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Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

ycombinator.com

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Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#41

Post by callmevlad »

pplante wrote: post #39
callmevlad wrote: post #36

PG, if my co-founder and I are currently bootstrapping a company and starting to work with a law firm to go through all the formalities of incorporation, would you recommend holding off on that for a few months in case we are accepted into YC? It's not cheap (by far) to pay for that stuff out of pocket, and I imagine YC has a lot more experience guiding young companies through the formation process, so curious about…

in my experience, regardless of your application to YC it is a good idea to get things documented. not because you mistrust your cofounder, or anything of that sort. simply it puts everyones mind at ease for what they get out of it. not having documentation lingers in the back of your mind. just my 2 cents.

Totally agree about getting everyone on the same page and putting things on paper. The main reason I asked, however, is cost. Some lawyers have squishy/unpredictable pricing when it comes to formation and advice, while the fixed "good" ones are not cheap (e.g. ~$5K). Others try to wave their hands around pricing and just use a "pay it later" approach, but we'd rather keep things simple. I was just wondering if it's safer to get YC help/guidance to make sure we don't get burned, in case we get in since the timing between now and the deadline is almost a rounding error.

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#42

Post by pg »

bfe wrote: post #40
kaolinite wrote: post #23

PG: What would your advice be to someone with no co-founder? Apply anyway and see what you think, or don't even bother and wait until you've found someone to work with? I appreciate the issues with single founder companies however am finding it hard to locate someone with the required interest and skill in my area.

Drew Houston originally applied as a single founder (and then lined up a talented and committed co-founder) and turned into one of YC's two biggest successes so far, so take heart.

He filled out the online application as a single founder but he had found Arash by interviews, a few weeks later.

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#43

Post by akshxy »

pg wrote: post #18
akshxy wrote: post #17

Will YC consider funding a nanotechnology company?

Sure!

I just want to ask whether a prototype and customers willing to use the product will be valuable for YC? The problem is we are an unproven team and because YC focuses more on the teams rather than ideas, should we wait for the YC S13 applications? Your take on that?

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#45

Post by wheels »

nickbarnwell wrote: post #12

For those who prefer working offline, I've created a raw-text version of the application here: https://github.com/nickbarnwell/YC/blob/empty_app/form.txt It was very useful for me when faux-applying to have the dark glow of vim instead of the YC page's harsh white, and I thought I might put it out there for others to use.

For such things I invariably use WriteRoom. I find formatting and futzing with a web app to be built in procrastination mechanisms. It's generally trivial to spend a few minutes copying and pasting once the actual text is done.

http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#46

Post by thaumaturgy »

callmevlad wrote: post #36

PG, if my co-founder and I are currently bootstrapping a company and starting to work with a law firm to go through all the formalities of incorporation, would you recommend holding off on that for a few months in case we are accepted into YC? It's not cheap (by far) to pay for that stuff out of pocket, and I imagine YC has a lot more experience guiding young companies through the formation process, so curious about…

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2246544: > Don't incorporate, though, if you can avoid it. It's easier to start with our paperwork than to transfer an existing LLC or S-Corp to a C-Corp.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1778985: > It's not a deal-breaker unless it's botched. The right way to do it would be to use a convertible note written so that YC funding wouldn't trigger conversion. If you have a lawyer who can arrange that. But you'd have to incorporate, and you (and we) would then be stuck with however you did, so we'd hope you did it right.

According to those and other previous comments from him, they prefer it if you leave the incorporation process up to YC, since they specialize in setting up startups, but if you've already incorporated (or even taken funding), it's not a deal-breaker -- unless it's been done in a way that's incompatible with YC investment.

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#47

Post by rdl »

pplante wrote: post #32
rdl wrote: post #3

Very sneaky doing this during the Apple iPhone 5 launch event. I wonder how many ideas just got doomed and founders now have to do something new.

i doubt any startups were planning to launch the iPhone 5. in your eyes, what exactly have they announced that would cause someone to pivot?

Various iOS 6 features: panoramic photos, photo stream, shared photo stream. Also the loyalty card market (passbook).

Also, missing stuff: there's no NFC, so NFC payments are pushed out for another year in favor of scan-screen.

iPod Nano pedometer kind of kills fitbit somewhat (or a new fitbit like product, including sleep monitors like wakemate).

Arguably the sapphire crystal vs. glass lens for camera makes the market tougher for iPhone/iPod Touch cases.

New iTunes + iTunes Match/iCloud features should hurt Pandora/Spotify type companies.

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#48

Post by jonathanjaeger »

kposehn wrote: post #44

PG: are music related products still something you are avoiding? We have found a clever way around the liability and would like to apply with it.

They've accepted several music-related startups in the last batch or two. Maybe the bar is higher, but they still accept them regardless of the hesitation. There is a difference between a music startup that needs millions in upfront record label deals and one that relies on getting music in other ways (e.g. artists upload their own music with consent).

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#49

Post by nickbarnwell »

netvarun wrote: post #35
nickbarnwell wrote: post #12

For those who prefer working offline, I've created a raw-text version of the application here: https://github.com/nickbarnwell/YC/blob/empty_app/form.txt It was very useful for me when faux-applying to have the dark glow of vim instead of the YC page's harsh white, and I thought I might put it out there for others to use.

The previous time we applied, we pasted the text version on a google doc and created two versions (main and redacted versions), which we were then shared with the team and our app-reviewers (for the app-reviewers, disable editing and allow only for comments). We found this strategy to be really helpful in gathering feedback and more importantly it helped speed up filling up the app.

I have a whole writing workflow built around using vim and git for testing out new story ideas or structure, and this format works best for in terms of rebasing/merging at the very end. It's really about getting all the distractions out of the way and taking a long, hard look at your business - whatever gets you to that point is awesome :)

Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding

#50

Post by nickbarnwell »

wheels wrote: post #45
nickbarnwell wrote: post #12

For those who prefer working offline, I've created a raw-text version of the application here: https://github.com/nickbarnwell/YC/blob/empty_app/form.txt It was very useful for me when faux-applying to have the dark glow of vim instead of the YC page's harsh white, and I thought I might put it out there for others to use.

For such things I invariably use WriteRoom. I find formatting and futzing with a web app to be built in procrastination mechanisms. It's generally trivial to spend a few minutes copying and pasting once the actual text is done. http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom

I'm partial to writer.vim - aesthetically similar to WriteRoom with none of the foreign keybindings.
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