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YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#81

Post by niceperson »

lettergram wrote: post #58
tuyguntn wrote: post #30

Anyone who tried this course last year, can you please share your thoughts on this course and * why should we take this course? * what have you achieved after taking this course? * did it help you build/finish your startup?

If you're starting there is a huge advantage to holding yourself and others accountable. It helped push me to launch my startup and provided insights. Perhaps more importantly you make connections. Just yesterday I was speaking to someone from my startup school group, and I did startup school over a year ago. They provided feedback and I provide them feedback, we also found synergies and can introduce one another to…

This doesn't look good........

>Organize Your Companies Knowledge

Company's

Can I be your grammar Czar?

Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#82

Post by sandslash »

bob_theslob646 wrote: post #54

I wonder what the logic is behind this? Is it getting too costly to educate people in person? Is this as effective as in person? >Those companies will also receive a video interview with a YC partner later in the year for advice or aid in applying to a future YC batch. I laughed at that comment due to how it shows how competitive it is to get into YC.

We wanted to create a program with content that would be helpful for any new founder/startup, regardless of where they are. It's not meant to replace the in-person YC program (that's still our core offering).

Think of it as a crash course in starting a company. Just because you can't make it to the Bay Area doesn't mean you shouldn't have access to advice and community! We just want to help startups be better startups.

Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#83

Post by jld »

madeuptempacct wrote: post #79

This sounds like an asshole question, but it's one I have always had. If someone has a truly great idea, how do they know it won't be stolen by mentors with more resources and lawyers?

While it's certainly possible, most people have their own ideas and problems they are already working on. Relationships and execution end up counting way more than ideas.

On balance, if you have a great idea, you'll be better off growing it with good mentorship compared to the small risk that it gets stolen by a mentor.

Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#84

Post by code_devil »

sandslash wrote: post #35
code_devil wrote: post #33

Hi Adora, This is awesome. I just applied for it. How many hours of lectures will we have in a week? As it’s an online course - do you recommend being in one physical location/geography?

You should expect a minimum 3-hour commitment a week: roughly 2 hours of lectures and 1 hour of group office hours. Lectures you can watch at your own leisure. As for location/geography, as long as you have a device with internet access you can be wherever works best for you. We'll do our best to align timezones so scheduling is easier for you and your group during the course.

Thanks sandslash!

Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#85

Post by wasd »

DenisM wrote: post #77
carusooneliner wrote: post #71

My cofounder and I took this course last year. About the format of the course and efficacy: - assigned mentor: we were assigned a former yc startup founder as mentor. the mentor had 30 minute 1-1s with us once a month and gave us useful advice on a wide range of matters. - weekly homework: choose a single metric you'll measure through the duration of the course and report the metric and growth weekly. The metric coul…

>30 minute 1-1s with us once a month Was that actually useful? I can't imagine them understanding (or remembering) anything about your company in that little time.

We did the first batch of Startup School.

We had mandatory N to 1 meetings. Those weren't that useful for us (it felt like we were a bit further ahead than other companies) but a few companies got a lot of value out of it.

Our optional 1-1 were insanely useful. Our mentor was a yc alum saas cofounder. He was took notes and saw our homework every week. His perspective was priceless and there weren't many problems we were facing that he hadn't already seen. Like other people mentioned, you come with a problem and they help you understand how to tackle it.

Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#86

Post by Finbarr »

madeuptempacct wrote: post #79

This sounds like an asshole question, but it's one I have always had. If someone has a truly great idea, how do they know it won't be stolen by mentors with more resources and lawyers?

Ideas are pretty worthless. Execution is everything. It takes years of follow through to realize the value of good ideas.

Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#87

Post by patio11 »

madeuptempacct wrote: post #79

This sounds like an asshole question, but it's one I have always had. If someone has a truly great idea, how do they know it won't be stolen by mentors with more resources and lawyers?

Your mentors (broadly defined) will happily tell you that your idea rounds to valueless and that all of the value created happens over years of patient execution, much like the years of execution that they spent working on their most recent adventure, and that entrepreneurs who are likely to be successful don’t sit around idle in a room lounging on stacks of money, chit chatting with lawyers, and waiting to stab a passing startup in the back.

Re: YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

#90

Post by ryanlitalien »

DenisM wrote: post #77
carusooneliner wrote: post #71

My cofounder and I took this course last year. About the format of the course and efficacy: - assigned mentor: we were assigned a former yc startup founder as mentor. the mentor had 30 minute 1-1s with us once a month and gave us useful advice on a wide range of matters. - weekly homework: choose a single metric you'll measure through the duration of the course and report the metric and growth weekly. The metric coul…

>30 minute 1-1s with us once a month Was that actually useful? I can't imagine them understanding (or remembering) anything about your company in that little time.

You had to essentially come to the meeting with a specific problem to focus on.

For us it went like:

* A quick status update on what we've accomplished since the last meeting, some back and forth.

* Discuss the main problem we're working on. (For example: "We're stuck on how to improve our inbound traffic")

* Talk about next steps or deliverables for the next meeting. (For example: Try to acquire 10% more users)

It was a great program and I'm excited to try again with my new project.

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