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Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

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Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#91

Post by jasperstory »

datascienced wrote: post #8

Another (is this bogus?) reason for not applying is I am not in the US and would prefer not to migrate there due to family. Can a founder do YC with minimal time in USA or even do it remotely.

YC is leaning into in-person heavily.

But e.g. there was a great team in our batch (W24) with very young kids who flew to SF for in-person events. Some people were unable to come to the US (visa issues) that took part remotely.

No requirement to intend to stay in the US – many foreign teams heading back, but many more haven chosen to stay in SF on O1 and other visas (YC helps with this).

I think YC admissions see the intention to be based in SF as a net positive, because SF is in most situations the very best place to start a startup (regardless of YC).

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#92

Post by sillysaurusx »

Animats wrote: post #82
sillysaurusx wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the rust game engine idea (as much as it kills me to say this) is a perfect example of not YC material. Every VC, whether early stage or late stage, must fund companies that have a chance of growing by 5% every week. It’s remarkably hard to start anything that can maintain that growth. https://paulgraham.com/growth.html is worth internalizing. But there’s a second caveat here: YC invests in people, not…

I know that. I just threw that in because I've been doing game work in Rust and the graphics stack suffers from too few devs. Better school software is worth another go-round, now that we have large language models. Somebody already emailed me offering to fund the MoneyNow idea. That's a bad idea for another reason. The big problem with money transfer is fraud. PayPal is mostly a fraud-management service. Money trans…

I’d be very curious to see what you’d choose to work on if you were forced to pick something with the highest probability of growing at 5% per week minimum.

I suspect you have a few ideas, but it becomes a different sort of question when you imagine yourself committing to one for the next 10 years. Which idea could you see yourself throwing all of your effort into growing each week till you’re today+10 years old?

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#93

Post by dang »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #92
Animats wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know that. I just threw that in because I've been doing game work in Rust and the graphics stack suffers from too few devs. Better school software is worth another go-round, now that we have large language models. Somebody already emailed me offering to fund the MoneyNow idea. That's a bad idea for another reason. The big problem with money transfer is fraud. PayPal is mostly a fraud-management service. Money trans…

I’d be very curious to see what you’d choose to work on if you were forced to pick something with the highest probability of growing at 5% per week minimum. I suspect you have a few ideas, but it becomes a different sort of question when you imagine yourself committing to one for the next 10 years. Which idea could you see yourself throwing all of your effort into growing each week till you’re today+10 years old?

> the highest probability of growing at 5% per week minimum

I don't think this is a helpful frame, because you can't know this in advance, and I'd hate for anybody to read something like this, feel "I have no idea what could grow 5% per week minimum", and close the page on getting started. No one knows this in advance.

What YC teaches is to start by making something a few people actually want, no matter how small it is or seems, and then iterate. It's much more important, for example, to work on something you're personally interested in than something you've persuaded yourself has a chance at growing "5% per week minimum".

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#94

Post by confoundcofound »

dang wrote: post #25
_akhe wrote: post #23

Re: "won't get in" How do I balance this encouraging advice with everything I've heard online about YC basically being a post-Ivy League thing? Seems like there's basically a 0% chance a random person would get into YC. And often those who did get in went to Stanford, Harvard, etc. and don't even have a product - sometimes they don't even know what they're going to build yet. I wrote the idea of VC stuff off long ago…

All I can tell you is it's not true and that's why I posted this! (and if it's true that everything you hear about YC is telling you otherwise, then YC has a serious messaging problem)

"then YC has a serious messaging problem"

People have been signaling this for quite some time.

Throughout this thread you attempt to dispel this perception, but I can't help but wonder why this isn't being addressed on a higher level at YC. Whether misperception or not, this view is certainly not contained to just HN, and is even shared by those who have no idea that this forum exists.

