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I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#213

Post by pquerna »

johndoe42 wrote: post #144

Hello Sam, First, thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. My question is about confidentiality of applications. Today I am working at a YC startup. I (and two other friends) have a project in mind. But what prevents me from applying to YC is the fear that my application would fall in the inbox of our founders. Obviously I would prefer our application to remain confidential until if they we get…

I may or may not of applied to YC before; I decided to tell all of YC founders working at the same company ahead of time for this reason. It can get at least a little complicated when some of them are managers... of people applying.

Most of the YC founders ended up helping us with the application, and it wasn't a big deal, but I fully understand this feeling.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#214

Post by wonderful1970 »

sama wrote: post #161
wonderful1970 wrote: post #154

Hi Sam, I'd like to apply to YC, but my market is not in the US. Is it something rational? Does it worth?

We've funded many companies working only on non-US markets. Razorpay is an example of one in the current batch.

Thanks

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#215

Post by hollerith »

sama wrote: post #51
noahlt wrote: post #27

Your recent stats blog post told us that 32 YC companies are worth more than $100 million. How many YC companies, including those acquired, are worth more than $10 million?

Counting companies that have raised with SAFEs but not equity rounds, probably about 250-300.

I hope this is not a dumb question, what method are you using the estimate the worth of the ones that have raised with SAFEs?

If the answer is that you made guesses not backed by calculations, then how long have you been writing down your guesses, then going back periodically to compare them with valuations calculated from exits and equity rounds?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#216

Post by pquerna »

treeform wrote: post #197
oplesoptimist wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, I'm in the same situation, and I was kinda trying to not think about it! I'd assumed YC applications were a "safe" place? (No?)

We were in the same situation. But we were completely open with our YC founders and they helped us a lot in getting into YC and with tons of advice. It seems like you are building the relation ship wrong based on some sort of deception. I would think about it.

This works OK when you have direct relationships with the YC Founders -- but when you are only tangentially connected in a big company... It is hard to know where rumors go.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#217

Post by ninebrows »

If the product is good and if the product has a single co-founder, what are the chances of getting accepted?

The reason is that I live in a place where it's very hard to find a good co-founder and I don't want to team up with the only options that I have. I don't want to make wrong choices. In my place, people tend to join companies and look for jobs rather than start companies.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#218

Post by johndoe42 »

treeform wrote: post #197
oplesoptimist wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh man, I'm in the same situation, and I was kinda trying to not think about it! I'd assumed YC applications were a "safe" place? (No?)

We were in the same situation. But we were completely open with our YC founders and they helped us a lot in getting into YC and with tons of advice. It seems like you are building the relation ship wrong based on some sort of deception. I would think about it.

Thank you treeform for your answer. I agree that if this would be possible this would be the best way to go.

Unfortunately all the founders are not the same, and mine are not opened AT ALL to these kind of initiatives :)

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#219

Post by sama »

johndoe42 wrote: post #144

Hello Sam, First, thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. My question is about confidentiality of applications. Today I am working at a YC startup. I (and two other friends) have a project in mind. But what prevents me from applying to YC is the fear that my application would fall in the inbox of our founders. Obviously I would prefer our application to remain confidential until if they we get…

We do have some alumni help us review applications. There is a chance the founders of your startup would randomly see your application.

HOWEVER, you should not only start a startup if you get into YC. If you're into this startup, you should be doing it whether or not YC funds you. It's a big red flag for us when people only want to work on a startup if they get into YC.

Also, in general, if you're planning to start a startup at some point, talk to the founders of the startup you're currently working at. They'll generally be very understanding.

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