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.
Get a cofounder. If your startup succeeds, you could spend 5 years or more working on it. It's rounding error to spend 6 months making a concerted effort to find a cofounder first. And while it can be hard to find a cofounder, it's not as hard as starting a successful startup.
Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
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Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#142If you are in an immigration limbo (came to the states as a young kid, have no SS#) are you able to apply? Basically I'm in the same position as Jose Vargas ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Antonio_Vargas )
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
The unfortunate fact is that there is not much difference between the two cases. Most people who are looking for a cofounder when they start YC are still looking for one 6 months later. Alarmingly often that's because they recruited one in the interim who's already gone.
hehe, has gone in 6 months after going through YC? those solo founders must be really priceless then:)
You are choosing someone to go on long term journey, where you will no longer only be building something cool, but you'll be building a company, be responsible for hiring and, God forbid, firing people. You will be responsible for your employee's lives, and their families, you will be responsible for your investors time and effort to make all your promises come true.
All of this becomes extremely harder after you've been traveling alone for a long time (which can often be a few months, as startups are that intense). Sharing all this responsibilities with someone who has not been there from day one is challenging for both parties: can you trust them to be with you in the long run, do you agree in fundamental things, how do you deal with different company stakes and vesting periods? And, if you ever pivot (as many successful startups have[1]), how will all of these pressures come to live?
And it gets worse after you get investment (in the form of YC money, angel money, and progressively more) as your choice of co-founder will likely reflect on you, from your investor's idea. And it always add risk to the table, no matter how you put it.
All of this while still working and growing your startup.
Don't take this lightly. It may be harder to find a proper co-founder under these circumstances than founding a successful startup. But being able to have people you trust beside you building a company can be an invaluable thing.
[1] http://www.fastcompany.com/1836238/how-eric-ries-coined-pivo...
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#144PG - My cofounder and I have a product already (about to launch). But we have doubts that we may not be able to get in with that idea based on the previous ideas that got selected for YC. Should we apply with our current idea, come up with a completely new idea, or apply as a no idea?
On the other hand, if you are about to launch but you are ready to give up something at this stage just to work on something else for YC, you have a different problem, think again :)
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#145Note: I co-founded this up after not finding a co-founder for an earlier idea myself. Somehow this idea of building a match.com for co-founder seems to have filled a need and now there are 10,000 or so incl. current and ex- Googlers, Apple, etc.
I love the topic of co-founder finding. Also because some people have surprisingly strong opinions about whether a service like this can be possible at all or if you need to go way back with your co-founder.
As was said earlier, the Dropbox co-founders did not know each other long before... I think anything is possible. It depends on the co-founders ;)
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#146My areas of expertise include CS and biochem. I'm starting to hack around with lasing now, too. I'm very interested in edutech, bioinfo, and cheminfo. I'm also in the process of exploring two "novel" (read: absurd?) market spaces right now and I'd love to chat about it.
I'm echelon at gmail.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#147I'm not ready to apply for YC yet, but if anyone is based in Atlanta, please touch base. My areas of expertise include CS and biochem. I'm starting to hack around with lasing now, too. I'm very interested in edutech, bioinfo, and cheminfo. I'm also in the process of exploring two "novel" (read: absurd?) market spaces right now and I'd love to chat about it. I'm echelon at gmail.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
A very valid question.How about those on H4? As some might know the H1 for this year has been used up (unlike in the past 4-5 years), will YC still be ok accepting ideas/startups that cannot be on h1? Some clarity on this front will be very helpful for immigrants :)
Unless I'm mistaken, H1B is not the visa that YC founders would use anyway. Even if you have an H1B visa, you would still have to re-apply for the appropriate visa.
I am not very sure there is another visa that might work well, unless the founders are from Canada/Australia (maybe even Europe not sure). Rest of the founders might still have to be on H1 if my research is right.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#149Can a non-citizen currently on H1B visa apply?
This is interesting for me also. I'm an Italian citizen and I would like to apply and relocate to the Bay Area. But I need to figure out the entire visa thing, and how to make it work for starting company.
Re: Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
#150If you are in an immigration limbo (came to the states as a young kid, have no SS#) are you able to apply? Basically I'm in the same position as Jose Vargas ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Antonio_Vargas )
YC doesn't care about immigration status, and doesn't even look (they're not hiring you).