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YC Fellowship

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC Fellowship

#241

Post by ethnomusicolog »

tajen wrote: post #190
throwaway41597 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YCF offers office hours for 8 weeks, two events with the partners and the alumni network. And the $12k and €42k are not mutually exclusive. How many €10M+ companies got started with ACCRE money? Probably not even as many as there are $1B+ YC companies.

Do we even have €10M+ startups in France? Besides Gemalto which is 30 years old. There's just no way we could create an Apple in France. It's too agressive, therefore we would forbid it.

I think algolia might count soon given their last funding round.

Re: YC Fellowship

#242

Post by beatpanda »

I really wish Sam Altman et all would stop both encouraging and requiring teams they fund to move to the Bay Area, because it is distorting the life out of the economy here and ruining the lives of everyone not employed in the tech industry. And before you ask, no, the attendant increase in service industry jobs does not balance out the damage done by the software industry. There are other places that need the economic boost, and we're full. Thanks.

Re: YC Fellowship

#243

Post by foobarqux »

mattkrisiloff wrote: post #126
omouse wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I thought Zenefits was started by the SigFig team.

Re: YC Fellowship

#244

Post by nsheth17 »

Do teams have to pay taxes on the grant money? I'm asking because I know prize money from things like hackathons are taxed.

$12k can last 2 months full-time for a team of 2 ($3k/mo/founder). But if there are taxes, taking home only 65% of $12k ($8k, or $2k/mo/founder) would probably not be enough, at least not in or around major cities.

Re: YC Fellowship

#245

Post by throwaway41597 »

tajen wrote: post #190
throwaway41597 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YCF offers office hours for 8 weeks, two events with the partners and the alumni network. And the $12k and €42k are not mutually exclusive. How many €10M+ companies got started with ACCRE money? Probably not even as many as there are $1B+ YC companies.

Do we even have €10M+ startups in France? Besides Gemalto which is 30 years old. There's just no way we could create an Apple in France. It's too agressive, therefore we would forbid it.

Iliad is a €10B telco started about 20 years ago by a twenty-something. There was Business Objects which sold for some billions circa 2000. Criteo started in the 2000s and is worth billions. In tech, there are also DailyMotion, Deezer, BlaBlaCar, Withings and Sigfox in the €100M+ range.

YC certainly fares better in a decade than France in 30 years. But you shouldn't be self-deprecating, or you may start to believe it's impossible to start a startup in France. When there's a will, there's a way.

Anyhow, we're getting off-topic.

Re: YC Fellowship

#246

Post by wesleyy »

nsheth17 wrote: post #244

Do teams have to pay taxes on the grant money? I'm asking because I know prize money from things like hackathons are taxed. $12k can last 2 months full-time for a team of 2 ($3k/mo/founder). But if there are taxes, taking home only 65% of $12k ($8k, or $2k/mo/founder) would probably not be enough, at least not in or around major cities.

it's in the faq, you have to pay taxes if your team is not incorporated.

Re: YC Fellowship

#247

Post by billconan »

ghufran_syed wrote: post #152
billconan wrote: post #88

this is great, but the real obstacle for me is the green card. I'm on h1b, can't do anything. :(

You can still do the fellowship: the h1b rules say you're not allowed to take other paid employment, but the fellowship will not be employment. Think of it as working for free on your project + winning a (very small) lottery :)

no, I can't. they said I have to work full-time during that 8 weeks.

Re: YC Fellowship

#248

Post by matznerd »

beatpanda wrote: post #242

I really wish Sam Altman et all would stop both encouraging and requiring teams they fund to move to the Bay Area, because it is distorting the life out of the economy here and ruining the lives of everyone not employed in the tech industry. And before you ask, no, the attendant increase in service industry jobs does not balance out the damage done by the software industry. There are other places that need the econom…

I think yours is a very selfish attitude. The people and the atmosphere in San Francisco and Silicon Valley are some of the biggest assets and they cannot be found in the same way in any other cities.

Re: YC Fellowship

#249

Post by wj »

dean wrote: post #232

This is a good idea and a great opportunity for many people. And I think it's fantastic that YC is doing this. However, I can't help feeling it really is intended for young people recently out of school, who have no other immediate financial obligations. I would really love to see an option for people who are not in this group. Let's imagine someone who is married, with a couple of kids and a mortgage. Right away, YC…

I'm married with two kids and a mortgage and I am applying. I am in an industry that has tons of room for innovation but the established firms (banks) really struggle with it as I have seen throughout my career. Too much riding on the status quo.

I read this a week or so ago and I think it is applicable to my (and many other) industries.

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/technology-small-fish-a...

I've been thinking about this startup for a few years and now is the time to make the jump. I'm not getting any younger. :)

Re: YC Fellowship

#250

Post by sama »

dean wrote: post #232

This is a good idea and a great opportunity for many people. And I think it's fantastic that YC is doing this. However, I can't help feeling it really is intended for young people recently out of school, who have no other immediate financial obligations. I would really love to see an option for people who are not in this group. Let's imagine someone who is married, with a couple of kids and a mortgage. Right away, YC…

There's no question that having a low personal burn rate is an advantage when it comes to starting a startup.

That said, there are a lot of alternatives. There are more seed funds now than ever before. One of the reasons we did this program is that we believe there is hole in this part of the market--it feels like there are more people willing to write a $100k check than a $12k check.

Practically speaking, we also felt this was where we could make the most impact with dollars we're giving away. $12MM is the price of a small series B, or 1000 YC Fellowships.

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