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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

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 w…

How does one improve inbound traffic? I'm dying for it

Create systems by which people come to know about your site and want to visit it to solve a problem they have.

For example, SEO content marketing targets problems people search Google for and create content that helps solve that problem while advertising the product/service in some way. A good example of this is Digital Ocean's "how to set up software X on operating system Y" articles - good SEO, solves people's problems, and advertises directly to their customers/users.

There are other implementations, like more traditional display advertising and product reviews, but they all follow the same formula: create awareness and gives people solid reasons to come to your product/site/app.

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

#152
post #60
post #57

It looks like the "What is your most impressive accomplishment?" question on the application has a max length of 60 characters. I can understand it needing to be short, but that seems really short. I'm having a tough time trying to slice and dice a sentence to fit.

Oops, good point. We'll change that soon. Will update here once done. Edit: good to go now.

I applied with the low character requirements; I assumed you were encouraging brevity for the sake of the reviewers. Should I reapply or will it not have a large impact on admission decisions?

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

#153
What are the recommended background readings to best prepare founders for this program? IMO it helps a lot when participants already use the same framework and speak the same language, so that more time can be devoted to specific problems.

Obviously for people that hang out on HN, we already had some shared understanding. But a list of recommended readings to make sure all gaps are filled would be very useful as well.

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

#154

What are the recommended background readings to best prepare founders for this program? IMO it helps a lot when participants already use the same framework and speak the same language, so that more time can be devoted to specific problems. Obviously for people that hang out on HN, we already had some shared understanding. But a list of recommended readings to make sure all gaps are filled would be very useful as well…

One place to start: https://www.startupschool.org/library

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

#155
post #130

Cool. This is timely for me. I launched https://nanagram.co about 8 months ago. We help people send printed photos in the mail to their grandparents with a text message. I've been bootstrapping it with contract work in parallel but I'd like to focus on it full-time. Customers seem to truly love it and it's the happiest thing I've ever created. I'm thinking about putting together a family and friends round to focus fu…

Cool service! I could see myself using this to have hard-copy pictures conveniently mailed to myself. There's nothing like having physical copies you can touch.

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

#157
post #3

Hi, I'm Adora, a YC partner, and will be helping out with the course. Very excited to meet and work with everyone. Happy to answer any questions.

Hi Adora, I have applied for my team. I noticed that there was a field for timezone. We are a highly distributed team (SE Asia & North Africa). I will also be changing timezones significantly during the course (SE Asia & Europe). What impact will this have on how we engage with the course, mentors and our peers?

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

#158
post #3

Hi, I'm Adora, a YC partner, and will be helping out with the course. Very excited to meet and work with everyone. Happy to answer any questions.

Hi Adora, I have applied for my team. I noticed that there was a field for timezone. We are a highly distributed team (SE Asia & North Africa). I will also be changing timezones significantly during the course (SE Asia & Europe). What impact will this have on how we engage with the course, mentors and our peers?

You should choose the timezone you'll be in the majority of the time. If traveling way outside it, you may have group office hours sessions at a wacky time. It won't impact the lectures since you can just watch on your own schedule, or most engagement with peers since it'll be a forum-like experience.

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

#160
post #130

Cool. This is timely for me. I launched https://nanagram.co about 8 months ago. We help people send printed photos in the mail to their grandparents with a text message. I've been bootstrapping it with contract work in parallel but I'd like to focus on it full-time. Customers seem to truly love it and it's the happiest thing I've ever created. I'm thinking about putting together a family and friends round to focus fu…

Cool service I don't understand why you need a funding round though! It's already well made and importantly well presented and apparently well marketed. It may be a good income generator while you work in parallel.
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