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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

#321

Post by vertis »

dang wrote: post #39
Rapzid wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I'm with you and wish that we were more careful with this sort of signaling risk. However, there are tons of college dropouts and uncredentialed software people who make it in to YC. What I'm basically trying to tell everyone, and hoping to convince a few, is: don't listen to any of this, just do it.

There is likely some level of selection bias to it as well. If I think it's unlikely to get in without that ivy/engineering school background I might not bother to apply.

I don't personally believe that -- I'm confident in my 23 years of experience. It's unlikely I'll apply this weekend, but I did find a cofounder through the YC dating app. Maybe next batch.

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

#322

Post by he11ow »

For anyone saying "I definitely won't get in" here's a counterpoint that has little to do with whether your application succeeds or not: Do it for yourself, not for the approval.

I found that filling in the application, without even sending it, is a useful exercise. It makes you think hard about what it is you are trying to achieve with whatever it is your building. It's very helpful when you come to talk with clients.

You know how they say launch fast, launch early? That's part of it, because launching means talking about it to other people. Those people will have questions or objections or an incomplete understanding of pre-existing solutions. A lot of the application is about this kind of stuff.

Personally, I wanted to fill the application irrespective of YC. I figured, if I'm serious about building something useful, I shouldn't just build it and que sera, sera. I should know what to focus on. And since they've learned a bunch about building companies, if they care about something enough to ask about it, that's a good pointer that I should care enough about it to be able to answer it.

For example, I filled it in when a solution was just an idea, as if it were already built. So it made me set expectations, and clarify what I want this thing to be. Then, once it was built, the first thing that happened when that solution met with clients was this: I'd give them the short description I've written in the application, and they'd ask - Oh, but does it have to do just that?

Without the application, there wouldn't have been the short description, without which there wouldn't have been the useful client feedback...So, again: do it for yourself, not for the approval.

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

#323

Post by brainless »

Thanks for sharing this. I have one question: given similar quality of applications, is it just a dice roll?

I am asking this as a trying founder who:

  - has built early stage engineering at multiple startups
  - has applied many times and been rejected
  - is reading about many others who have been rejected and ended up building without funding
It does not change my chances but it would expand my perspective.

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

#324

Post by practal »

ankit219 wrote: post #315

I find these kind of messages distasteful. When people are focused on building, they need feedback from the market. That rejection/feedback helps, but any other kind of rejection - especially a VC or investor rejection - hurts. You could argue that founders should be used to rejection, still this is a needless rejection - without any specific feedback and from a group not their TG - not something people should spend…

I think applying to YC should be seen as fund raising activity. And pg's essays clearly state that fund raising is a distraction, so when you do that, just focus on it, and get it over with, so you can continue building.

I must have applied at least 4 times now with Practal in various forms (at some point it was a different project called ProofPeer), got a rejection each time. The idea has been developed further each time, but in ways hard to communicate to a VC (or anyone, really). Reading this announcement I now have a choice: prepare another YC application in the next 2 days, or finish chapter 2 of my book about the logic used in Practal instead [1]. I think the choice is obvious, there is indeed such a thing as applying too early. I mean, I am not going to pivot to something else, there is no idea other than Practal I will ever be interested in. Working on anything else feels like a waste of my time. Hopefully I have something to show for when the winter batch comes around.

[1] http://abstractionlogic.com

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

#325

Post by llamaimperative »

_delirium wrote: post #263
llamaimperative wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a YC founder and I dropped out of not-one-of-those colleges (RPI). My cofounder dropped out of high school. Why not just give it a shot? Find the powerful parts of your story (I'm sure they exist) and share them! We applied, as GP advocates for, mostly to sharpen our thinking. Just the application process would've been worth the time, even if we had gotten declined immediately. The interview 10x'd that value, the…

I would definitely count RPI as one of "those" colleges! I guess everyone has a different list, but for me, RPI is in the same category as Rose-Hulman, Olin, Harvey Mudd, etc. Perhaps not Ivy League level in the sense of being a household name, but still known among people in the field.

It’s definitely a great, high caliber school. But it’s not one of the dropout-porn inspiring ones like Stanford/Harvard.

For example, a lot of people drop out of RPI because it’s actually difficult to get good grades there (not why I did it FWIW). That’s not why anyone drops out of Harvard.

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

#326

Post by [deleted] »

tobinfricke wrote: post #271
_delirium wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would definitely count RPI as one of "those" colleges! I guess everyone has a different list, but for me, RPI is in the same category as Rose-Hulman, Olin, Harvey Mudd, etc. Perhaps not Ivy League level in the sense of being a household name, but still known among people in the field.

The "Ivy League" consists of precisely these eight schools: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale. Honestly I feel like some of these are negative indicators when it comes to engineering cred. Meanwhile, stellar engineering schools like Caltech, Stanford, and MIT are in a league of their own. This comment is mostly to complain that using "Ivy League" as a shorth…

[deleted]

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

#328

Post by Mumps »

andrewstuart wrote: post #193

After applying last time without success, I tried again this time but this time just did it super quick without investing too much time and effort. I figure if it’s a good idea they’ll be interested and if not we’ll then I won’t have invested too much time in it.

I'm in the same boat and feel like this is the only logical approach. Such a potential timesink for such low odds. I think the effort should be somewhat symmetric: spend as much time as YC will in reviewing.

Especially without feed back signal, you'll never get to improve your application/odds. Dang says above that feedback won't happen because it doesn't scale -- not everything has to scale, Dang.

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

#329

Post by ankit219 »

practal wrote: post #324
ankit219 wrote: post #315

I find these kind of messages distasteful. When people are focused on building, they need feedback from the market. That rejection/feedback helps, but any other kind of rejection - especially a VC or investor rejection - hurts. You could argue that founders should be used to rejection, still this is a needless rejection - without any specific feedback and from a group not their TG - not something people should spend…

I think applying to YC should be seen as fund raising activity. And pg's essays clearly state that fund raising is a distraction, so when you do that, just focus on it, and get it over with, so you can continue building. I must have applied at least 4 times now with Practal in various forms (at some point it was a different project called ProofPeer), got a rejection each time. The idea has been developed further each…

One of PG's blogs talk about being fundable. For a founder, there is always a transition from being a builder to being an entrepreneur (business owner) where you must be able to access whether you are fundable and know what you need to do to get capital. I think it's the same thing with YC. There is an investor who says they like it as early as possible, but fundamentally you know if you are investible. It's sensible to only do fundraising activity when you have some confidence you are fundable.

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

#330

Post by practal »

ankit219 wrote: post #329
practal wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think applying to YC should be seen as fund raising activity. And pg's essays clearly state that fund raising is a distraction, so when you do that, just focus on it, and get it over with, so you can continue building. I must have applied at least 4 times now with Practal in various forms (at some point it was a different project called ProofPeer), got a rejection each time. The idea has been developed further each…

One of PG's blogs talk about being fundable. For a founder, there is always a transition from being a builder to being an entrepreneur (business owner) where you must be able to access whether you are fundable and know what you need to do to get capital. I think it's the same thing with YC. There is an investor who says they like it as early as possible, but fundamentally you know if you are investible. It's sensible…

Exactly. Previous applications have taught me a lot about what VCs expectations are, and I know when I am fundable in their eyes. My ideas work and are a game changer. But until I can explain this clearly and have objective proof of that, I am not fundable. So no real sense to apply until then.
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