frusciante comeback. | | Really hoping to be part of the W23 batch. | tosh wrote: | Great person/institution-fit! | bobbygoodlatte wrote: | This makes me so optimistic for the future of YC. Congrats Garry! | sneak wrote: | > _After earning a degree in computer engineering from Stanford, | Garry was an engineer at Palantir and then created one of the | earliest and best-designed blogging platforms, Posterous._ | | This is a reminder that Palantir is the firm that sells data | mining software to US police and military organizations that then | use it to violate human rights. | | It should be a black mark on anyone's record. | Aeolun wrote: | I don't think it's necessarily his, or Palantirs' fault that | the US government is evil. | wahnfrieden wrote: | All states are evil | dang wrote: | Please keep generic ideological rhetoric off HN, regardless | of ideology. It's repetitive and therefore tedious and | therefore not what this site is for. | | https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&so | r... | | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html | colesantiago wrote: | I agree, but we should also go further: | | Employees at Meta{Facebook, Instagram, Oculus, etc}, Twitter, | Google, Palantir and Uber are all complicit in building systems | that amplify surveillance capitalism and this goes for any | other company engaging in this space. | | It should be a big black mark on anyone's record working at | those companies. | deepspace wrote: | > It should be a black mark on anyone's record. | | Exactly. I have always maintained that a small but significant | way to put pressure on 'evil' companies, like Palantir, is to | blacklist any employees who have them on their resume, making | it difficult for them to attract talent. Unfortunately, I have | found that very people share that view, and I am hard-pressed | to figure out why. | sabotista wrote: | What are your thoughts on the MOC controversy? How do you plan to | hold accountable those who called in the Quora ban? Are they even | still part of Y Combinator? What documents in these matters will | you release--and for those to be withheld, why? | | Thanks for answering, and good luck. | dang wrote: | Please don't start this up again here, and please stop creating | sockpuppet accounts. | | We detached this subthread from | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32637821. | cercatrova wrote: | What's the context for this for someone not following? | wahnfrieden wrote: | "MOC" is an online blowhard with a cult-like following | sabotista wrote: | [deleted] | [deleted] | brianliou91 wrote: | When I was in YC Garry showed me how to be a founder. After YC | Garry showed me how to be a more compassionate human to myself | and others. I'd recommend everyone check out the inner work Garry | has also achieved beyond his external achievements. | | Congrats Garry! | aglazer wrote: | Congratulations Garry and thank you Geoff! | | Very excited to see the next chapter of growth at YC! | syrusakbary wrote: | I'm incredibly happy with this move. | | I got to chat with Initialized (Garry was one of the co-founders) | a while ago and I must mention that I was greatly impressed by | Garry down-to-earth questions, knowledge, kindness and humility. | I've been following him since on his Youtube channel... it's a | gold mine for any entrepreneur out there. | | Excited for what lies ahead for YC. | | [1]: https://youtube.com/garrytan | NCC1701DEngage wrote: | I actually found his channel with the alternative YouTube | recommendations database I'm working on. He was one of the top | links off the list for Y Combinator's channel. | | The list for his channel includes some likely suspects like | TechCrunch, Y Combinator, and a16z but also some smaller names | doing business advice like Section4 and David Perell: | | https://channelgalaxy.com/id%3DUCIBgYfDjtWlbJhg--Z4sOgQ/ | todd3834 wrote: | I didn't understand the title. Is it common to say welcome home | when someone departs a company? I almost thought maybe he passed | away and it was a reference to being "in a better place" | garry wrote: | I spent 5 years as a partner at Y Combinator previously, left | to work on Initialized Capital (which is in good hands now with | incredible early stage investors Jen Wolf and Brett Gibson), | but now will be returning in the new year to work on the next | phase of Y Combinator with many of my old friends and | colleagues. | todd3834 wrote: | Thanks for the clarification. Congrats Gary! | garry wrote: | Believe it or not, my journey to Y Combinator started similar to | how you may experience YC -- through being a regular lurker and | reader on Hacker News. | | I went to Startup School, me and my cofounders applied, we got an | interview, and we got in. I was an engineer, designer and PM. I'd | built teams and products, but I'd never built a company. | | YC gave me a shot, a community, knowhow, and the ability to | access capital, talent, and customers. | | YC changed my life. I want it to help a lot more people achieve | their dreams and goals. It did for me, beyond my wildest dreams. | tomrod wrote: | I look forward to learning more about your journey. I've | recently launched a company and I am finding the YC Startup | School content fascinating. | | Being from a non-coastal area, my HN engagement