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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

#121

Post by TheMakeA »

pg wrote: post #120
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.

YC passed up on Drew the first time but now Dropbox is a huge success story. What gave him a better chance the second time around?

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#122

Post by pg »

TheMakeA wrote: post #121
pg wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

YC passed up on Drew the first time but now Dropbox is a huge success story. What gave him a better chance the second time around?

The first time he applied, it was not for Dropbox but for an SAT prep service.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#123

Post by TheMakeA »

pg wrote: post #122
TheMakeA wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YC passed up on Drew the first time but now Dropbox is a huge success story. What gave him a better chance the second time around?

The first time he applied, it was not for Dropbox but for an SAT prep service.

Was this at a time before YC began favoring founders over ideas? Serious morbid curiosity here and not a troll attempt and I thank you for indulging me.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#124

Post by loumf »

TheMakeA wrote: post #123
pg wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time he applied, it was not for Dropbox but for an SAT prep service.

Was this at a time before YC began favoring founders over ideas? Serious morbid curiosity here and not a troll attempt and I thank you for indulging me.

Was there such a time? Reddit co-founders were accepted and told to come up with a new idea

http://www.inc.com/magazine/201206/christine-lagorio/alexis-...

The next morning, on the train back to Virginia, hung over, somewhere in the middle of Connecticut, I get a call from Paul. He says, "I'm sorry, we made a mistake. We don't like your idea, but we like you guys." We got off the train, and I was able to sweet-talk the Amtrak lady into not charging us to turn around. In our conversation, Paul said, "You guys need to build the front page of the Internet." That was all Paul, and that became Reddit.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#125

Post by TheMakeA »

loumf wrote: post #124
TheMakeA wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was this at a time before YC began favoring founders over ideas? Serious morbid curiosity here and not a troll attempt and I thank you for indulging me.

Was there such a time? Reddit co-founders were accepted and told to come up with a new idea http://www.inc.com/magazine/201206/christine-lagorio/alexis-... The next morning, on the train back to Virginia, hung over, somewhere in the middle of Connecticut, I get a call from Paul. He says, "I'm sorry, we made a mistake. We don't like your idea, but we like you guys." We got off the train, and I was able to sweet-talk t…

I don't know :-)

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#126

Post by harrisongantz »

PG, our startup is in phase 1 but on my application I am going to be pitching phase 3. My question is when you see the demo site it will only have part of the functionality that I am pitching. Is that going to look bad? Should I just do a video or ppt about phase 3?

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#127

Post by emmett »

TheMakeA wrote: post #123
pg wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The first time he applied, it was not for Dropbox but for an SAT prep service.

Was this at a time before YC began favoring founders over ideas? Serious morbid curiosity here and not a troll attempt and I thank you for indulging me.

No, YC has always favored founders over ideas. But one of the main way you judge someone is what ideas they have.

When drew was first applying to YC I didn't know him. But I'm going to presume that, like most young people, 6 months or a year is a lot of time for personal growth.

Re: Applications open for summer 2013 YC funding

#128

Post by emmett »

vbv wrote: post #112
pg wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There's a recuse button if you're conflicted.
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