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Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

ycombinator.com

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Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#21

Post by jonathanjaeger »

hugh3 wrote: post #18
jamroom wrote: post #16

Does YC usually only accept new (i.e. early stage startup) companies? We've been online for almost 8 years now, and we have a new product we're really excited about. We already have demo code for the new product, not to mention an existing product that we've been selling since we started. So for us, the mentoring and feedback from other founders and YC would be invaluable, much more so then any investment (we're alre…

If you have a company which has been established for eight years, do you really want to give up six percent of it just to get a bit of advice?

Eight years seems like a bit much, but if they're shifting focus or going through a new phase, I think they could benefit more than just with "a bit of advice."

Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#22

Post by jamroom »

hugh3 wrote: post #18
jamroom wrote: post #16

Does YC usually only accept new (i.e. early stage startup) companies? We've been online for almost 8 years now, and we have a new product we're really excited about. We already have demo code for the new product, not to mention an existing product that we've been selling since we started. So for us, the mentoring and feedback from other founders and YC would be invaluable, much more so then any investment (we're alre…

If you have a company which has been established for eight years, do you really want to give up six percent of it just to get a bit of advice?

I hear you - at this point, 6 percent wouldn't be a whole lot though. We've been operating (mostly) profitably for a long time, but nothing to brag about. I'm just curious if anyone has done it before, and how it worked out.

Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#24

Post by jamroom »

jonathanjaeger wrote: post #21
hugh3 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a company which has been established for eight years, do you really want to give up six percent of it just to get a bit of advice?

Eight years seems like a bit much, but if they're shifting focus or going through a new phase, I think they could benefit more than just with "a bit of advice."

Yes - we're developing a new product in a related area (that we can target to our existing customers), but it's really an entirely new direction for us, and really could easily be the start of a "new" company.

Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#25

Post by JofArnold »

SwaroopH wrote: post #19

Is it acceptable if a co-founder cannot move to Bay Area for the summer? EDIT: As someone pointed out on IM, it's acceptable but we're expected to mention it in #9.

If you get accepted, do whatever you possibly can to get everyone out there.

Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#26

Post by SwaroopH »

JofArnold wrote: post #25
SwaroopH wrote: post #19

Is it acceptable if a co-founder cannot move to Bay Area for the summer? EDIT: As someone pointed out on IM, it's acceptable but we're expected to mention it in #9.

If you get accepted, do whatever you possibly can to get everyone out there.

I totally agree but one of the co-founders is finishing his course & will be busy with finals until July.

Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#27

Post by pclark »

hugh3 wrote: post #18
jamroom wrote: post #16

Does YC usually only accept new (i.e. early stage startup) companies? We've been online for almost 8 years now, and we have a new product we're really excited about. We already have demo code for the new product, not to mention an existing product that we've been selling since we started. So for us, the mentoring and feedback from other founders and YC would be invaluable, much more so then any investment (we're alre…

If you have a company which has been established for eight years, do you really want to give up six percent of it just to get a bit of advice?

I think calling the Y Combinator experience "a bit of advice" is doing it an injustice ... :)

Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#29

Post by colinplamondon »

SwaroopH wrote: post #26
JofArnold wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you get accepted, do whatever you possibly can to get everyone out there.

I totally agree but one of the co-founders is finishing his course & will be busy with finals until July.

If he wouldn't put school on hold in the event of YC funding, he really, really isn't someone you should be founding a company with.

Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle

#30

Post by Alex3917 »

pg wrote: post #4

We added two new questions this year: Why did you pick this project to work on? and How will you get users? In retrospect it's surprising we didn't already ask these. (When reading applications we found we were trying to reconstruct answers to them from the answers people gave to other questions.) We also stopped describing the video as optional. In practice it wasn't.

"How will you get users?"

Some unsolicited advice for this question:

For startups that rely on 'going viral': The benefit that users get from telling their friends is...

For businesses that need to get 2+ separate-facing user bases: The game theory aligns and makes it rational for both X and Y to participate because...

For startups doing B2B sales: The reason the X will look like a hero to his boss for making this purchase is...

If I were the one reading these I would also add "What's the one thing that needs to happen for this business to become a huge success?" Not only is this (IMHO) necessary to ballpark how likely the business is to succeed, but it's also extremely good at spotlighting both good and sloppy thinking.

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