has for many | years been a lurker and general technology trend interest. I'm | pleasantly surprised how well developed YC content is. | pauldix wrote: | Congrats Garry! So well deserved. I feel so lucky to have had | your help as a group partner when we went through W13 as | Errplane (hah, good thing we figured out something to pivot | to). | | YC changed my life too and I can't imagine it in better or more | capable hands. | rmason wrote: | Congratulations! While I am going to greatly miss the videos | you did on YouTube the truth is you are so right for the job. | Two words of advice for you - be bold. | HorizonXP wrote: | Garry, massive congratulations. Been watching your career | growth for years, and been inspired by your every step. Being | able to have you as one of my group partners was a blessed | period in my own career that I'm glad to have had. | | Hacker News & YC have changed my life too. HN pulled me out of | a funk during a Master's thesis that my heart was no longer in, | and thrust me into the world of startups. Going through YC did | the same, and put me onto a path of success with my own | startup. | | I'm very excited to see you back at the helm of YC, because I | know how many others you'll be able to help. I'm excited for | this future. | swayvil wrote: | Me too. I too am inspired by Garry's growth. | arjungupta-atx wrote: | Thanks for sharing! | wrst-alex wrote: | Just incredible to see you complete the circle here Garry. | | I'll be really interested to see the perspective you bring, | especially when it comes to the human side of the equation of | founding a startup. | | I remember for some time you were looking seriously at mental | health for teams. Any early thoughts on how you might adjust | the current sentiment of hustle culture? | nicholasjbs wrote: | Congrats, Garry! Well-deserved. Excited for you and for YC. | corywatilo wrote: | You gave me my start in 2009 when you let me build Posterous | themes. That experience introduced me into the world of | startups, pushed me to become better at code, helped me get my | start in design, and ultimately changed my life forever. | | I can't thank you enough for giving a nobody like me a shot, | and I can't wait to passively watch as you continue to do this | for countless others! | yayitswei wrote: | Congrats Garry! Will never forget how you helped us design our | logo during office hours. Took 2 minutes and the result was | better than anything we came up with that month. | speby wrote: | This is pretty fabulous news, Garry. You've been an | inspiration, from meeting you back in the Posterous days during | Summer '08 and seeing your contributions and achievements along | the way since then. Bravo! | mehuln wrote: | Congrats Garry! This is wonderful news. Garry was extremely | generous and helpful to us during our YC days. Cannot thank him | enough for all his help. This is awesome for YC! | bradgessler wrote: | Congrats! Who knew in '08 that you'd be running the joint one | day? | tylermenezes wrote: | I have nothing but positive memories from all the times we met | in S12. Your genuine excitement for the cool products everyone | was building was refreshing in a time when all my conversations | were about customer development and building an org. (Not that | we didn't also talk about that, of course, but you were always | the biggest reminder WHY we were here.) | | I really think there's no one better for this role, it makes me | really excited about YC again! Congrats! | oluomike1 wrote: | Hearty congratulations Garry, Start-up school was an awesome | experience with you. Cheers! | ignoramous wrote: | Interesting you chose to become a VC given your reservations | about growth v. sustainability: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5229805 (: | | Either ways, good luck! | | (btw, love the production quality of your videos on youtube; | and now, YC-- Dalton, Michael et al-- who do have fantastic | content, can use a bit of that production magic). | arcticbull wrote: | Where better to change things than from the inside? | Dimidium-07 wrote: | What are the biggest changes you want to do? | con wrote: | Congratulations! Quite the journey since we did YC S08! :D | billclerico wrote: | congrats Garry!! you are a founder's founder and will do great | things at YC. | qaq wrote: | Congrats! YC is lucky to have you! | gaganbiyani wrote: | Congrats Garry - pretty amazing story! | hailmac wrote: | Super impressed by this comment, really shows a lot of | character and humility from GT. Will be following the next | chapter with interest. | purple_ferret wrote: | Did you cash out of COINBASE yet? | | 300k to 2.4 billion WOW | leetrout wrote: | That is awesome. | | Hope you enjoy the ride! | math-dev wrote: | Good luck! May the force be with you | halfmatthalfcat wrote: | What advice can you give to solo founders trying to break into | YC, outside of the normal platitudes? Seems like there is an | almost impossible bar to meet. | mritchie712 wrote: | What's your take on YC batch sizes? YC has gotten criticism for | making them too big, but it seems totally natural to me to | scale them up. Do you think they are right-sized now? | FerociousTimes wrote: | I like how this is turning fast into sort of a press | conference minus the audio or video signal. | fitzrocks wrote: | I'm very, very excited for this! | mattmaroon wrote: | Congrats Garry! You're going to do a great job I am sure. | Carlee wrote: | Crazy to see you end up at the top! Excited to have you run the | programme for all the newcomers! | soheil wrote: | I've been following your YT videos and glad you're back at YC. | You're a total inspiration. | jaxr wrote: | Congrats Garry. As an S22 founder and long time follower of | your content (and also HN lurker) I am excited that you are | back in YC! | upupandup wrote: | jeremymims wrote: | Congratulations, Garry! YC couldn't have picked a better | leader. | dzohrob wrote: | congrats garry! huge news! | cdelsolar wrote: | Congrats Garry!! | hellomyguys wrote: | I guess everyone Garry has blocked on Twitter will not be | applying to YC any time soon :) | garry wrote: | Twitter has been a tough one - I got involved in local politics | which has been a challenge. Large accounts typically do have to | block a lot to make it usable, and in particular I've had | problems with folks doxxing my former home address (I had to | sell that house and move), and making threats of violence | against me. | | I'm sorry if I got it wrong, and I am happy to unblock if I did | get it wrong. | sandofsky wrote: | I'm seeing many people say you've blocked them without ever | having interacted with you. Many have jumped to the | conclusion that you simply block people who disagree with | your politics. I don't tweet about SF politics, but after I | tweeted this, you replied tell me it's funny but wrong, and | then blocked me: | https://twitter.com/sandofsky/status/1491167231467999236 | | Which is fine. I block plenty of people. I also mute people, | because a block carries a message. And if I found myself in | role that gets considerable scrutiny, I'd probably reevaluate | my entire approach to social media. | klintcho wrote: | There are a bunch of block-tools which are of the kind | "block everyone that liked this tweet", "block everyone | that follows this person" etc. Casting that wide of a net | probably also carries some "false negatives" (which could | explain the "I'm blocked but never interacted with the | person). | NelsonMinar wrote: | I'm in the blocked club and have no idea why. Here's the | one tweet I ever sent @garrytan, responding to his reply to | me: https://twitter.com/nelson/status/1185919273065041925. | (I'm happy to report that business reopened with new owners | and the rumor was the old owners just went broke.) | | I agree blocking people is fine and should be stigma free. | But Mr. Tan's framing of his reasons for blocking seems at | odds with the visible pattern. Fair enough; feel free to | block me just because you're tired of my bullshit. | Uhhrrr wrote: | I'm in the blocked club and have never interacted with | him! | mempko wrote: | I'm blocked by you and have no idea why! Same name on | twitter. | glenda wrote: | The thing is you've also been quite aggressive toward other | people on twitter. Making yourself out to be a victim is | definitely en vogue. | 908087 wrote: | The fact that you've got countless people who have never | heard of you blocked, would seem to indicate that you have in | fact got it wrong. | hombre_fatal wrote: | I don't see what's wrong about it. They are probably on | some blocklist of low value reply guys. | hellomyguys wrote: | No, I think he blocks anyone who likes a tweet that | disagrees with him. Not necessarily people who are | replying to him. | bot41 wrote: | so? it's just twitter | hellomyguys wrote: | I was just correcting you're incorrect point... | pain_perdu wrote: | I am blocked by Garry despite having zero interactions with him | on Twitter (nor ever tweeting anything controversial). I see | numerous reports of other people stating the same both in this | thread and on twitter: https://imgur.com/a/MOPDVSl | 12_throw_away wrote: | Besides the "block anyone remotely progressive" approach to | social media (including industry folks like Anil Dash [1]) - he | seems extremely uncivil and rude [2]. And Sam Altman has | explicitly referenced his politics as a reason for this | decision [3]. | | This gives me the impression that there's a specific political | agenda being advanced at YC ... | | [1] | https://twitter.com/anildash/status/1564285359755874304?s=20... | | [2] | https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FH6Y9DCUYAEkV1p?format=png&name=... | | [3] https://twitter.com/sama/status/1564256798323851265 | | _edit_ : deleted a not very clear link about certain | politically charged individuals. | 1123581321 wrote: | Anil can be combative on Twitter. I have respect for him and | positive interactions under my real name, but I'm not | surprised he would have gotten into a heated discussion at | some point with Garry. | wahnfrieden wrote: | so YC is celebrating having political influence that is | explicitly pro-cop, hard on crime via punishment, etc., | that's lovely | 12_throw_away wrote: | So, why the downvotes? We're not allowed to talk about this? | Vaslo wrote: | You can talk about it but when most folks in tech are | fairly to extremely liberal, why is it bad to have | representation from all sides? The left (which I'm guessing | you are a part of) preaches diversity. Shouldn't diversity | also include political views as well as race, class, and | gender affiliation? | xmonkee wrote: | Nope. Look up paradox of tolerance | wahnfrieden wrote: | this is their first and only openly politically-active | hire at this level, with the politics explicitly relevant | to their hiring, I don't know why you're calling that | balanced representation unless you mean that it's | balanced to have right wing leader-owners dominate | liberals and leftist workers (lol) | smcl wrote: | Kinda wondering what his beef with Hamasaki was that | prompted "Resign you piece of shit". Seems like this was a | Board of Education person, was he that bad, like poisoning | the kids school lunches? | | edit: sorry I realise that I may asking some stupid | questions that everyone knows already. But to me Garry Tan | was just the Posterous guy. I'm just a bit floored to hear | that there's more to this and I'm trying to find my | bearings. Seeing the name Andy Ngo is a massive red flag to | me, but I can't really parse what was being said in the | tweet. | shuckles wrote: | John Hamasaki is a criminal defense attorney in San | Francisco who was a former member of the police | commission. He seems to advertise himself by being | intentionally incendiary, making up lies like the police | get paid overtime to participate (i.e. walk) in the pride | parade. There is also a group of people around him who | amplify his lies. I can imagine people being fed up with | being the target of his harassment, which I believe Gary | was. | smcl wrote: | This seemed to be about some board of education thing | though - Garry's tweet features a screenshot saying | "THANK YOU for donating to our campaign to recall the | school board..." but it's aimed at the Hamasaki guy. | shuckles wrote: | Hamasaki takes sides and works with prolific accounts | over any salient prog vs. mod local political issue. The | fact that the topic in the screenshot had to do with the | BOE recall specifically is pretty irrelevant. He had | probably been harassing Garry for any local political | position for months. Unfortunately, Hamasaki also | recently deleted months of tweets to clean up his image | for a local election run, so it's hard to find citations. | wahnfrieden wrote: | Garry pushed a political agenda specifically for a tough | on crime via punishment approach (in terms of policing | streets, not so much tough on wage theft or other more | leading crimes). You make it sound like it was some | specific tactics that were the issue, rather than that | the issue he's taking is with an ideologically | diametrically opposed approach to addressing crime | shuckles wrote: | My comment was about Hamasaki being a liar and online | harasser and doesn't have anything to do with policy | positions. | Dma54rhs wrote: | Because it reads like an extreme left wing talking point | everyone is tired of. So many commens with the same wording | makes people wondering if it's not a Russian | disinformation/division campaign. | smcl wrote: | So as an outsider who is literally just trying to piece | this together, it doesn't seem extreme or left-wing at | all. Can you explain why this is an extreme left wing | talking point? | smcl wrote: | HOLY SHIT no way this is ridiculous, I just wanted to | check something that sounded "crazy" and it's true. I | liked about 5 anti @garrytan replies as a test and I am | unable to tweet or retweet! What the fuck!!! | | Are you serious! Garry I pay for one of your fucking | services I just wanted to check that these people were | WRONG not that they were correct. What the hell. | smcl wrote: | I can't do shit on Twitter: | | https://imgur.com/a/OBnVpUI | | Cool! Ok so, confirmed. Garry Tan is a sinister guy. Glad | I asked here! | | Edit: Sorry but how is this downvoted to zero? I have | done nothing except add five "likes" to Twitter and my | account is now banned there. This is insane. I was pro- | or-neutral-Garry at the start of this convo, he was just | the Posterous guy. Now my Twitter is gone. What the hell? | | Edit 2: uhh so how do you get an account back? | dang wrote: | (Edit: the GP comment was edited after I wrote this - more | about that below: | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32642696.) | | Hardened political rhetoric and seasoned talking points | aren't on topic here (regardless of which way the political | vector is pointing). If you check out the site guidelines, | it should be clear why: | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. | | You don't have to agree with anyone's views but this style | of argument is deathly to the _curious_ conversation we | want here. Curious conversation requires, among other | things, respect across differences--wanting to learn more | about how someone thinks, and why they think that way, and | trusting that they have good reasons for all that even if, | in the end, they 're wrong. And, of course, you and your | views deserve the same consideration. | | If you want to argue against someone's views here (Garry's | or anyone else's), you'll get much further by making your | substantive points thoughtfully. We're trying to avoid the | online callout/shaming culture here, at least to the extent | possible on the open internet. | | The culture of political attack goes very much the other | way, of course--people save screenshots of the worst things | they can find, bring