Consider updating the "Do we have to be US citizens?" question in FAQ to include that teams would have to fly up for the interview in addition to the three months (if that is still the decision).
Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
51–60 of 63 posts
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#52We 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.
i think "how will you get users?" is a great question for whittling the field. any startup entrepreneur with experience knows that "viral effect" is not the answer, and a strategy is involved...especially if you don't have the valley resources at your disposal. i'm assuming "why did you pick this project..." is all about the passion...
i'm assuming "why did you pick this project..." is all about the passion...
Actually the ideal answer would be "We needed this at the last company I worked for."
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#53This got me all thinking about how far we (the team) have come since we applied in Winter (and got rejected).
Does that count? How far you have progressed in mindset and development of the product? I wish there was a field for that in the application. I'd be interesting to see that progress, IMO.
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
i think "how will you get users?" is a great question for whittling the field. any startup entrepreneur with experience knows that "viral effect" is not the answer, and a strategy is involved...especially if you don't have the valley resources at your disposal. i'm assuming "why did you pick this project..." is all about the passion...
i'm assuming "why did you pick this project..." is all about the passion... Actually the ideal answer would be "We needed this at the last company I worked for."
What if you did some exploratory work on the solution at the last company you worked for ... are there potential IP issues that could crop up?
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#55Random question: what would you guys like to hear/know about applying (or YC in general) that's not already out there? I've been considering writing a blog post about GazeHawk's YC experience, but there are so many good ones already, and I don't want to just add redundancy. Anything unanswered from a startup perspective you'd like to know?
This is not so much for me, but if you have anything you didn't like about it, I think a lot of people would really like to hear about it. The most negative blog post I've seen on HN was something to the effect of "it wasn't the right fit for me", and it's really hard to judge something critically without getting both positive and negative opinions. From what I've seen of you guys it looks like it was a very positive…
The fact that negative experiences are hard to find is probably a good sign.
I can't think of much negative that pg didn't cover in his reply, though I think the size of the batches has grown too large, and is a less effective process because of it. I was surprised to find at the last dinner I attended that there were still groups at the very end of the 3 month period that didn't know each other personally. That blew my mind, as I was on a first-name basis with everyone in our batch by the third or fourth dinner, and the interaction with the other founders was the most valuable part of the YC experience for me.
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Then start a new company.
Eight years without going anywhere worth speaking of is time to call it quits, if what you want is a startup. Don't let old mistakes hold you back. I shutdown a seven year old business after its most profitable year in existence in order to start Virtualmin, because I made a rational assessment of where things were going and could see very clearly that the previous business would never be the business I wanted it to be, and because it had such a long, slow-climb, history, raising money for it or bringing in new partners would have been a challenge that new startups don't face. Unproven is better than "proven to grow slowly" for investors and entrepreneurs.
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
i'm assuming "why did you pick this project..." is all about the passion... Actually the ideal answer would be "We needed this at the last company I worked for."
What if you did some exploratory work on the solution at the last company you worked for ... are there potential IP issues that could crop up?
Yes, of course. (And I believe YC already asks a question about that.) Employers regularly claim intellectual property rights to the inventions of their employees. But issues coming up does not equal issues being unsurmountable.
First of all, many jurisdictions make it hard for employers to try to control things you invent on your own time without using their facilities -- which doesn't keep employers from trying.
Secondly, even if your employer arguably does control the IP you need, that doesn't mean they won't give it up. Woz famously realized that HP had a claim to the Apple I and offered to let them have it; HP thought of it as more of a hobby than a business and the rest is history.
Universities and other research institutes routinely let employees spin off companies, usually in exchange for some share (although, anecdotally, it seems that universities that are new to the game often ask for more than universities that already have strong spin-off cultures).
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#58My co-founder and I are looking to apply but it looks like I might have a baby due during the 3-months-in-SV stage and hence need to be close to base (Australia). Looks like I'll be hanging out for the following round. Good luck to everyone applying!
Congratulations!
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#59There are 8 RFS's, but the dropdown for choosing which RFS you're responding to only has 7 options.
Re: Applications Open For Summer 2011 YC Funding Cycle
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
i'm assuming "why did you pick this project..." is all about the passion... Actually the ideal answer would be "We needed this at the last company I worked for."
What if you did some exploratory work on the solution at the last company you worked for ... are there potential IP issues that could crop up?
In practice the test is where lines of code got written. If all your startup's code was written after you quit your job, you're usually ok.