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How to Apply to Y Combinator

ycombinator.com

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Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#111

Post by jamiequint »

Mz wrote: post #104
siong1987 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can ask yourself: Can your startup make 500M in 10 years time? If the answer is YES, then, you're in that group.

I don't know if that's a useful answer for me. There is currently about $3B/year being spent on something I have a cheaper, better solution for. The problem is everyone thinks I'm crazy. There is a huge gap between current thinking on the problem and my thinking on the problem. So most sources of revenue currently available to pay that $3B/year bill would be unlikely to be available to pay for any product I put out t…

If its a $3B/yr market your company, if it delivers what you say, could almost certainly make $50M a year even accounting for the market shrinking drastically, couldn't it?

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#112

Post by ajju »

pg wrote: post #81
ajju wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A question that is not directly related: You said My initial goal is to figure out what kind of group I'm dealing with. Three friends about to graduate from college? Two colleagues who work together at a big company and want to jump ship? Are they all programmers? A mix of programmers and business people? There are maybe 20 or 30 different configurations of founders, most of which I've probably seen by this point. Is…

Not really. It matters much more how good the people are than what type of group they are. The reason I want to know the type of group is that it helps me to interpret the answers to the other questions. E.g. if the founders are undergrads, I shouldn't have as high standards for what they've achieved; if they're colleagues who worked together, I'm curious about whether the idea grew out of some need they had at work;…

Thanks, that makes sense.

I have also found that wanting similar (or at least compatible) things from the startup is also essential.

I tried to start my first real startup (one where we started writing code) with a friend from gradschool. We had known each other for a while, but it didn't work because we had different goals and approaches at the time. He wanted to build a world changing product and focus on that from the get go. I would have loved to do that but wanted to start with building something small that was useful and build up on that. Thankfully we realized this fast and parted amicably.

I was incredibly lucky the second time. I found and recruited someone who is attending the same school I did, but who I didn't know, mainly because he is a great programmer and a frank person. In our first meeting he was direct about everything ranging from his motivation to his weaknesses as a coworker and he expected the same of me. We have now become good friends but in the interim this transparency served as an effective substitute.

In the past year there have been multiple occasions where one of us has felt like the startup is below the X axis. When that happens, having an enthusiastic, frank and committed colleague who believes in the startup and can boost your optimism is a big boon.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#113

Post by epkann »

pg wrote: post #36
bgnm2000 wrote: post #19

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

Off the top of my head, I'd say 10-20% of groups have someone who's a pure business person, in the sense of not being able to program. More commonly there's one programmer who's more outgoing than the rest, and he or she does sales initially.

It's interesting that YCombinator, which values hackers so highly, included one pure business person (Jessica) among its four partners. Could you explain the reasoning behind that decision? What expertise did Jessica bring that Paul, Robert, and Trevor lack? More generally, when should founders consider bringing on a non-hacker as a co-founder?

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#114

Post by yumraj »

pg wrote: post #68
yumraj wrote: post #58

How about someone who needs guidance more than money. Like, someone who is currently employed and wants to do something on the side till it makes sense to go solo and maybe would need funding at that point. Would YC be interested/willing to consider this model and engage with such founder(s) to help review ideas, business models etc.?

What would have to change for it to make sense to go solo?

brlewis is close, I will add mortgage :).

I can live on a Ramen-diet (I prefer cereal though), but not everyone is in(or just out of) college.

The process I'm envisioning is:

1) YC helps founders in this situation vet their ideas, possibly get in touch with others in similar situation and form teams (if needed).

2) YC obviously takes a small stake, but not necessarily puts any real money (or puts just some money).

3) Teams build whatever they are building. Yes, these teams will take longer than dedicated teams.

4) YC helps along with guidance.

5) Once the product is beginning to take shape, founders quit their jobs and try to get funding and launch venture.

I know it will be argued that in this case I'm just trying to have my cake and eat it too, but I don't think what I'm suggesting is totally unreasonable.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#115

Post by pg »

epkann wrote: post #113
pg wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off the top of my head, I'd say 10-20% of groups have someone who's a pure business person, in the sense of not being able to program. More commonly there's one programmer who's more outgoing than the rest, and he or she does sales initially.

It's interesting that YCombinator, which values hackers so highly, included one pure business person (Jessica) among its four partners. Could you explain the reasoning behind that decision? What expertise did Jessica bring that Paul, Robert, and Trevor lack? More generally, when should founders consider bringing on a non-hacker as a co-founder?

Jessica came from an investment bank. She deals with all the legal documents, gets startups incorporated, and so on. She also organizes all the events; we have a lot of those.

At least, that's what we thought we were getting. She also turns out to be an extremely good judge of character, better than any of us. One of her nicknames is "the social radar."

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#116

Post by pg »

skywalker wrote: post #83

PG, please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage.

One day in grad school my advisor unexpectedly said something along the lines of "so, are you nearly done with your dissertation?" I was nowhere near done. But, keeping calm, I replied that yes, while I had a few things to finish up, I thought I should be done in time to graduate that June. Then I went back to my office and started writing as fast as I could. I finished about a day before the deadline. The result was not particularly good, but it got me out of grad school, which was all I wanted at the time.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#117

Post by Ardit20 »

So if the applicant is completely open about their idea and tells you everything, projected data, perhaps past or present data also, fully lay out the idea, how it would work, marketing, everything basically, what is there stopping you from simply executing this idea yourself?

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#118

Post by pg »

terpua wrote: post #95

Would you consider a competitor to an already YC-backed startup?

Probably. We're going to have to face this eventually. Plus any sufficiently rich market probably has room for several permutations.

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#119

Post by Mz »

jamiequint wrote: post #111
Mz wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if that's a useful answer for me. There is currently about $3B/year being spent on something I have a cheaper, better solution for. The problem is everyone thinks I'm crazy. There is a huge gap between current thinking on the problem and my thinking on the problem. So most sources of revenue currently available to pay that $3B/year bill would be unlikely to be available to pay for any product I put out t…

If its a $3B/yr market your company, if it delivers what you say, could almost certainly make $50M a year even accounting for the market shrinking drastically, couldn't it?

Roflol.

Short, probably flippant-sounding description: I have discovered The Cure for cystic fibrosis. And it is a videogame!

(Actually it's a lifestyle. But mere words have so far proven wholly unable to convey the necessary paradigm shift. So I need a simulation -- aka a computer game. Probably web-based, in part so that advertising can generate revenue since the only viable price point is probably "Free". But also in hopes of generating an online community...etc.)

The roughly $3B is medical expenses spent on roughly 30,000 people. Getting well doesn't happen overnight. It's taken me over eight years to get off all medication. (I am currently drug free for the first time in nearly 9 years, as of early June.) So I have zero reason to believe that I can tap directly into the billions spent annually on drugs, doctors and hospitalizations. Insurance won't pay for the supplements or dietary and lifestyle changes that have allowed me to get well (and they certainly won't pay for a "game").

And the list of issues goes on.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming. Thanks for the feedback. :-D (Sincere thanks. Scout's honor...so to speak.)

Re: How to Apply to Y Combinator

#120

Post by christonog »

smikhanov wrote: post #103
pg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason for "(non-computer)" is that we wanted to distinguish between hacking in the sense of programming, and hacking in the sense of beating the system.

"Beating the system" makes me think of rebellion. Is this really what you looking for in applicants? Does non-conformism really matter that much?

I think what pg means by this question is: "how resourceful are you in getting want you want/need?" I believe Entrepreneurs need to be creative and relentless in finding exactly what they need to succeed.
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