them up at every opportunity, and so | on. Guilt by association is another common tactic. None of | this helps us really understand each other--any human being | can be made to look bad that way, so it really doesn't have | much persuasive power. It does get one's own side riled up | (in a yay way) and the opposing side riled up (in a boo | way), but riler-uppers are what we're trying to avoid on | HN, because they destroy the curious conversation I was | just talking about. | | (I hope it's clear that all of the above should and does | apply equally to opposing political sides.) | caslon wrote: | Out of curiosity, why don't you make "YC churn" | announcements read-only, like job ads are? | | There's not really much curious conversation when they | happen, and not really a huge chance of it, either. As an | example, the announcement of sama taking over was a | hundred and fifty comments of almost exclusively | "Congratulations!" | | They're posts that are almost exclusively doomed, either | to incurious compliments, insults, or needless pessimism; | what questions that are asked _usually_ don 't get | answered, so there wouldn't really be a loss in it | anyway. | dang wrote: | I wouldn't call this a "churn announcement" - it's the | biggest YC news in years. I guess I can think of a few | different answers to your question. One is that since | it's significant new information, it's on topic (job ads | are the opposite of that). Another is that there's a | special relationship between YC and the HN community, and | it's good for the community to have space to discuss | that. A third is that there is definitely no way that the | community would support us trying to close such a topic | to comments. | | Also, job ads get placed on the front page by software. | This submission got on the front page by upvotes like any | other. | FerociousTimes wrote: | It's definitely newsworthy and relevant to the community. | I support the status quo of non interference (laissez- | faire) by the mods into publishing status of this news | story and your reasoning stated in this comment. | 12_throw_away wrote: | What is the difference between "shaming" and "referencing | facts", exactly? I genuinely don't understand the | distinction. Also, I'm commenting on YC's choice, not | Garry's views. I understand if YC doesn't want to host | criticism of its decisions, but you should be upfront | about it. | | I explicit reject this idea that it's unfair to point to | things people have said, even if they're screenshots. | Sorry, that's just deciding that you can pick and choose | data to ignore. | dang wrote: | Callout/shaming culture is a stock phrase I use to | describe the sort of internet culture we don't want here | [1]. Maybe the word 'shaming' isn't so applicable in this | case, though I do think shaming is part of why online | warriors like to preserve the worst internet traces left | by those they dislike, and copy them into each fresh | discussion. | | Re 'facts': this is a red herring. There are infinitely | many facts. They don't select themselves; humans do that, | and they do so for non-factual reasons [2]. As a matter | of fact, "but it's a fact" is the most beloved defense of | trolls--not that you mean it that way. (Edit: | incidentally, I have no idea whether your claims about | Garry, including the ones you deleted, were facts or not | - but I'm assuming they are for present purposes because | it makes the moderation point stronger.) | | The problem with your post is that it was obvious online | agitprop--in fact one couldn't find a more classic case | (edit: before you edited it--it's less that way now). | That's off topic on HN, but not because of trying to | protect YC from criticism (we don't moderate HN that way | [3] - plenty of people criticize YC here), nor because of | political disagreement (there's room for a wide range of | views, as long as people are using the site as | intended)--but rather because it makes threads more | predictable and nastier, and therefore more boring. We're | trying to optimize for something else on HN [4]. | | Edit: I just noticed that you edited your GP comment to | take out a couple of extreme guilt-by-association | references and to add a relevant tweet by sama. Those are | two steps towards an on-topic sort of political argument | (good), but if you're going to edit comments after | they've gotten replies, it's only fair to do so in a way | that doesn't deprive other posts of their original | meaning. My description ("hardened political rhetoric and | seasoned talking points") was accurate about your | original post and is less so now. In other words, you | subtly changed the thread to make the moderation look | less neutral and fair than it originally was. I hope that | was just an accidental side effect, and that your motive | for making those edits was a sincere desire to use HN as | intended. | | [1] https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&type=comment&date | Range=a... | | [2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=f | alse&qu... | | [3] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=f | alse&qu... | | [4] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=t | rue&sor... | [deleted] | smcl wrote: | What's the story here, did this happen a lot or something? | password4321 