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The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

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Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#51

Post by btilly »

jl wrote: post #23
hussong wrote: post #4

Heh, waiting for the post-interview phone call was a real nail-biter, we basically spent the entire evening waiting for the phone to ring. But it didn't. It didn't even occur to us that they might call our land line back home until we got the email the next morning. Remotely checking the answering machine was fun too, hadn't used that feature in ages and the code didn't work (turns out you can't send DTMF tones when…

Or just be sure to tell me at the end of the interview which number you'd like us to call that night.

From the article, We’d given Jessica cards with our cell-phone numbers on them during the interview, but that didn’t seem to have registered.

I take that to mean that they tried to make it clear how to call them, but for whatever reason signals got crossed.

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#53

Post by wheels »

chrischen wrote: post #50
joez wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think YC is sufficiently competitive that teams without a demo (on the application) will not even get an interview. Also (I believe it has been said), the two weeks from when you're notified to the weekend of the interview should be sufficient to produce some kind of early stage demo. Your startup idea might be unfit for YC if you can't at least have something to show in two weeks of fervent work.

Thanks for the advice. I was under the impression that the demo would be unimportant, and since I'm in school right now, I thought I'd go slow at it unless I am accepted. I can whip up something in two weeks easy (even with school), but I didn't submit a demo in the application because I didn't think it would be necessary, so I focused on developing the idea instead.

Trevor talked about this in the comments to my article on applying to YC:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=854088

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#54

Post by leelin »

Did you guys happen to do much mingling in the waiting area just before or just after your interview?

We got to the interview super early and ended up chatting with Kate (we asked her how to get to In and Out), Skysheets Dan (saw his demo), and two other interviewing teams that were accepted. Then there were two less social teams who sat in the corner with their laptops, I guess nervously testing their demo one last time.

Maybe I'm over-fitting, but for me the nerve-calming benefits of being social in the waiting room was helpful.

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#55

Post by chrischen »

wheels wrote: post #53
chrischen wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the advice. I was under the impression that the demo would be unimportant, and since I'm in school right now, I thought I'd go slow at it unless I am accepted. I can whip up something in two weeks easy (even with school), but I didn't submit a demo in the application because I didn't think it would be necessary, so I focused on developing the idea instead.

Trevor talked about this in the comments to my article on applying to YC: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=854088

I guess what my situation was that I could balance school and the application, or school and the prototype. While I had an urge to work on the prototype I always felt guilty because frankly the application has a deadline, the prototype does not. Actually after the application deadline I was able to get back to the prototype.

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#56

Post by tomjen2 »

pg wrote: post #44
sailormoon wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not obvious to me at all. I admit I have difficulty conceiving of advice so compelling I'd travel to America to receive it. Fair enough I guess. People pay what they think it is worth. That's capitalism; no argument from me. I am not trolling. Carry on.

It shouldn't be that difficult to imagine. It's a very old tradition to travel long distances in search of specialized knowledge. Practically every famous medieval scholar did. But of course the tradition is way older than that. In the mid 6th century BC Pythagoras went to study in Egypt, and his biographer Porphyry said "It was from his stay among these foreigners that Pythagoras acquired the greater part of his wis…

Sure, but the world has changed in the several centuries since.

Today travelling across the world to receive information isn't something most people would do - or even think about. After all, the price of information has crashed even more than stocks in Lehrman Brothers.

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#57

Post by peripitea »

First, congratulations! I'm curious how you are setting up a company in the United States if you or one of your co-founders is from Germany? I've been trying to figure out the whole startup-as-a-foreigner thing (I'm Canadian), and so far I haven't been able to find any good info.

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#58

Post by netcan »

tomjen2 wrote: post #56
pg wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shouldn't be that difficult to imagine. It's a very old tradition to travel long distances in search of specialized knowledge. Practically every famous medieval scholar did. But of course the tradition is way older than that. In the mid 6th century BC Pythagoras went to study in Egypt, and his biographer Porphyry said "It was from his stay among these foreigners that Pythagoras acquired the greater part of his wis…

Sure, but the world has changed in the several centuries since. Today travelling across the world to receive information isn't something most people would do - or even think about. After all, the price of information has crashed even more than stocks in Lehrman Brothers.

That's not the point being made. The point is that the concept of travelling for wisdom should be familiar. Like fighting dragons to get princesses.

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#59

Post by pg »

tomjen2 wrote: post #56
pg wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shouldn't be that difficult to imagine. It's a very old tradition to travel long distances in search of specialized knowledge. Practically every famous medieval scholar did. But of course the tradition is way older than that. In the mid 6th century BC Pythagoras went to study in Egypt, and his biographer Porphyry said "It was from his stay among these foreigners that Pythagoras acquired the greater part of his wis…

Sure, but the world has changed in the several centuries since. Today travelling across the world to receive information isn't something most people would do - or even think about. After all, the price of information has crashed even more than stocks in Lehrman Brothers.

Actually travelling great distances as part of one's education is more common, not less. I wouldn't be surprised if at least a million people a year move to distant towns to go to college or grad school every year in the US alone.

Re: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

#60

Post by pg »

mahmud wrote: post #14

Anyone know if YC is doing traditional companies? i.e. advertising and real-estate. Don't need the money but could really use the "blessing". They have some of the most enviable media contacts in the industry right now.

We'll fund anything that scales like a startup. We had a very promising startup doing real estate two cycles ago, but they fell apart due to disputes between the founders. I still think it was a great idea.
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