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How to Apply to Y Combinator

ycombinator.com

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Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#11

Post by Xichekolas »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
pg wrote: post #7

If anyone has any questions I didn't answer, please ask them on this thread. I still consider this essay a draft; if anything important comes up here, I'll incorporate it in the next version.

It seems to me that to have people make videos and then discard a lot of them without ever looking at them (which the text suggests is the case) would be a lot of wasted effort ?

It scales better than only requesting videos from teams that are interesting. The latency involved with doing that would make the application selection process take a lot longer than it does to just ask everyone to send in a video to begin with.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#12

Post by Xichekolas »

kyro wrote: post #10
pg wrote: post #7

If anyone has any questions I didn't answer, please ask them on this thread. I still consider this essay a draft; if anything important comes up here, I'll incorporate it in the next version.

Yeah, I'm not sure if this is completely relevant, but we have a product that we're going to launch soon, and I was wondering whether you would prefer your applicants have products/demos not yet launched as that might be better for PR purposes, etc.

Yeah, I'd definitely be interested in hearing how much a demo matters when it comes to choosing. I felt like that was a major weakness my group had the one time we applied in the past.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#13

Post by kailoa »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
pg wrote: post #7

If anyone has any questions I didn't answer, please ask them on this thread. I still consider this essay a draft; if anything important comes up here, I'll incorporate it in the next version.

It seems to me that to have people make videos and then discard a lot of them without ever looking at them (which the text suggests is the case) would be a lot of wasted effort ?

If I applied, I would definitely make a video, even if noone looks at. PG has mentioned multiple times that it's statistically helpful. If it comes down to you and some other guy who didn't make a video, I'm sure the extra effort is noticed.

Sounds like a good risk/reward profile for my effort to me.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#15

Post by icey »

jacquesm wrote: post #8
icey wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will be great info for everyone who decides to read it and pay attention . I bet you that over 80% of the applications will still be garbage. Of course, I see this as a good thing for everyone who applies who has some clue as to what they're doing.

Are you privy to the applications ? 80% would seem to be a fairly high number. I think that there is a nice benefit from applying to YC for many small start-up companies, which is that for the first time (on that level of funding I'm assuming it's the first time) you have to get precise about stuff. So even if you do not get selected you're still going to be a big step further.

I'm not privy to anything, as the only thing I have to do with YC is posting here.

However, I acted as a technical adviser to some investors during the first dotcom boom in the 90s. Even in the face of specific requests, there were a shocking number of people who started their responses clearly intending to go into detail, and ending up with a heavy dose of hand-waving.

Having since moved on, I still do hiring and see similar problems with people being unable to read and comprehend simple instructions. There is a shocking amount of _bad_ out there; it just gets worse when people are looking for money.

As an aside, I was being generous with the 80% guess. Anywhere else I would have figured the garbage submissions to have crossed the 90% barrier.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#16

Post by michaelfairley »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
pg wrote: post #7

If anyone has any questions I didn't answer, please ask them on this thread. I still consider this essay a draft; if anything important comes up here, I'll incorporate it in the next version.

It seems to me that to have people make videos and then discard a lot of them without ever looking at them (which the text suggests is the case) would be a lot of wasted effort ?

The amount of effort that gets "wasted" per unwatched video is probably relatively small. Per the video instructions (http://ycombinator.com/video.html), producing the video really shouldn't take much time at all (my guess is less than five minutes for a group that a) already has well defined goals and b) has a macbook, where there's almost no overhead to record a video). Additionally, the very act of making the video is likely beneficial to the groups, by forcing them to solidify their ideas enough to be comfortable talking about them and by having them practice giving an elevator pitch about their idea.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#17

Post by aberman »

"The first thing I notice when I look at an application is the username it was submitted under. If it's one I recognize for making thoughtful comments on Hacker News, I give the application extra attention."

I was actually surprised by this. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense, but I would never have even thought of this.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#19

Post by bgnm2000 »

Thanks pg! I was worried that entering too many secondary ideas would almost appear as a drawback. As if the team wasn't truly dedicated to the idea they were submitting the application for. Its nice to know the team itself is more important.

Also, I'd love to know what percentage of teams have business people, rather than 100% hackers

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#20

Post by rythie »

michaelfairley wrote: post #16
jacquesm wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that to have people make videos and then discard a lot of them without ever looking at them (which the text suggests is the case) would be a lot of wasted effort ?

The amount of effort that gets "wasted" per unwatched video is probably relatively small. Per the video instructions ( http://ycombinator.com/video.html ), producing the video really shouldn't take much time at all (my guess is less than five minutes for a group that a) already has well defined goals and b) has a macbook, where there's almost no overhead to record a video). Additionally, the very act of making the vi…

I see you are subscribing to philosophy of no planning required and only one take. I once spent about 3 hours to do a 1 minute pitch.
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