31–40 of 128 posts
As a YC alum, I strongly recommend YC to anyone considering it -- even if you don't get in, it's a great way to think about your startup. (Wow, it doesn't even seem like the Winter 2013 were 6 months ago yet. I wonder how much the reduction in class size (previously discussed on HN) will affect YC S13.)
I think I'm at 2 interview rejections and 1 app rejection. The masochism will stop when the motivation subsides!
May you provide more insight into why the persistence in doing so? I'm curious as to why you would put so much value in joining an incubator when you could spend the same amount of time in growing your business. Funding is not the goal, but gasoline for the vehicle that will take you to your goal. Seems like a waste of time for such little money. I know the "status" from joining the YC program is quite high there, bu…
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- What is your company going to make?
- If this application is a response to a YC RFS, which one?
- Please tell us in one or two sentences about the most impressive thing other than this startup that each founder has built or achieved.
- Please tell us about the time you, keiferski, most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage.
- Please tell us about an interesting project, preferably outside of class or work, that two or more of you created together. Include urls if possible.
- How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet? Have any of the founders not met in person?
- Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?
- What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn't exist yet (or they don't know about it)?
- Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?
- What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?
- How do or will you make money? How much could you make? (We realize you can't know precisely, but give your best estimate.)
- If you've already started working on it, how long have you been working and how many lines of code (if applicable) have you written?
- How far along are you? Do you have a beta yet? If not, when will you? Are you launched? If so, how many users do you have? Do you have revenue? If so, how much? If you're launched, what is your monthly growth rate (in users or revenue or both)?
- If you have an online demo, what's the url? (Please don't password protect it; just use an obscure url.)
- How will you get users? If your idea is the type that faces a chicken-and-egg problem in the sense that it won't be attractive to users till it has a lot of users (e.g. a marketplace, a dating site, an ad network), how will you overcome that?
- If you're already incorporated, when were you? Who are the shareholders and what percent does each own? If you've had funding, how much, at what valuation(s)?
- If you're not incorporated yet, please list the percent of the company you plan to give each founder, and anyone else you plan to give stock to. (This question is as much for you as us.)
- If we fund you, which of the founders will commit to working exclusively (no school, no other jobs) on this project for the next year?
- For founders who can't, why not? What level of commitment are they willing to make?
- Do any founders have other commitments between June and August 2013 inclusive?
- Do any founders have commitments in the future (e.g. finishing college, going to grad school), and if so what?
- Where do you live now, and where would the company be based after YC?
- Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? Will any be working as employees or consultants for anyone else?
- Was any of your code written by someone who is not one of your founders? If so, how can you safely use it? (Open source is ok of course.)
- Are any of the following true? (a) You are the only founder. (b) You are a student who may return to school when the next term starts. (c) Half or more of your group can't move to the Bay Area. (d) One or more founders will keep their current jobs. (e) None of the founders are programmers. (Answering yes doesn't disqualify you. It's just to remind us to check.)
- If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, please list them. One may be something we've been waiting for. Often when we fund people it's to do something they list here and not in the main application.
- Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered. (The answer need not be related to your project.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just based on probabilities, getting two interviews is pretty good on its own -- that's passing a ~low thousands to ~150 filter. He didn't pass a ~150 to ~50 filter.
Thank you for that data point. Though it raises some points. What failed in such instances? Was the business or the founder? Is this data ever published, or are you just given an empty notice of decline? (Excuse my ignorance in that part, because I have not gone through the process). edit Thank you for the thorough explanation rdl.
It's also the wrong way to look at it. A better way is "what does it cost to apply" -- it's maybe 30 minutes to 10 hours of your time to fill in the application (it's more if you needed to do more thought about the business anyway). There is zero downside if you don't get in -- it doesn't prejudice YC against you at all in the future, and is confidential within YC -- and potentially high upside.
The ultimate test of "is it worth it" is to ask how many YC alums would recommend YC to someone else. As far as I can tell, that number is >80% (I can't think of anyone who wouldn't). I would recommend YC with only two reservations:
1) If you're doing a non-US startup (say, something local in China), and have exploding growth, no plans to expand to the world market, and unlimited capital, YC might be a distraction (although I doubt any company like that reads HN)
2) I think the biggest benefit to YC is to be able to launch during YC, or to have already launched. If you can't launch during YC, it might be worth doing YC later (when you're about to launch), or more likely, change your launch to something smaller that you can do sooner. There is probably 10x more value in YC if you launch before or during YC than after demo day. We made that particular mistake ourselves. OTOH, spending an extra year or two pre-YC building something no one wants is ALSO bad.
I think I'm at 2 interview rejections and 1 app rejection. The masochism will stop when the motivation subsides!
May you provide more insight into why the persistence in doing so? I'm curious as to why you would put so much value in joining an incubator when you could spend the same amount of time in growing your business. Funding is not the goal, but gasoline for the vehicle that will take you to your goal. Seems like a waste of time for such little money. I know the "status" from joining the YC program is quite high there, bu…
To be able to get advice from the caliber of YC's network as well as be around teams that are trying to do things that others deem "crazy" or "destined to fail" is an enlightening experience you can't just get anywhere. There's so much I don't know. YC is a great way to bridge some of my many ignorances. Certainly not the only way, though.
I'm not suggesting that wannapreneurs should just blindly shoot off a half-baked idea to every incubator and just sit on their asses waiting for someone to dump money in their laps. Are there people like that? Sure. But setting a little time aside from working on your startup to apply to a once-in-a-lifetime experience that can only help your chances of success is, I think, a justifiable use of time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
May you provide more insight into why the persistence in doing so? I'm curious as to why you would put so much value in joining an incubator when you could spend the same amount of time in growing your business. Funding is not the goal, but gasoline for the vehicle that will take you to your goal. Seems like a waste of time for such little money. I know the "status" from joining the YC program is quite high there, bu…
It's not about the money, but the people you meet. Quite frankly, I often feel lost navigating the territory of starting my own business even with the support of cofounders I trust and respect. To be able to get advice from the caliber of YC's network as well as be around teams that are trying to do things that others deem "crazy" or "destined to fail" is an enlightening experience you can't just get anywhere. There'…
No more no-idea applications?
It was weird because we actually had intentionally not prepared any ideas because we were on the "no ideas" track. We spent our prep time practicing questions about ourselves, and our team.
What we learned after and what was said to us by YC staff was that the no ideas track ended up having a higher bar of entry. It makes sense because you're bringing less to the table, so the bar has to be higher.
My suggestion would be, sit down and make some ideas with your team, and build a small prototype. That's really your best bet if you want to get in, it will make your interview more predictable, etc.
I have an odd question that has stopped me from applying from most incubators to date (although it may also be too early as well)... If my idea is very specific to an industry because that's what I'm interested in pursuing but would require developing applications that would benefit almost all general industries conceivably, is that considered good or bad? For example, my company is only looking to be a player in the…
If you haven't already, get a book that talks about estimating startup value, and then create some rough numbers.
PG, would it be possible to see a screenshot or a basic tour of what the application reviewers see? I'm curious to see the logistics on that side of the equation.
We see almost exactly the same thing people filling out the form see, except with a comment box at the top and a bunch of submit buttons representing different grades.
The questions, for anyone too lazy to view the actual application (such as myself) or who doesn't have a HN account: -------------------- - What is your company going to make? - If this application is a response to a YC RFS, which one? - Please tell us in one or two sentences about the most impressive thing other than this startup that each founder has built or achieved. - Please tell us about the time you, keiferski…