When is the ideal time to have a full time data scientist on a startup team?
A consultant or a developer acting as a part-time data scientist works?
Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
21–30 of 31 posts
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#22It would be helpful to know more data on the companies that weren’t accepted or failed after:
- the amount of time founders spent on their project before applying
- correlation between age and university studies, previous work experience of founders at big companies
- what kind of tasks did they outsource
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#23We all know the % of success stories from accepted companies. How does YC know it made scientifically sound decisions to reject companies that then went onto succeed via other means? How can YC know the quality of decisions are getting better without this data?
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#24It would be great to know how many companies have already incorporated before applying to YC, and what their structure looks like (C-Corp vs LLC, split of ownership, etc.). Myself and different friends have started our own companies recently and we're going through this sort of thing for the first time, and we wish we had better information. When YC visited NYU in the Fall I asked a similar question and was told that registering as a C-Corp through clerky was the way to go, but it was already too late for us (we're an LLC). Now I'm curious what it takes to go from LLC to C-Corp, or if it's even a big deal this stage in the process.
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#25Where/how do you house and query YC data?
Formats, file types, databases, tools etc...
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#26It would be great to know how many companies have already incorporated before applying to YC, and what their structure looks like (C-Corp vs LLC, split of ownership, etc.). Myself and different friends have started our own companies recently and we're going through this sort of thing for the first time, and we wish we had better information. When YC visited NYU in the Fall I asked a similar question and was told that…
I'll just answer this one. The answer is, if you haven't incorporated yet, we recommend you incorporate as a Delaware C-corporation. If you've already incorporated as something else, then don't worry about it. If you get accepted to YC, we'll help you change your corporate structure and it's not that big a deal.
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#27Do you collect data on start-ups that: - Didn't get into YC, e.g. funding, exits - Didn't get into YC the first time but got into YC on a subsequent attempt I'd love to see this data.
That's a good one. Yes, we do collect data on both of those.
Also: which start-ups didn't apply to YC at all and how well they did.
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#281) Testing PG's Top Ten Things That Kill Startups - co-founder problems, fundraising, etc.
2) Is this biggest mistake usually that people don't fire fast?
3) We know the unicorn growth rate - but what is the median/average growth rate for a semi-successful YC company?
4) What makes a company part of the walking dead?
5) What are the primary channels a lot of YC companies use for user acquisition? How has that changed?
6) What are the primary reasons for rejection for YC companies? Does it differ by partner or uniformly the same?
7) We know that airlines are hard. It'd be great to see what specific categories of startups that YC has funded that are just more difficult to grow in or are easier to get traction in - e.g. consumer v. enterprise, analytics, gaming/media?
8) In fact, I'd love to see a review of PG's claims in general either backed by data or refuted by data. I suspect they're backed by data, but it'll likely give more insight into the key area that people find interesting. For example, are more people now finally choosing NOT to go to grad school?
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#291. What are some data points that have proved to be "most" useful in evaluating the startups? From YC's experience. Hopefully rest of the startup community can contribute and add to this data set. 2. What are some data points YC wish it has in evaluating startups? This would be a very interesting discussion topic. It can be something that the startup community work on together as we move forward... to make the indust…
The biggest I've heard consistently from founders is 10% weekly growth (in whatever metric is important to you, like MAU, etc.) to be considered "the golden standard".
It would be great to get data from other players in the startup community to test this "10% weekly growth". How correlated is this 10% growth rate to the success of a startup? What about 7%? 8%? What about other data points like working on startup 24/7 compare to those who take breaks? How much break? etc.
The more data point, the less we have to guess. That's what YC is trying to achieve right? Bring sanity to chaos of choosing and incubating startups. This idea of sharing data is a great start!
Re: Ask HN: Data questions for YC?
#30I would like to hear more about data as it relates to customer development.
How was data used to select the potential market?
How was data used to craft the customer interview questions?
How was results data from customer interviews used to make a decision to pivot or move forward?