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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

#141

Post by tlogan »

_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…

That’s essentially how the whole world operates. Y Combinator isn’t an exception. Do you think a wealthy investor would prefer to fund an unknown individual, or someone whose father is a well-established law professor at Stanford?

However, I do believe that YC tends to be somewhat more egalitarian and merit-based compared to others, although it’s not by a significant margin.

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

#142

Post by jedberg »

You forgot the best reason to apply -- because just filling out the application makes you think about your business in ways you probably have never thought about it before.

I tell every startup I talk to to fill out the YC app, even if they never turn it in.

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

#144

Post by GMoromisato »

My co-founder and I have applied twice and been rejected twice, and we don't regret it.

There is no real downside to applying. In fact, as others have said, applying helps you to refine how you pitch your startup.

The only negative is that there's a 99% chance that you will be rejected, and rejections can hurt. But being able to deal with rejection is important in itself.

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

#145

Post by mlhpdx »

dang wrote: post #14
outop wrote: post #9

It would be nice to be told roughly what the process is before having to 'sign up'.

You're already signed up, because you can use your HN account to log in. (All YC accounts are HN accounts and vice versa.) The process is that you fill out a form and make a 1 minute video* and click 'submit'. (* I know...I hated the video thing too... but it gives a sense of what someone is like that doesn't come through in text, and you just talk for a minute about what you care about. nothing fancy.) (edit: also,…

Serious question: Does YC recognize and remediate the unconscious bias that comes with looking at said videos? It seems like it may be comforting, but potentially counter-productive.

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

#146

Post by b3yondtopsecret »

POOF!

"Long time listener, first time caller", as they used to say in talk radio. [This is my first post; please be gentle... :-) ]

At least two reasons my apply.ycombinator.com submission will likely forever remain in "Save for Later" mode...

1) Founder's Personal Work and Education Histories: are both (a) highly-structured, and (b) can't auto-link/-copy from LinkedIn.... Like most prospective employers' "lazy" external-facing HRIS'. [Aside: Why can't Workday at least link to/ copy from LinkedIn for job app completion already?!] I'm already spending umpteen hours on-end doing this for all the prospective employers offering jobs I'd prefer to not need to take... And thus I was "spent" when I entered this form. Alternatively... Why can't I just attach my resume?

2) 1 min video, with audio, required. Feel free to label me "shy"/ "tin foil hat"/ have a paranoid threat profile/ etc.... But I'm just not comfortable voluntarily submitting recorded audio/ video of myself for "pre-short-listed" "one-off" use cases such as this. As an HN post from earlier today illustrates... M$FT (and, presumably "et al") can now make a deep fake of me with just one still image and less audio than YC is requesting. Why do I want to help them along? ;-) [Yes, Zoom et al likely has many hours of recorded video of me, because prior employers... And said employers likely signed away my audiovisual likeness without my (explicit) consent because "AI training", etc... And I've had to consent to recorded interviews for job opp'ties (but at least those were post-short-listing)... But I prefer to remain in denial about all that. :-) I've never claimed to be either rational or consistent... ;-) ]

And no, my idea(s) aren't Bookface/ Instagrim/ ClosedAI -caliber, so... No biggie, I guess. shrugs

Anywhoo... Thanks for reading! :-)

POOF!

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

#147

Post by dang »

technoabsurdist wrote: post #102

Do you guys still offer deferred admissions for juniors who wish to join a batch after graduation?

I just asked and this is what I got back: (1) if you're sure you want to complete your senior year, just wait till then to apply; (2) if you're not sure, apply now; (3) there's not currently any process for people who want to apply to batches farther out than the next one. I suppose (1) and (2) follow from (3) but there you go :)

Either way, good luck and please do apply when you're ready!

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

#148

Post by tibbar »

tempusalaria wrote: post #120
Rapzid wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm seeing a few "founding engineer" roles that pay pretty well and offer up to 1% equity for highly experienced candidates. Honestly some pretty unique opportunities. But yeah, I'm not building out and MVP without pay for 1%.

1% at seed stage also become 0.1% after a few rounds of funding, plus you are way down the preference stack and have no liquidity power. Startup equity is pretty much objectively a terrible deal except for founders. Be a founder or get paid market comp in cash.

If you actually get 1% at seed stage and the company goes through a "few rounds" of funding (and subsequently exits), you're doing great. You've basically won a small lottery and have an excellent chance of being a millionaire.

The problem with startup equity is that this is a very rare scenario, and most of the other scenarios aren't so good. If the company doesn't exit, your equity is worthless. If they exit at a value below your strike price, and you exercised your options, you could end up in debt. Lots of ways for this to end badly.

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

#149

Post by rachofsunshine »

_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…

There are a lot of legitimate criticisms to be made of YC and of VCs in general (please do not take this as me going "there is nothing wrong in the VC world at all", because I absolutely do not believe that!), but I don't think excessive academic elitism is one of them. If anything, I think they're quite a bit better about avoiding that elitism than the average you'll find among organizations of comparable wealth and power (compare top law firms, leadership of more traditional companies, politicians, etc). This isn't my strongest opinion - I've never done any proper formal study of the question - but your impressions contradict my own experience living in that world.

I used to be part of the leadership team for a YC company. Here's where the four YC founders I know off the top of my head went to school: SUNY, Oxford, Epitech, Tufts. Only Oxford among those is truly elite, though the other three are good schools. The one who went to Oxford (Harj Taggar) is a bit of an odd one out here, since they were a partner with YC itself first before founding the company that I know them from. Granted, three of these were founders many years ago, so perhaps this has changed, but one (the Tufts alum) got funding only about a year ago.

I looked up a few other founders that are second- or third-degree connections and found the same: a handful of truly elite schools, a peak in A-tier-but-not-truly-elite schools, and a handful of no-name schools like my own alma mater. I expect that that's a reasonably representative distribution of where you find extremely smart people, and especially smart+motivated ones.

As for this bit:

>> 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.

YC is pretty explicit that they try to pick founders, not ideas, most of the time. That approach is all over the Startup School videos, for example; they don't exactly make a secret of it.

>> but the numbers I've read online that most VCs want to see are not realistic - or if we were hitting those numbers I wouldn't even need a VC, we would be able to fund our own expansion.

Growth demands, both realistic and unrealistic, are a much fairer criticism IMO. They're the primary reason I haven't sought VC funding personally (from YC or otherwise).

Out of curiosity, I'd love to know more about what you're doing - I checked your HN profile but it didn't have a link or anything.

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

#150

Post by sovnwnt »

dang wrote: post #131
sovnwnt wrote: post #130

> Upload a founder video Yeah definitely not. No thank you. It's a great filter though. I am exactly the type of person who you don't want to see a video of, and therefore perfectly unsuited for YCombinator/SV/etc. which are all about personality.

I totally get it as video is anathema to me too, but I think you're drawing exactly the wrong conclusion. YC doesn't care about any social commonplaces (personality, dress, etc.). They just want a sense of who you are as a potential founder. A lot of what might be considered 'negatives' in more conventional contexts aren't negative at all in the YC context, and might actually help an application. p.s. YC is definitel…

You make a compelling argument as usual.

Even with all the questions, it's not a lot of effort, you're right. I apply for the diversity visa every year and that's more work for maybe, oh about the same chance of success?

> I don't know where you got that idea

Admittedly I haven't seen a large percentage, but of the founders I've seen speak, all of them had a certain charm. Granted, there's a bias where people with these personalities put themselves out to be seen.

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