YC Fellowship • Hacker News Board

Re: YC Fellowship

#121

Post by hkmurakami » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 6:56 PM UTC

This reminds me a lot of government entrepreneurship grants (ex: Singapore) that similarly have few strings attached, if any. I'm not sure if I've ever heard of any such things in the US (other than those related to science research spin outs), so this seems to fill a needed gap.

Kudos.

Re: YC Fellowship

#122

Post by thaumaturgy » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 6:56 PM UTC

acabrahams wrote: post #82

pilingual wrote: post #22

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.

This quote caught my eye from the FAQ section of the fellowship page: Can a single person apply for funding? Yes, but the odds of being accepted are lower. A startup is too much work for one person. A statement such as "A startup is too much work for one person" seems unusually stark and absolute for a company as progressive as YC. There are always exceptions, as mattkrisiloff as noted below.

There is a reason that solo founder companies are considered exceptional.

I've been running my own solo small business for 8 years now. No need to mince words, it sucks. Trying to do the same, but with a startup? Where rapid growth is the key indicator for whether your business is dead or alive? I honestly don't believe most people are capable.

They are very strongly advising people to get help. It's good advice.

Re: YC Fellowship

#123

Post by foob » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 6:56 PM UTC

katm wrote: post #2

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 Kat, we're very excited to hear about this and we look forward to applying. The FAQ for the normal YC program says that it's fine for the cofounders to submit separate applications focusing on different ideas. Does that apply for the fellowship as well?

Re: YC Fellowship

#124

Post by lhfaria » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 6:57 PM UTC

1) Will YC Fellowship companies be more keen to be accepted to the YC traditional program?

Re: YC Fellowship

#125

Post by mkagenius » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 6:59 PM UTC

lhfaria wrote: post #124

1) Will YC Fellowship companies be more keen to be accepted to the YC traditional program?

According to FAQ on the website, no bias as such.

Re: YC Fellowship

#126

Post by mattkrisiloff » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 6:59 PM UTC

omouse wrote: post #116

katm wrote: post #2

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.

Is there a bias against solo founders? I've yet to find any coworkers or friends that want to work on a project together (not enough technical skills or too busy working overtime at their jobs).

No bias, but it generally is harder to build a successful company as a solo founder (though totally possible! Dropbox, Zenefits, Instacart all started with solo founders). If you're applying alone, tell us how you plan to overcome the solo hurdles of being alone / managing everything to do, and if you plan to bring someone in soon, let us know.

Re: YC Fellowship

#127

Post by joshmlewis » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 6:59 PM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #99

mattkrisiloff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! Matt here -- I'll be managing YC Fellowship. I'll be answering questions here throughout the day alongside Kat and Sam.

Does YC ever consider ideas that aren't designed to be billion-dollar companies? For instance, if someone was working on a next-gen diagnostics tool for VoIP, they might realistically be able to get to $10-20M, maybe 10x if things go really well. But it's hard to see that becoming a billion+ company under any circumstances. What advice do you have for such ideas?

One of the biggest things I've learned from being around YC community is that most successful ideas start out as small but end up being very large. I would encourage you to think bigger about the fundamental problems you're solving and then how you can turn solving the immediate problem into something really big down the line. Hope this helps!

Re: YC Fellowship

#128

Post by vasilipupkin » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 7:00 PM UTC

MichaelGG wrote: post #99

mattkrisiloff wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi! Matt here -- I'll be managing YC Fellowship. I'll be answering questions here throughout the day alongside Kat and Sam.

Does YC ever consider ideas that aren't designed to be billion-dollar companies? For instance, if someone was working on a next-gen diagnostics tool for VoIP, they might realistically be able to get to $10-20M, maybe 10x if things go really well. But it's hard to see that becoming a billion+ company under any circumstances. What advice do you have for such ideas?

bootstrap. Then worry about VC money if and when you think you are ready to try to become a billion dollar company

Re: YC Fellowship

#129

Post by hasenj » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 7:00 PM UTC

What qualities do you look for in founders? Is it the same set of qualities you look for in the normal YC application? A little bit more relaxed? A little bit more strict?

Re: YC Fellowship

#130

Post by mattkrisiloff » Mon, Jul 20, 2015, 7:01 PM UTC

adamzerner wrote: post #119

Is there a catch? What does YC gain from this? A larger pool of applicants to chose from for YC? Or is this philanthropic?

No catch. We believe it's incredibly important to keep growing the number of startups throughout the world -- they're the largest drivers of innovation and change.