wrote: | Many who get into it start blocking lists they get from their | bubble. | hellomyguys wrote: | From my understanding he autoblocks anyone who likes a tweet | that pushes back on his political takes. | daniel-cussen wrote: | Messages just like it are evenly diffused with death | threats. That's why. | | I've gotten death threats, no joke. Hitman showed up at my | house one time. No joke. | | No joke. | smcl wrote: | OK so I was waiting for a reply like this that explained | the accusation. I read this, liked a few @garrytan replies | that weren't positive and ... it appears I'm now blocked!? | What the hell!!?? | milkers wrote: | Congrats Garry, I am happy to see you with that title and I am | very curious about what is ahead of the YC following your lead. | Best wishes! | Rauchg wrote: | Congrats! Exciting news for YC | TimCTRL wrote: | On the light end here, Aproova Mehta once said; "I learn't two | important lessons, First and foremost, Gary Tan loves his | beers..haha" | | We probably wouldn't have instacart where it is if it weren't for | Gary. Thanks Gary. | | https://youtu.be/wkmR7TYUt_c?t=653 | replwoacause wrote: | I could be wrong but I think he spells his name Garry, not | Gary. | bluelightning2k wrote: | I've always liked Garry. | jtemplestein wrote: | What a great appointment! | | I've had one brief interaction with Gary a long time ago, and | he's been a role model ever since | | I had a difference in opinion with my cofounder and wanted to | leave the startup we'd founded, even if it meant leaving the YC | program (which I adored), and would likely lose my visa to stay | in the US. Seeing how distressed I was, Gary took me aside | somehow simultaneously made me feel heard, but also told me that | it's up to me to come back stronger from this moment. | | It made all the difference to me, and I've thought back to that | moment many times in the years to come. | chidog12 wrote: | Garry, I only have one ask (maybe two)!... Force them all to keep | making those YC Office Hour videos lol! Even better, whoever your | editing team is for your channel... add them to the team as well. | | All the best! | extent-connifer wrote: | (Throwaway because it's a small world) | | This is disappointing. | | YC needs a fresh perspective. Recycling older members is not a | positive sign for continued innovation. I wouldn't point to "HODL | diamond hands" crypto hype (suddenly disappeared..) and personal | brand-building content creation as the type of leadership YC | needs at this stage. | | Specifically in this, someone who has been running a large VC | fund for the past half-decade with considerable inside deal | access through YC. The conflicts of interest are sizable, and we | can't really pretend that they won't compound now that Garry's at | the head of YC. | | Lastly, to balance flood of positive reviews, there have been | consistent (if quiet, again, small world) reports of pettiness | and using power/influence against personal grudges. I have not | worked with Garry directly, founder friends have and back | channels are..not same as the public comments here. Everyone has | weaknesses. This isn't a good one for the position. | goldenchrome wrote: | That's pretty funny. A sizable chunk of leaders I've | encountered left a wake of discontent behind them. And it's | always in the form of pettiness and grudges. Some people just | have weak morals. I imagine that's why they chase power for so | long--to prove that they don't. | baxtr wrote: | _> (Throwaway because it's a small world)_ | | So you don't think they can check your email? Sincere question. | dang wrote: | We don't require an email | oefnak wrote: | And even if you did, I can't imagine anyone on this site | having only one email address. | anotherfounder wrote: | I didn't realize Garry was so crypto-y. Now as the President | and CEO of YC where everyone constantly says "Make something | people want", "Solve a real problem", I'm curious for him to | chime in to the 'What's a real use-case for crypto?' debate. | [deleted] | senttoschool wrote: | >I wouldn't point to "HODL diamond hands" crypto hype (suddenly | disappeared..) | | This is my biggest worry. I'd have preferred a non-crypto- | junkie. | | This is Gary saying that ETH will go up to $10k soon: | https://twitter.com/garrytan/status/1402648829732614146 | | It went to $1k instead. | | At times, following Gary on Twitter felt like following a dumb | crypto bro. | | Everyone looks like a genius during a bull market and 0% | interest rate environment. | SamReidHughes wrote: | > This is Gary saying that ETH will go up to $10k soon: | | Well actually, | | 1. He didn't say it will go up to $10k "soon." That video is | talking about long-term performance. | | 2. ETH is down just 27% since that video, and has moved | farther up than down. | | 3. It's only been a year since the video, which is talking | about The Merge as one of the factors behind this belief, and | The Merge hasn't happened yet. | | 4. Quote from the video: "It's not really gonna be that | smooth a ride to $10000." | senttoschool wrote: | >1. He didn't say it will go up to $10k "soon." That video | is talking about long-term performance. | | I remember reading his LinkedIn post on this $10k topic. In | it, I think he said something along the lines of "soon". | | But