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Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

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Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#31

Post by [deleted] »

pg wrote: post #29
pg wrote: post #28

What happens when I read this: File syncing. Superset of backups, which people will pay for. Good. Single founder. Bad. But at least he's looking for more people. Went to MIT, 1600 SAT. Probably fairly smart. Wrote a poker bot. Now I'm starting to get interested; has the right attitude. Description of the software sounds plausible but generic. Maybe it's good, but who can tell. But little sister uses it; that's impre…

I went back and looked at this application in our system, and I did in fact give it an A-. An A- means "I want to interview." An A means "I want to interview, even if Rtm and Trevor don't." I only gave 2 As in s2007. (We funded both those companies, and both did badly.)

[deleted]

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#32

Post by zhyder »

pg wrote: post #29
pg wrote: post #28

What happens when I read this: File syncing. Superset of backups, which people will pay for. Good. Single founder. Bad. But at least he's looking for more people. Went to MIT, 1600 SAT. Probably fairly smart. Wrote a poker bot. Now I'm starting to get interested; has the right attitude. Description of the software sounds plausible but generic. Maybe it's good, but who can tell. But little sister uses it; that's impre…

I went back and looked at this application in our system, and I did in fact give it an A-. An A- means "I want to interview." An A means "I want to interview, even if Rtm and Trevor don't." I only gave 2 As in s2007. (We funded both those companies, and both did badly.)

Beautiful, thanks for the insight into the process.

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#33

Post by mkramlich »

What happens when Mike reads this:

I think, "Brilliant!" To my eyes, you can tell the applicant is sharp, has put a lot of thought into the problem area, has a breadth of technical skills, has a track record that shows he had ambition, vision and can execute, and oh, by the way, he's out to solve a real problem that people have every day. So yeah, that's a good application to study. And it helps that, since then, at least in my opinion as a big user and fan of Dropbox as it works today, he has successfully executed on that vision and plan. Well done, man. Well done.

And bonus points for having Python in the stack. :)

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#34

Post by ivankirigin »

pg wrote: post #29
pg wrote: post #28

What happens when I read this: File syncing. Superset of backups, which people will pay for. Good. Single founder. Bad. But at least he's looking for more people. Went to MIT, 1600 SAT. Probably fairly smart. Wrote a poker bot. Now I'm starting to get interested; has the right attitude. Description of the software sounds plausible but generic. Maybe it's good, but who can tell. But little sister uses it; that's impre…

I went back and looked at this application in our system, and I did in fact give it an A-. An A- means "I want to interview." An A means "I want to interview, even if Rtm and Trevor don't." I only gave 2 As in s2007. (We funded both those companies, and both did badly.)

You should give founders these notes from the application during YC. It's gotta be brutally honest, probably more so than you are to someone's face.

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#36

Post by pg »

ivankirigin wrote: post #34
pg wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went back and looked at this application in our system, and I did in fact give it an A-. An A- means "I want to interview." An A means "I want to interview, even if Rtm and Trevor don't." I only gave 2 As in s2007. (We funded both those companies, and both did badly.)

You should give founders these notes from the application during YC. It's gotta be brutally honest, probably more so than you are to someone's face.

I don't actually write this stuff down. That was just what my train of thought was while reading the application.

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#37

Post by whatusername »

jpeterson wrote: post #25
dcurtis wrote: post #24

"Dropbox synchronizes files across your/your team's computers. It's much better than uploading or email, because it's automatic, integrated into Windows, and fits into the way you already work. There's also a web interface, and the files are securely backed up to Amazon S3. Dropbox is kind of like taking the best elements of subversion, trac and rsync and making them "just work" for the average individual or team. Ha…

If you already know what subversion, trac, and rsync are.

And since he was pitching to PG - then it was completely appropriate. Your elevator pitch can change based on who you are talking to.

case in point, the pitch to his sister is/was: "You'll be able to keep track of all your high school term papers, and you wont need to burn CDs or carry USB sticks anymore."

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#38

Post by [deleted] »

pg wrote: post #36
ivankirigin wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should give founders these notes from the application during YC. It's gotta be brutally honest, probably more so than you are to someone's face.

I don't actually write this stuff down. That was just what my train of thought was while reading the application.

[deleted]

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#39

Post by BRadmin »

pg wrote: post #28

What happens when I read this: File syncing. Superset of backups, which people will pay for. Good. Single founder. Bad. But at least he's looking for more people. Went to MIT, 1600 SAT. Probably fairly smart. Wrote a poker bot. Now I'm starting to get interested; has the right attitude. Description of the software sounds plausible but generic. Maybe it's good, but who can tell. But little sister uses it; that's impre…

"Did not make the usual joke single founders make when asked how long the founders have known one another."

What's the usual joke?...

Re: Dropbox's Summer 07 YC Application

#40

Post by cschep »

BRadmin wrote: post #39
pg wrote: post #28

What happens when I read this: File syncing. Superset of backups, which people will pay for. Good. Single founder. Bad. But at least he's looking for more people. Went to MIT, 1600 SAT. Probably fairly smart. Wrote a poker bot. Now I'm starting to get interested; has the right attitude. Description of the software sounds plausible but generic. Maybe it's good, but who can tell. But little sister uses it; that's impre…

"Did not make the usual joke single founders make when asked how long the founders have known one another." What's the usual joke?...

I assume it's "my whole life! /smilewink".
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