> How many successful entrepreneurs have you heard of without ideas, just totally empty heads and whole bunch of hustle?
We'll find out after this next YC round. Besides, I think the point is that pg is looking for people that are the antithesis of empty heads. Startup ideas mutate, and if you can find driven people with fertile minds and place them in a setting where product ideas can be brainstormed and hashed out with the guidance of the YC team, then they stand a much better chance of success then the typical entrepreneur who might try this on their own.
Don't get me wrong - I love the 'no idea' concept and hope it works out, and I love the fact that YC is ballsy enough to experiment and innovate. They key here, though, is that ideas still matter. YC will simply help generate and execute those ideas.
I agree. Ideas do matter. Being accepted into YC with no idea will place the startups in a creative pressure cooker. Just for fun, I think I'll try an experiment tomorrow => I'll go for a walk and not let myself come home until I come up with 5 product ideas. (Luckily I don't mind long walks.)
Coming up with a decent product idea is hard for most people. But I have to wonder, is it hard because they expect the ideas to come easily and have never spent the time to really focus in on it?
Coming up with product ideas is easy. Coming up with a real business model around that idea, as well as understanding the market, not so much. Granted, half the industry thinks the product is all that matters. Acquisition is not a business model. It's gambling.
We'll find out after this next YC round. Besides, I think the point is that pg is looking for people that are the antithesis of empty heads. Startup ideas mutate, and if you can find driven people with fertile minds and place them in a setting where product ideas can be brainstormed and hashed out with the guidance of the YC team, then they stand a much better chance of success then the typical entrepreneur who might try this on their own.