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Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#31

Post by SwellJoe »

nuweborder wrote: post #13

I too could see how some applicants would feel uneasy about this decision. Considering these are smart and savvy founders that are not investors in the applicants. Good thing YC is offering the "unapply" option for applicants. For example, the founders of http://www.thesixtyone.com , if they so happen to read my application, a lightbulb may go off in their heads. But as YC has stated, they have agreed to stop reading…

For example, the founders of http://www.thesixtyone.com, if they so happen to read my application, a lightbulb may go off in their heads.

Take additional comfort in the knowledge that YC teams are small, and have far more ideas and light bulbs going off in their heads than they have time to implement. Ideas are not in short supply. Time to implement, ability to execute well, ability to connect with markets, and the focus to deliver a compelling product that makes peoples lives better in some small way in a reasonable time frame are. So, even if your idea is brilliant and new, and even if it would help thesixtyone, and even if they saw your application, it's unlikely they would recognize it as a "killer feature" and it's even more unlikely they would have time from their existing product development schedule (which they probably also believe has some "killer features" on it) to implement it in an effective manner.

Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#33

Post by matthodan »

I'd love for a bunch of the YC founders to review my application-- I feel like I've spent the last several weeks getting every smart person (including YC founders) I could find to read my application. Who knows, maybe one of the YC founders will see something that piques their curiosity. It'd be great if this process generated constructive feedback or a partnership opportunity.

A minute or two of mind share from YC founders sounds better to me than 30 seconds from the YC partners.

Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#34

Post by [deleted] »

pg wrote: post #7
jpwagner wrote: post #3

While I personally don't have a problem with this, I can fathom how some would. What about (1) announcing who is reading and (2) allowing applicants to specify who should NOT read their application. Just a thought, there should probably be some more thought on this kind of privacy/conflict since they will not be investors and I'm assuming you will make this standard procedure.

I'd rather make the system based on trusting people. Also, paranoia about secrecy is one of our selection criteria. E.g. every cycle there are a few applications that say they won't tell us any details about what they're doing without an NDA. We thereupon instantly hit "next." People who think their startup's success is going to follow from their immensely valuable secret idea are disproportionately likely to have ba…

[deleted]

Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#35

Post by staunch »

lloydarmbrust wrote: post #21
staunch wrote: post #8

Maybe there's a way a limited version of the app could be viewable by the alumni, and only the complete viewable by the YC partners?

That seems like over optimizing. Setting up a limited app would probably take longer than just having the four YC people read all the apps themselves.

A few of the application's questions could be designated alumni-readable and marked as such.

Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#36

Post by abstractbill »

vaksel wrote: post #9
jpwagner wrote: post #3

While I personally don't have a problem with this, I can fathom how some would. What about (1) announcing who is reading and (2) allowing applicants to specify who should NOT read their application. Just a thought, there should probably be some more thought on this kind of privacy/conflict since they will not be investors and I'm assuming you will make this standard procedure.

agreed, investors reading something is no big deal, since they aren't going to go out and use your ideas. A possible competitor reading it is a whole other story all together.

Actually it's really not. At justin.tv we already have a list as long as my arm of great ideas that we don't have time to implement. Seeing a few more great ideas from a potential competitor wouldn't make much difference to us in my opinion.

Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#37

Post by btilly »

To me the question boils down to, "Do you trust YC to have the right people reading your application to make a good decision?" I know that they have high enough volume that it makes no sense for pg to make every decision personally.

What I just read is, "They have found a way to scale higher and while sticking to high quality people who have direct experience with what you want to do."

That makes the answer to the first question a "Yes". :-)

Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#38

Post by fjabre »

Even though fears of a pre-facebook Zuckerberg reading your ideas about a new social networking site are valid it seems to me that this more of an exception than a rule.. but it does seem like a valid concern..

The only other thing I would add is that given the rising popularity of YC it seems only natural that PG and friends would like some qualified help.

At any rate, were someone to actually successfully steal your idea, this person would probably be found out and disowned by the community and YC. In other words, there is plenty of incentive for people not to steal.

Re: Announcement: YC alumni will help us read applications

#39

Post by adrianwaj »

"They've agreed to (a) stop reading any application that seems like it will compete with something their startup is doing or plans to."

You could have an answer-by-answer reveal button, to see who stops reading and when. That'd remove the temptation to break this rule. There could be post-submission round-up by to see if the trust was actually there.

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