it really doesn't matter. Saying $10k ETH is the same | as a random crypto bro saying $100k BTC soon. There are no | fundamentals. Just shilling. Marketing. Ponzi-like | behavior. | | I don't doubt that ETH might go up to $10k eventually, | given enough time. After all, crypto is basically trading | with Nasdaq nowadays. | | >2. ETH is down just 27% since that video, and has moved | farther up than down. | | Down 40.97% | | >3. It's only been a year since the video, which is talking | about The Merge as one of the factors behind this belief, | and The Merge hasn't happened yet. | | He said the biggest factor is that ETH is deflationary: | https://youtu.be/jo58qEoThSs?t=381 | | He suggests that this makes ETH "ultra sound money". | | I'm not going to argue for or against this idea. | | >4. Quote from the video: "It's not really gonna be that | smooth a ride to $10000." | | Sure. Anyone who's been in crypto long enough knows crypto | isn't a smooth ride. It doesn't say anything. | senttoschool wrote: | Also, if you're reading this Gary, just know that it's ok to | say you won by investing in Coinbase early but let's not act | like Coinbase isn't powered by scams. | | You don't have to keep shilling crypto just because you | invested in Coinbase early. You can take the win and not be a | crypto bro. | | You can shill crypto if our lives are improved by it and that | if crypto disappeared one day, our lives would be worse. But | not now. It kills your reputation hurts people. Right now, I | see you as a Matt Damon who knows how to code. | | PS. I'm forever grateful for you pushing Boudin out in SF. | ignoramous wrote: | > _YC needs a fresh perspective. Recycling older members is not | a positive sign for continued innovation._ | | That they _may_ need [0], but I wouldn 't be as dismissive | about their current crop of partners either, given their | ridiculous and sustained success. | | > _Lastly, to balance flood of positive reviews, there have | been consistent (if quiet, again, small world) reports of | pettiness and using power /influence against personal grudges._ | | I wouldn't know for sure, but there's two sides to every coin: | _With great power comes great responsibility " / "With great | power comes the absolute certainity that you will turn into a | right c*" | | [0] In the lieu of other firms doing things differently, | including ex-YC Daniel Gross' Pioneer.App, BeOnDeck, | Enterpreneur First, Sequoia Arc, a16z Start, and others._ | cammikebrown wrote: | I know Garry as "the fellow who I've never interacted with who | has me blocked on Twitter". Seems I'm not alone! | Rafuino wrote: | I almost feel bad he hasn't blocked me on Twitter | breck wrote: | I've used a lot of great products from Garry over the years. | | My favorite is the software he built that YC alums get to use. | | From 2008-2012 we had an email list. | | Garry wrote a Rails site (IIRC) in 2012 and that was a clear | inflection point for YC alums. Total game changer for many of us | and has provided lots of value over the years. I think it was | also the starting point for online SUS. | | Congrats Garry/YC! | cinntaile wrote: | Your profile is outdated now! ;) | gnicholas wrote: | Garry took the time to meet with me almost a decade ago, when my | startup was just a side project and I was still a full-time | corporate lawyer. I wish I'd been more ready to take his | excellent advice, which I still remember! | | I also remember being surprised that he drove a humble old car, | perhaps a late-90s Camry? Respect. | podviaznikov wrote: | Garry is incredible. I've met him 10 years ago during YC. He | helped company I worked for a lot. Probably one of the most | available people from the whole YC - at least it seemed that way | to me. | | Also, I did attend Garry's 30th birthday party. Great memory how | casual and down to Earth everything was. | | Good luck with new/old adventure. | caslon wrote: | Now that there's been some regime change, and now that it's been | a while, can we finally get a report on why YC killed YCR, or at | least (and most importantly) HARC & VPRI (which had become | dependent on YCR funding)? And, in these times of VC prosperity, | could there be another attempt at it, this time with longer-term | dedications than "Whenever we get bored of the PR from funding | computational research or there's a momentary lapse in market | conditions?" | | Long-term computing research is one of the _best_ ways to ensure | YCombinator 's continued growth and avoid dominance from | companies that are increasingly avoiding the publication of their | own research (and, divorced from either of those two things, it | would do a substantial amount of _good_ , which is more important | to some people but less an immediately-swaying argument to | capital); it seems absurd how it was sort of thrown to the | wayside on what seemed to be a whim (judging by when VPRI | shuttered and the other two stopped seeing activity, possibly by | the 2017 crypto crash causing YC to momentarily get more | conservative in its funding). | bluelightning2k wrote: | Small thing, but I asked Garry in the comments of his YC videos | what his production setup was. He took the time to answer and I | remember & appreciate that. | s5300 wrote: | replwoacause wrote: | Can you elaborate? I'm seeing a lot