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#95

Post by jasperstory »

Rapzid wrote: post #35
_akhe wrote: post #23

Re: "won't get in" How do I balance this encouraging advice with everything I've heard online about YC basically being a post-Ivy League thing? Seems like there's basically a 0% chance a random person would get into YC. And often those who did get in went to Stanford, Harvard, etc. and don't even have a product - sometimes they don't even know what they're going to build yet. I wrote the idea of VC stuff off long ago…

The LinkedIn page for a lot of these companies showing you "Where they studied" can be a bit intimidating. Chockablock with Stanford and Ivy League. I was filling out the Co-Founder matching service application and it has a required text area for education. The placeholder text examples? Standford MS in Comp Sci, NYU BS in Physics. As a college dropout with "some college" but a 14+ year career in systems/software eng…

Just finished W24 batch with no Ivy/FAANG background.

Everyone I met in our batch was very friendly, curious, and razor-sharp. Many people have credentialed backgrounds, many people do not.

I generally buy YC’s justification that many of the smartest people happen to go to Stanford/Ivy which is why they are over-represented.

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#96

Post by dang »

giantg2 wrote: post #89

I have a #3 - I don't have a marketable idea.

You don't need a marketable idea. YC cares about founders and that's it. Everything else can be taught.

But you're absolutely right that that is on the short list of bogus reasons not to apply.

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#97

Post by giantg2 »

dang wrote: post #56
Animats wrote: post #51

What happened? Not enough people applied? Here's the last batch.[1] Gives a sense of what's being funded. Ideas: - MoneyNow - leverages the new FedNow instant payment system. FedNow is run by the Fed and transfers money in seconds with a charge of just US$0.045 per transaction. And they mean seconds . If the money isn't there in 10 seconds, the transaction times out. Few banks support it yet, but some do. It needs co…

No idea how many people applied but I'm sure there's no lack - I just felt bad for forgetting to put the usual footer at the bottom a month ago. And I worry about the comments I see on HN interpreting YC as just for credentialed-elite applicants. It's deeply not true and I have a personal feeling about the question - being one of the uncredentialed-unelite-self-doubting types who could have been dissuaded from applyi…

"And I worry about the comments I see on HN interpreting YC as just for credentialed-elite applicants".

Eh, I feel like it's partly true but not by design. The people who are smart enough or connected/rich enough to get into ivy league schools are more likely to be able to dedicate resources to an idea or creating a better sales pitch. I would guess that post-grads and ivy league grads are over-represented compared to the population in general or the population of college grads.

Of course a good idea can come from anywhere, but I'd imagine the data supports the idea that the odds are better for some groups vs others.

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#98

Post by ucarion »

ultimoo wrote: post #85

Big fan of YC and pg. I'm waiting for some immigration related things to fall into place before I apply, but it's been several years. Potentially crass question: what is the age or industry experience distribution of a typical YC batch these days? Would a founding team in their early 40s be dinosaurs in a room full of young stars? Asking for a friend.

I was in the last batch. The average is probably ~28 years old, but there are plenty of founding teams in their 40s and on. Plenty of folks with families. You wouldn't be a dinosaur.

Apply.

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#99

Post by giantg2 »

dang wrote: post #96
giantg2 wrote: post #89

I have a #3 - I don't have a marketable idea.

You don't need a marketable idea. YC cares about founders and that's it. Everything else can be taught. But you're absolutely right that that is on the short list of bogus reasons not to apply.

Well then I have the real version of #1 - I have no meaningful skills. I have enough problems that I can't even see myself as a founder, stuff like lack of soft skills from a disability and massive home responsibilities.

Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24

#100

Post by tempsy »

alephnerd wrote: post #24
_akhe wrote: post #23

Re: "won't get in" How do I balance this encouraging advice with everything I've heard online about YC basically being a post-Ivy League thing? Seems like there's basically a 0% chance a random person would get into YC. And often those who did get in went to Stanford, Harvard, etc. and don't even have a product - sometimes they don't even know what they're going to build yet. I wrote the idea of VC stuff off long ago…

> YC basically being a post-Ivy League thing I have a lot of friends of mine who are decade+ YoE first time founders who have done very very well in YC. Lots of Enterprise SaaS companies have went thru YC and done very well - you just don't hear about them as much because Direct Enterprise Sales doesn't require as much marketing. There are similar B2C successes by older founders and non-Ivy/Ivy Tier founders. > we're…

How many years do you have to go back to find 1 company that is on par with a dropbox or airbnb

i feel like if you went back 5 years it would be hard to even find more than 1-2 companies that has achieved a moderate level of mainstream success in the same way

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