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Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

ycombinator.com

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Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#111

Post by dmor »

adelevie wrote: post #49
dmor wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apply for practice and to think through the questions, but realize that you are up against thousands of smart people who can give every waking moment of their life to their company and you can't right now.

I'd rather not waste the YC partners' time :) Maybe in my case, school is a bit less of a zero sum game. I'm working on a legal research tool (prototype: http://dokket.aws.af.cm/about ) that serves an under-addressed market (communications law). Think MarketBrief ( http://marketbrief.com/ ), but instead of the SEC, the focus is on the FCC. Not-so-incidentally, I'm about half-way done with law school in a part-time/ev…

Interesting idea, I happen to have an interest in communications law, but I never would have thought to pay for a service similar to MarketBrief for that space in order to keep tabs on the industry when I was at Twilio. In fact, there are a lot of analysts in the space so I am a bit surprised you consider it underserved.

Would this be a content site, or would you have a paid subscription model or deeper analyst pieces, or something else? What is to stop the FCC-focus from just being a niche channel on marketbrief itself?

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#112

Post by vbv »

pg wrote: post #63
jayzalowitz wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of your founders relayed to me that they were doing some of the application reading/judging, my concern was there. guess he was pulling my leg.

No, he was probably telling the truth. The alumni do the first pass. But (a) they just vote no or maybe, (b) each application is seen by at least 3 alumni, and isn't filtered out till it has at least 2 more nos than maybes, and (c) we look at their overall stats to make sure no one is giving all nos.

pg don't you think the alumni would be biased towards startups/people they know. Or say no to those that could potentially become their competitors in the future.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#113

Post by pg »

hydralist wrote: post #110
pg wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has happened a few times naturally, but we wouldn't try to push it to happen in the sense that "match up" implies.

makes sense, has there been non technical single founders in the alumni?

One, Olga Vidisheva.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#114

Post by pg »

Cardeck wrote: post #103
pg wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course. There's a startup from Hungary in the current batch. If Eastern European founders have a weakness, it's that their English is sometimes bad. That's a real problem in a startup, because you often have to talk about subtle distinctions. We like the video because it's a so much more efficient way of seeing what someone's like than just reading a written application. Not as efficient as meeting them in person;…

I always thought the visa is the major weakness.Many US incubators encourage european startups to apply, yet they try to avoid the hassle.Hungarians don't need a visa to visit US.Big advantage.I had this problem 5 years ago and I had to move my company in UK to be successful and it worked. Out of curiousity, when you or the others review applications, do you have a negative feeling when you see the location?The reaso…

When people are from another country we usually notice this first in the video, which is among the first things we look at. And yes, my heart sinks somewhat when the people in the video have such strong accents that I can't understand them. On the other hand, if they didn't, I would barely notice what country they were from.

IIRC the CEO of the startup from Hungary had lived in the US for a while and didn't have too much of an accent, so that application felt to me almost like one from the US.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#116

Post by bambax »

pg wrote: post #86
aagha wrote: post #73

I have a couple of questions: - How open is Ycom to applications if all you're coming with is an idea, and no proof of concept? - Is it true that there's an age bias?

We're fine with just an idea. There's an age bias in that our standards get higher as the founders get older. You can't reasonably expect a 19 year old to have achieved as much as a 35 year old. But there's no sudden cutoff.

> There's an age bias in that our standards get higher as the founders get older.

Since Bill Gates is unlikely to apply to YC, what are YC's expectations regarding older founders?

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#117

Post by adelevie »

dmor wrote: post #111
adelevie wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather not waste the YC partners' time :) Maybe in my case, school is a bit less of a zero sum game. I'm working on a legal research tool (prototype: http://dokket.aws.af.cm/about ) that serves an under-addressed market (communications law). Think MarketBrief ( http://marketbrief.com/ ), but instead of the SEC, the focus is on the FCC. Not-so-incidentally, I'm about half-way done with law school in a part-time/ev…

Interesting idea, I happen to have an interest in communications law, but I never would have thought to pay for a service similar to MarketBrief for that space in order to keep tabs on the industry when I was at Twilio. In fact, there are a lot of analysts in the space so I am a bit surprised you consider it underserved. Would this be a content site, or would you have a paid subscription model or deeper analyst piece…

I emailed you a more complete answer, but while you're here:

I'm focusing on building the dataset and alerts system, so it's more of a subscription service--for now at least. Looking ahead, there's a wealth of information buried inside these documents that I'd like to leverage.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#118

Post by bgauchan »

PG - what are the chances of a single founder but with technical background getting in YCombinator? I'm a good but not great/"rockstar" developer but I am good enough to create an MVP. Would love to hear your thoughts on it.

P.S - I can have a demo ready by interview process.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#119

Post by joonix »

wcchandler wrote: post #42

I'll risk some karma for this, as it's not the most appropriate place, nor is it the best way to introduce my idea. I want to produce something similar to Google Fiber. I cannot give up my life and source of income to fly out to San Francisco and pursue the "cultural" side of incubation and all things startup related. I need a non-technical guy who understands the business side. I work at a community college as a NOC…

Do you really believe some college courses and YC contacts are what's standing between someone and making a Google Fiber ISP?

There's a reason there's only one, and it's Google Fiber, and not Bob's Fiber of Main Street.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#120

Post by pg »

bgauchan wrote: post #118

PG - what are the chances of a single founder but with technical background getting in YCombinator? I'm a good but not great/"rockstar" developer but I am good enough to create an MVP. Would love to hear your thoughts on it. P.S - I can have a demo ready by interview process.

Last time I calculated, the odds were about 1/5 what they'd be with 2 or more founders.

But talking about the odds is misleading, because this pool is a mix of a large number of people for whom the chance is zero and a small number for whom it's quite high. So if you're another Drew Houston (who was a single founder when he applied), the odds are very good.

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