61–70 of 399 posts
Don't underestimate that 12k + YC network and help. Most unicorns that came from the YC program started with 20k not long ago. Too much money can kill a small and inexperienced team, be lean, scrappy and bootstrap to prove then raise to grow.
This is exactly why Y Combinator is the best. This is what leadership is (and what those other accelerators do, is follow the lead). > but as always we’ll consider solo founders too. Please be extremely open minded about solo founders. I feel that is one consideration that hasn't been adapted with the changing tech landscape.
> Please be extremely open minded about solo founders. I feel that is one consideration that hasn't been adapted with the changing tech landscape. This is something I always worry about too. I have several really amazing people that I could partner with on a few different things but due to financial obligations there isn't anyway they'd be able to join full time unless there was an investment. So pitching as a solo a…
can people working on side-projects/ideas while having a Full time job take part in this?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
hey Matt, what are key differences b/w the fellowship and the YC incubator?
It's a 12k equity-free grant, it lasts for 8 weeks, you can do it remotely, and it's primarily meant for idea and prototype-stage companies. No dinners and no formal Demo Day, but there will be kickoff and end events in Mountain View where teams will present to the YC community. We'll fly out remote teams for those.
My company released lots of products, all of them had critical acclaim and high user reviews, but we ran out of money before releasing our main product, and we never had marketing money, so our sales are nowhere interesting.
I am wondering if you consider this early enough or not. (we had no investment beside from extra money from the original founders).
A very interesting proposition! I am thrilled to see this kind of model come to life. > Selected teams are strongly encouraged to move to the Bay Area for the program, but it’s not required. I wish it wasn't so strongly encouraged. To move anywhere on a whim for 8 weeks is crazy to me, especially since the processes and tools for remote work are so readily available. It's becoming increasingly important to know and u…
Of course this will be a great opportunity for someone debating quitting a job or something, but it seems the most available people will be those just out of college.
To that end it will be interesting to actually see what types of people that this program works for and are accepted.
Kat from YC here. Sam, Matt Krisiloff and I are happy to answer any questions about the Fellowship. You can also send questions to fellowship@ycombinator.com.
This is fairly aligned with what I described before, making tiny bets or investments across large number of individuals or startups. Having said that $12,000 is too small of a figure to make a realistic impact. Rather it would be better to focus on boostrapping and making that amount every month, and continually reinvest in your business.
Kat from YC here. Sam, Matt Krisiloff and I are happy to answer any questions about the Fellowship. You can also send questions to fellowship@ycombinator.com.
Hi! Matt here -- I'll be managing YC Fellowship. I'll be answering questions here throughout the day alongside Kat and Sam.
What kind of progress do you expect founders to make by the end of the Fellowship? Put another way, if the goal of participation in Y Combinator is for companies to build enough traction to become top-tier candidates for an institutional fundraise, what is the outcome that participants in the Fellowship should hope to achieve?
Do you foresee this being available at other times in the year, like the YC program itself? A winter fellowship would be ideal for me.