Silicon Valley's Cargo Culting Problem

Y Combinator
Y Combinator
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Published 2023-06-30
When it comes to building a startup you’re never doing it entirely from scratch. Inspiration and ideas can come from a variety of places, including other successful startups. But there’s a thin line between borrowing smart ideas and copying them blindly - otherwise known as Cargo Culting. In this episode Dalton and Michael break down the problem with Cargo Culting and offer advice on the right way to draw inspiration from other successful companies.

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Chapters (Powered by bit.ly/chapterme-yc) -
00:00 - Coming Up
00:19 - Cargo Culting
00:35 - What Is It?
01:47 - Classic Variety
02:18 - Google Obsession
04:24 - Facebook Playbook
05:33 - Spend Like Uber
06:41 - Why It Worked?
10:27 - A New Problem
12:11 - A Superficial Facade
13:15 - The Three Levels
13:41 - Focus On The User
14:48 - Copy And Paste
All Comments (21)
  • @ycombinator
    What are some other examples of cargo culting in tech and startups?
  • @syth9
    I love that YouTube CC kept transcribing “cargo culting” as “call girl quilting”.
  • @carloslfu
    Software engineerings do that as well by blindly adding tech that's not necessary for their companies current stage and needs.
  • @Motivation2Invest
    I love the dynamic between these two guys, great energy and vibe. Keep it up!
  • @VanillaEngineer
    I was so obsessed to Cargo-cult eBay and Google back in 2008. I didn't succeed to build the exact product(or even a good one), but I learnt a lot.
  • @Joelwilly57
    One example that comes to mind is you have to live in Silicon Valley to start a tech startup. I believe you make it with what you have and where you are.
  • @nidhi2581
    Thank you guys for making such videos! gives a lot of motivation to people who don't believe in the superficial facade of modern day startup buzz.
  • @sergiomedal9842
    In Permaculture we say "From Pattern to Detail " , You need to understand the pattern to get details that wor fo your particular context
  • @trevorwgoodchildx
    Great points - also if your startup is intrinsically motivated rather than extrinsically sometimes there will be a lot more successful foundations made, as it becomes not just about money but purpose. Which, if we are seeing anything from the ad fatigue in the the public, focus on purpose and authenticity has more traction than just kicking pain points
  • @sicktastictv
    I learn so much from these two. Thank you for all the wisdom you two share!
  • @atti1120
    But does the superficial "looking like x" not also influence investors decisions? What are your thoughts on this? Does it just filter out bad investors, so it doesnt matter?
  • @loslosbaby
    We turned down three guys in Shibuya (Japan) because their idea sucked, and then they got funded, and bought an Exotic Red Car and drove it around, slowly, in traffic, with three guys in it (T-tops removed, one dude cracking and destroying the center console) and overheating it. They took the money and skipped to the bro-success stage in one hop.
  • @solothebest1
    I don’t know but wearing a black turtleneck really did convince people that Elizabeth Holmes was the female Steve Jobs. 😂
  • @ManifestoPerUnAvatar
    as other have somewhat pointed to, this is a psychological phenomenon, but it comes with a positive side too. self suggesting yourself will work as long as your ideas are concordant with reality, but if you lack a manifesto or mission you will not be motivated to take action. product wise, you just need to solve a problem. but you do need to track attention to your brand, and learning from the best is not a bad idea. as long as you copy attitude, not just innest their ideas into another context :)