I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA • Hacker News Board

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#131

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:48 AM UTC

ikeboy wrote: post #103

I'm a solo founder, technical but my prototype website was built by someone else. The main part of my idea isn't technical (in the sense that Amazon wasn't technical when it first started). What should I know about applying based on that? Also, for the competitors question, should I put a list of 15-20 names I made, or choose the top 3 or so? Finally: I may be able to launch within the next few days. Should I try to…

That's ok--at least you're taking action. We'll probably have some questions about how you'll develop the in-house technical talent you'll eventually need.

Top 3.

Wait to apply until you have launch data if you think it will be significant (but still apply before the deadline, the bar for late apps is definitely higher).

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#132

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:49 AM UTC

ta11 wrote: post #123

I have applied many times . I now have a patent for a technology that I believe is a disruptor of enormous proportion. I have asked repeatedly to get a few minutes with someone to discuss this technology, because your application process doesn't seem to work for this.

What doesn't work about our process for this?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#133

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:49 AM UTC

carapace wrote: post #128

Have you read Christopher Alexander? (Pattern Language, et. al.)

Yes! I love A Pattern Language.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#134

Post by rojobuffalo » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:49 AM UTC

wcchandler wrote: post #127

rojobuffalo wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, I applied to YC with a web platform for farmers. Are you strictly wanting to be a farmer or are you primarily interested in helping farmers?

Whats your product and use case? Right now I'm only interested in being a farmer, but I'm a technologist at heart and would love to hear about your product.

I spent several months farming in Oregon this year I definitely see the appeal of making it a career. This product is a web platform for allocating and measuring resources in local food systems. It's aimed at any farmer on < 50 hectares, but especially entrepreneur farmers who have limited resources.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#135

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:51 AM UTC

jondubois wrote: post #117

How can an engineer become employee #1 or #2 of a fast-growing YC startup? How important is networking (knowing the right people) vs simply having the right credentials/experience? What sort of advice does YC offer founders when it comes to hiring early employees?

Many YC companies post job ads for engineers on HN. That's a great way to start. Nearly all are constrained in how quickly they can hire great engineers, so you can also probably just email the CEO directly.

Our advice is: Hire slowly Be very generous with equity *Have a very high bar for early employees

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#136

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:51 AM UTC

davidlee1435 wrote: post #119

You've been very outspoken about AI, but tangentially related to AI are intelligent chatbots and more general conversational interfaces. What are your thoughts on chatbots?

I think that's a great application of AI. It's a very crowded market at this point, so my biggest question would be "why will this one win?"

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#137

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:52 AM UTC

rojobuffalo wrote: post #122

sama wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same way every other item on the RFS got there--a partner was passionate about it and chose to add it.

What is a company (other than SpaceX) with a super long-term goal that you are excited about?

Here are 5 out of ~200 that fit this category:

Helion Oklo Rigetti OpenAI Gingko Bioworks

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#138

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:53 AM UTC

andy_ppp wrote: post #97

Can you be clearer about minimum requirements? I have an incomplete prototype but I get the impression you want more? It'll probably have a few security issues right now that I need to iron out too. When to put this on the Internet to show you guys and how much should I have. Working on this in my spare time is very difficult to get to a point I'm happy with. Maybe I should quit my job? Be good to be super clear on t…

An incomplete prototype is ok. Obviously more is better, but we've funded companies with no prototype at all. You have little to lose by applying.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#139

Post by tonyabram » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:53 AM UTC

Sam, I have several pet projects, but I know YC loves teams severely committed to a single project. Is there a reasonable chance not just to get the interview, but to join the batch if I send multiple applications but most of them won't have this "three months of growth of KPI" kind of traction?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of YC Group. AMA

#140

Post by sama » Wed, Sep 28, 2016, 12:53 AM UTC

tomrod wrote: post #106

Sam, I greatly respect the positive impact YC and you are having on society. This question is unrelated to YC. How often do you go with your gut in decision making, and how well does it turn out?

If there is data, I try to decide with data.

If there is not data, I am very happy (probably too happy) to make the best guess I can.