I am planning on applying this round, but I have to admit that I hate making presentations, in fact I am dreading the 1 minute video I have to make for the application. I imagine that I will get over it.
Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
81–90 of 126 posts
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#82Can anybody that is in or has been through YC answer these questions: How difficult and costly is it to find a place in SF for 3 months? It seems like a large part of the YC money would get used up for the founders basic living expenses. Do most YC company founders go in debt / use savings / use most of the YC money, to cover personal expenses while they do this?
>Do most YC company founders go in debt / use savings / use most of the YC money, to cover personal expenses while they do this?
For us Yuri and SV money investments covered everything and gave us enough to stash.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#83How many solo founders were accepted in summer 2011? Has the % accepted increased with the larger class size?
I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like 9 out of 64, which is a larger percentage than normal. I doubt it's due to growth though; it's probably just a fluke. (The reason it's 64 and not 63 is that two of the startups in this batch merged part way through.)
That's 14%. What % of applicants were single founders? I know you have a predisposition against singles, but that's actually higher than I would have expected.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#84PG - Quick question, Does it hurt to apply too early? like before some demos etc. are actually finished?
i.e. My idea is fleshed out but some of the project the application is for is not yet, if I submit now are you guys more or less likely to take a look at it when I re-submit with updated URL's etc.?
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#85Is it worth applying to Y Combinator if your company is already profitable? My partner and I have a company that is generating enough profits that we are able to work full-time on it, get paid a decent salary, and still have some left over to re-invest into the company at the end of every month.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#86How do people start up with less than $20K? That's barely enough to cover basic icorporation + lawyer + equipment + website graphic design. If you need to hire somebody professional (like sales guys), what do you do?
$20K is a LOT of money. You can form an LLC for a hundred bucks, lease a server for another hundred, and do your own graphic design at the outset (or hire a student for a couple of hundred).
To hire a sales guy, just use the money from all the sales that are taking up so much of your time you need to hire someone else to handle them. That comes a little bit later...
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#87Can anybody that is in or has been through YC answer these questions: How difficult and costly is it to find a place in SF for 3 months? It seems like a large part of the YC money would get used up for the founders basic living expenses. Do most YC company founders go in debt / use savings / use most of the YC money, to cover personal expenses while they do this?
Most new founders don't live in San Francisco. YC encourages you, and rightly so, to live in and around Mountain View, where rent is much, much cheaper than the city.
I dont think it is "much, much" cheaper.
GOTO Padmapper.com to take a look....
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#88Is it worth applying to Y Combinator if your company is already profitable? My partner and I have a company that is generating enough profits that we are able to work full-time on it, get paid a decent salary, and still have some left over to re-invest into the company at the end of every month.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#89If you're still on the fence about whether or not you should reply, I suggest reading "What Happens at YC": http://ycombinator.com/atyc.html - that's the essay that convinced us to apply with Lanyrd, and it was everything the essay promised and more.
The best summary I have heard of whether or not to apply is: "If you think you might need YC, you need it. If you think you might not need YC, you need it. If you are ABSOLUTELY SURE you don't need YC, you probably still do, but maybe not."
I'm not really comfortable with the word "need" there since obviously most successful companies don't go through YC. It's more like, "What are the situations where going through YC is a net minus?" and there are very few.
YC is a great boost in the right direction, but most people that apply won't be accepted. What should they do? Well, if they were serious in the first place, they should start their company anyway. People who want to start companies should start companies; people who just want to get into YC (and assume that they'll then be on the gilded path) shouldn't do either.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2012 YC Funding
#90PG - Quick question, Does it hurt to apply too early? like before some demos etc. are actually finished? i.e. My idea is fleshed out but some of the project the application is for is not yet, if I submit now are you guys more or less likely to take a look at it when I re-submit with updated URL's etc.?
Submit when you feel you're close to finished. Given that constraint, the earlier you submit the better.