Ask HN: Why was BeerMe selected by for YC F24?
I remember seeing the original LinkedIn post back in November 2024 when they were announced and immediately thinking that it was a pretty weak idea and product. To the point it even made me start to question how much I valued the opinion of YC.
Looking back on the business now, the website is essentially dead, one of the founders works elsewhere and the LinkedIn hasn't had a post in over 6 months.
I'm confused what Dalton or whoever it was saw in the company. I genuinely cannot work out a value proposition or a USP that would make them worthwhile.
I mean in the UK we have had instant bank transfers for years. Monzo (a la Tom) has had payment urls too for some time now, in addition to the generally good UI/UX. Even then for those outside the UK there's PayPal friends and family as well...
What am I missing here?
1. Young 18-24 year olds, (anything beyond this age bracket is suspect to them and highly frowned upon)
2. Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Ivy League, Oxbridge, Ex-FAANG, Ex-Goldman/JPM, Ex-Bain/Bridgewater, Ex-Jane Street/Citadel, etc.
3. New Hyped Industries, (AI, Crypto, Web3, SaaS)
4. Anything on Request For Startups (RFS)
My guess is that YC selected BeerMe because the founders hit all these points and believed they that could pivot beyond the initial pitch of BeerMe.
Most investors now don't invest in the company but in the founders and their ability to pivot or expand their TAM once they capture initial growth and eventually to become revenue generating.
It doesn't look like BeerMe took off as they hoped (AI is the new hotness now not much about crypto) so it looks like they stalled and probably failed in the trough of disillusionment.