of positive things said | about him here so contrarian viewpoints make me genuinely | curious. | wahnfrieden wrote: | working to advance surveillance state, pro-cop activism and | political action, shilling crypto pump and dumps, gig | economy, etc | | good returns for investors on a lot of the above hence the | interest and respect from business community. simple as that, | accumulated dollars talk. someone can be a ghoul and a | charlatan and still be pleasant, friendly, helpful on a | personal level to many. | replwoacause wrote: | Thanks for the info, I'll go read up on him some more to | see what I can find. If any of this is true, he sounds like | an odd choice for the CEO of YC. | wahnfrieden wrote: | He'll fit right in | s5300 wrote: | Yes, you're on HN. You're going to be seeing mostly positive | things said about him from this user base. | | As for elaboration - I can only implore you to go look at the | history of his actions. | replwoacause wrote: | I'm aware of the website I'm using. You're also here but | are saying negative things and declining to provide more | detail to back your position. I don't have a dog in this | fight and haven't even heard of Garry until today, but | since you had such a strong negative opinion of him I | thought you might be able to tell us why. | spacesarebetter wrote: | Are you going to continue with your youtube channel? I hope you | do, learned so many things from that channel | garry wrote: | YES! I absolutely will! youtube.com/garrytan | swyx wrote: | love how you plug the URL like a regular up and coming person | would. congrats garry! | cheerioty wrote: | Wow, love it, go Garry! | fblp wrote: | This is an impressively casual press release! | fourstar wrote: | Congrats, Garry. You told me when I interviewed to have a co- | founder. I'm happy to report I still can't find a co-founder but | you were right. | felixchan wrote: | Garry Tan has been the most influential figure that I have ever | had a chance to come across. He appeared right at my critical | moments of life and death, at the turning points of the tide. I | am certain to say that without Garry and his helping hand, my | life would not be what it is today. I consider myself very lucky | to have met him. | | Congratulations, Garry! | [deleted] | gitfan86 wrote: | Congrats! What is going to happen of the next few years with AI | is going to be mind blowing. The more people you can stear away | from crypto and towards democratizing AI, the better, IMO. | rvz wrote: | > What is going to happen of the next few years with AI is | going to be mind blowing. | | Or where it is headed it more dystopia. | | AI has already been democratized to death by the same gate | keepers creating dystopian deep fakes and training on tons of | your data on lots of data centers to incinerate and burn up the | planet with zero efficient alternatives. | | The AI game has run its course, with nothing left other than | the same Tech giants and one hypocritical Open 'faux' AI | company. | gitfan86 wrote: | Crypto bag holder I presume? | rvz wrote: | Not quite. But the direct opposite after playing the market | for fun, but that is totally irrelevant here and for | another time. Let's not deflect and make this about me. | | We need to concern ourselves with AI running its course and | with wasteful deep learning models constantly training, | retraining with that burning up the planet via the data | centers especially with zero efficient alternatives, which | that is the main concern here and using our data to fuel | this dystopia. | dang wrote: | Please don't cross into personal attack. You can make your | substantive points without that. | | https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html | [deleted] | EddySchauHai wrote: | You say to the guy who wrote the first seed check of Coinbase | gitfan86 wrote: | Crypto has run it's course, I don't think Gary did anything | wrong by helping the crypto experiment happen. But YC is | about the future, not the past. | EddySchauHai wrote: | Realistically YC is about maximizing ROI and I would | happily bet a crypto-related startup will be in Summer '23s | cohort - they have crazy valuations and liquidity out of | the gates. Personally I want those startups to showcase | problems crypto is useful at solving rather than selling | pickaxes to the gold rush but I'm less sure that that'll | happen. Certainly the idea that Crypto has ran its course | is, IMO, premature - people have said that during every | bear market since the beginning yet overall usage appears | to be increasing and institutional buy-in again appears to | be increasing. | gitfan86 wrote: | Is it premature to say beanie babies or tulips have run | their course? | | There will continue to be many hardcore fans of tulips | and crypto regardless of the price, but marketcap | adjusted for inflation has passed the max | bluelightning2k wrote: | As a crypto sceptic I'd still love to have been the person | who wrote that check | ignoramous wrote: | Or worse, Web3 ends up intertwining AI/AGI with it. | anotherfounder wrote: | Congrats, Garry! Seems appropriate to start to unblock founders | on Twitter? | upupandup wrote: | thenerdhead wrote: | Congrats Garry! Huge fan of your work and demeanor. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-08-29 23:00 UTC)