Any interesting new verticals where you think YC will expand to the degree it has in hardware?
I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
171–180 of 768 posts
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#172P.R.China has a strong policy to control information and policy restriction. What do you think of the possible problems for YC to cooperate with Chinese companies? Does that impede the growth of a startup?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#173Hi Sam, does age of the founders factor in much in an application? I'm an older developer (40+).
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#174I'm from a team of first time startup doing a hardware medical device company. We have computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering background but very little experience with medical devices. Is this a big red flag for you guys?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#175This is going to sound crass, but if a founder can't make the sacrifice to spend 3 months in SV for YC, are they really prepared to build the next billion dollar company?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#176> I'm on a H1-b visa and I'm basically in prison I know this is an exaggeration, and I'm fully aware the current visa situation in the US could be better, but I really take issue with the sentiment of your statement. You're being afforded an enormous opportunity here, and should not compare it with being in a prison. Think about it -- you clearly decided your home country was not as conducive for building your future…
Think about it -- you clearly decided your home country was not as conducive for building your future as the US may be Hi, as a Canadian, I also take issue with your statement. Your ancestors came here for the same reason as him, and with far less scrutiny, same as mine, and were provided many benefits not recieved today, including land grants. Why does a person migrating today deserve to be treated as second class?
> Your ancestors came here for the same reason as him, and with far less scrutiny, same as mine, and were provided many benefits not recieved today, including land grants.
There has been a dramatic change in economic and social climate in the Americas. Our vague "ancestors" entered Canada and the US in times where it might not have been so magnificent to immigrate, and as such they were presented with incentives to immigrate and contribute to a growing economy. Never mind that some of our ancestors came in as refugees fleeing war and communism.
Today, both Canada and the US have the right to protect their national interests and prioritize the development of their own citizens above the interests of foreign nationals. All countries do this, even those perceived as the most accepting.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#177> I'm on a H1-b visa and I'm basically in prison I know this is an exaggeration, and I'm fully aware the current visa situation in the US could be better, but I really take issue with the sentiment of your statement. You're being afforded an enormous opportunity here, and should not compare it with being in a prison. Think about it -- you clearly decided your home country was not as conducive for building your future…
To use your phrasing, literally millions of Americans don't even meet the minimum quality bar to even qualify for a TN/H1B if they were to do it from scratch.
Maybe Americans will be well served to understand that the current visa regime is severely dysfunctional, and that it serves to boost egos of more incompetent and uneducated Trump-ians, and less the interests of US in obtaining talent and even less in giving brilliant minds all over the world an equal playing field.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#178You mentioned previously YC is after bio-tech startups. What traits would a bio-tech team need for YC consideration? And, what is an ideal stage for a bio-tech crew (long-term vision) to raise capital?
Thanks! Victor
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#179What would you personally consider a good failure percentage of YC backed companies? Is http://yclist.com/ a valid source of data? If so, it seems like YC could be at the cusp of a large amount of DEAD companies starting from S10 to current.
Maybe 40-50% outright failing? Much below that and it would feel like we weren't making enough risky bets.
No, it's pretty inaccurate.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#180Education-wise, are you able to describe the percentages of applicants with backgrounds coming from top schools versus lower-tier schools? Being in the Bay Area, I know that Stanford and UC Berkeley tend to have a decent amount of relatively successful launches/founders, but on the other hand I can't say I hear nearly as much about people who went to San Francisco State or San Jose State (or any other lower-tier scho…
We looked at our data here last year--we fund founders from a very wide variety of schools, and no school at all, but many of our most successful founders went to 'top schools' and thus it's easy to get the mistaken impression we select for that.
If your most successful founders did go to top schools, why don't you select for that?