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You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#51

Post by weebro »

vlad wrote: post #12
portLAN wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can we apply as single hackers who don't care about which project we take on? Not to be YC specific, but just in general, who would want to invest in someone who doesn't care?

Great question. I'm a hacker, so I'd be useful from day one. Secondly, I've stuck with one idea for about four years, selling the product for 3 and a half years, so I have no problem adding features or maintaining code. Here is what matters to me more than a specific idea: 1) I'd like to have lawyers and accountants from the beginning, versus doing it myself. 2) I'd like to start with an investment from the beginning…

Well Vlad you certainly know how to hijack a thread and turn it into your own subject matter. Well done boy. Waiting for the death rattle. Although our averaging and estimates on the numbers may be fair the numbers may be skewed by the fact that numbers alone mean nothing in the face of quality. As YComb gets more 'popular' the quality of applicants will improve and so I would suggest the chances have actually reduced in real terms not increased.

P.S. I am looking for co-founders with amazing hacking skills to join our application team. Any Hackers without an idea or team are welcome to contact me: colinbeattie@gmail.com. I have strong ideas to discuss and am keen to organise a team together or discuss other ideas we, as a TEAM, may propose.

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#52

Post by vlad »

nostrademons wrote: post #47
rokhayakebe wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone know if you get some feedback when you apply early?

In the last round, we got an e-mail from PG back within hours. It said, basically, "Too many uncommitted founders. Ditch some and hire them back as employees when you have money." We had submitted one day before the deadline (I'd thought it was half an hour actually...I misunderstood the deadline), and he encouraged us to resubmit if we could deal with the founder issue. We ended up getting rejected anyway, but he tu…

Wow, I remember when this was brought up before in other threads, everybody who answered said they just received a standard rejection notice.

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#53

Post by rms »

rokhayakebe wrote: post #30
vlad wrote: post #2

Thanks for your advice; I just submitted 20 applications. :) On a serious note, can one apply as a single hacker who doesn't care about which project he takes on?

Does anyone know if you get some feedback when you apply early?

I got an email from Paul and a call from Jessica, both asking why we were doing this now as undergraduates. I think it's a very good sign if you get some interaction with them before the deadline, but it's not a bad sign if you don't get any feedback.

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#54

Post by vlad »

weebro wrote: post #51
vlad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question. I'm a hacker, so I'd be useful from day one. Secondly, I've stuck with one idea for about four years, selling the product for 3 and a half years, so I have no problem adding features or maintaining code. Here is what matters to me more than a specific idea: 1) I'd like to have lawyers and accountants from the beginning, versus doing it myself. 2) I'd like to start with an investment from the beginning…

Well Vlad you certainly know how to hijack a thread and turn it into your own subject matter. Well done boy. Waiting for the death rattle. Although our averaging and estimates on the numbers may be fair the numbers may be skewed by the fact that numbers alone mean nothing in the face of quality. As YComb gets more 'popular' the quality of applicants will improve and so I would suggest the chances have actually reduce…

Don't believe that your chances are worse this season. You will learn a lot regardless of what happens.

The question is, did my post help people? I've never mentioned my project here before, and I hope it did help. Best of luck to you!

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#55

Post by pg »

portLAN wrote: post #40
asdflkj wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Subjective preference" and "whim" are two completely different things. Let's look at the post that started all of this: "Don't leave your fate up to someone else's whim". If you replace that with "Don't leave your fate up to someone else's subjective preference", that doesn't sound quite so undeniably prudent anymore, does it? Especially considering that the "someone else" in question is highly authoritative on the…

You might find it helpful to check the definition. Amer. Heritage: whim: "Arbitrary thought or impulse". Arbitrary: "Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference". > that doesn't sound quite so undeniably prudent anymore, does it? Good thing it's definitionally equivalent and I used the form that would provoke a stronger visceral response, in order to get the idea across more forcefully. YC should just be…

> Amer. Heritage: whim: "Arbitrary thought or impulse". Arbitrary: "Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference".

What you're doing here is a lot like the game telephone. If you follow a long enough chain of definitions in this way you can prove white = black.

Every native English speaker knows "whim" does not have the same meaning as "decision," which is what your argument implies.

I assume you're not deliberately trolling, but I have the same feeling of having to explain things I shouldn't have to explain that I do when I'm tricked into arguing with a troll.

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#57

Post by brlewis »

pg wrote: post #56

Actually, if you're reading this, you probably have better odds than that. A good fraction of the people who apply clearly have no idea how YC works or what we look for. If you're reading this comment you're probably over that threshold, at least.

Either we have better odds, or we know exactly the reasons why we're unlikely to be accepted.

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#58

Post by blored »

pg wrote: post #15
blored wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe even more than 500. [link eludes me] But somewhere it was written that the Cambridge session was the unpopular session. And since May 2007 YC has been featured in Newsweek , in addition to getting a groundswell press from each individual company (eg. Weebly in Time ). I'd bank on about 700-800 applications.

> somewhere it was written that the Cambridge session was the unpopular session If anything it's the other way around, because fewer people are free to try something new on Jan 1 than June 1.

I guess I got it backwards then, :S woops.

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#59

Post by portLAN »

pg wrote: post #55
portLAN wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might find it helpful to check the definition. Amer. Heritage: whim: "Arbitrary thought or impulse". Arbitrary: "Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference". > that doesn't sound quite so undeniably prudent anymore, does it? Good thing it's definitionally equivalent and I used the form that would provoke a stronger visceral response, in order to get the idea across more forcefully. YC should just be…

> Amer. Heritage: whim: "Arbitrary thought or impulse". Arbitrary: "Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference". What you're doing here is a lot like the game telephone. If you follow a long enough chain of definitions in this way you can prove white = black. Every native English speaker knows "whim" does not have the same meaning as "decision," which is what your argument implies. I assume you're not d…

> If you follow a long enough chain of definitions in this way you can prove white = black.

That's pretty amusing. Whim -> arbitrary doesn't exactly constitute a long chain. Might want to start employing your proofreading team for your comments ;)

I'll refer you to one of my other responses:

"Not to mention, a substantial number of people haven't even built anything, which means they really have no choice but to judge the book by its cover. There are always snap judgements and rush decisions in any big application process."

YC's process reminds me of the Feynman story about choosing schoolbooks.

You have a bunch of young would-be founders who don't have a track record. How else are you going to choose? You just don't have enough evidence to go by in many cases.

Assuming a large portion of the applications come in near the deadline, you're in the position of having to review hundreds in the space of a week. It's like going through stacks of resumes, your eyes glaze over.

Making the observation is no slight to YC. You give people a chance despite them not having much of anything to show. I also know whim is a big factor even when there is a lot of supporting evidence because it's just human nature. That's why Cisco was turned down by 80 VCs despite having great numbers and committed people already.

Accusing someone of trolling because they had the audacity to bust out the dictionary to prove you wrong? Classic! "Every native English speaker [...]" -- too funny!

"Where the dictionary and I disagree, the dictionary is wrong." That should clear things up around here!

Re: You have a 1 in 20 chance of being chosen by YC. Pretty good odds!

#60

Post by rms »

portLAN wrote: post #59
pg wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Amer. Heritage: whim: "Arbitrary thought or impulse". Arbitrary: "Based on or subject to individual judgment or preference". What you're doing here is a lot like the game telephone. If you follow a long enough chain of definitions in this way you can prove white = black. Every native English speaker knows "whim" does not have the same meaning as "decision," which is what your argument implies. I assume you're not d…

> If you follow a long enough chain of definitions in this way you can prove white = black. That's pretty amusing. Whim -> arbitrary doesn't exactly constitute a long chain. Might want to start employing your proofreading team for your comments ;) I'll refer you to one of my other responses: "Not to mention, a substantial number of people haven't even built anything, which means they really have no choice but to judg…

Taking two days to reply makes you automatically lose the debate. Sorry.
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