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YC Fellowship

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC Fellowship

#271

Post by kasbah »

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.

Where would be best to put this in the application form? I have explained that I am looking for co-founders and what I look for in them in the "Is there anything else we should know about your company?" section and am at the word limit. Can't seem to find a question that prompts me to to talk about how I will make do for the time being.

Re: YC Fellowship

#272

Post by wmboy »

mattkrisiloff wrote: post #3
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! Matt here -- I'll be managing YC Fellowship. I'll be answering questions here throughout the day alongside Kat and Sam.

Hi Matt, we run a web design & development business and have been trying to free up resource to work on a saas product which we already have potential customers lined up for...

We would put full-time focus on this, but we can't really close up shop completely, we could put projects on hold, but we'd need to at least lightly manage/delegate tasks when things come up occasionally. Is that going to work?

Re: YC Fellowship

#274

Post by _delirium »

dean wrote: post #230
arihant wrote: post #167

I'm not sure why it is repeated over and over that 12k is small sum of money. 12k can easily pay off 2-3 months rent, server costs, marketing stuff, even a few flights. That's mental peace for 12 weeks to build something with 100% focus. That's an extremely high value priviledge. This should make sense for a lot of startups.

3k a month for a two-founder team. A single guy with no other obligations living in a cheap place might be able to pull it off. Married with kids -- forget it.

Eh, $3k/mo is not a great income, but it's exaggerating to say that it's an income only for a "single guy with no other obligations living in a cheap place". It's a typical middle-class American income, in fact it's almost exactly equal to the median income of a full-time worker in the United States [1]. Which, yes, is not great (the middle-class in the U.S. is not in great condition at the moment), but it's clearly neither just young single guys nor the bottom quintile living on that level of income. And, in larger households typically there's nowadays an expectation of two income earners.

Now if the goal is to entice people making 6 figures at a tech job to quit their jobs and join this program, it probably isn't enough money. But maybe that isn't the goal?

[1] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t01.htm

Re: YC Fellowship

#275

Post by mattkrisiloff »

kasbah wrote: post #271
mattkrisiloff wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Where would be best to put this in the application form? I have explained that I am looking for co-founders and what I look for in them in the "Is there anything else we should know about your company?" section and am at the word limit. Can't seem to find a question that prompts me to to talk about how I will make do for the time being.

You could put it in your video -- that's how Parker Conrad from Zenefits did it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S83fysRwn4&feature=youtu.be

Re: YC Fellowship

#277

Post by Killswitch »

hydandata wrote: post #262

For me, the key is that they are even considering remote. I think that really is the part that is needed to get to another 10x. I am not saying remote work is intrinsically 10x better in quality or quantity, I am thinking about it more from the point of view of people who cannot or will not travel, new people that can be reached this way. Take myself for example: I do have this thing that I am working on.. but I also…

Same, I have a family and obligations in midwest USA. It's not feasible for me to move to the bay area for 3 months.

Re: YC Fellowship

#278

Post by jebblue »

staunch wrote: post #75

This could shift how technology is funded on a scale much larger than YC already has. Teams probably need more like $50k, but even $12k is going to be the difference for some great people. Congrats to YC for pushing things forward, again. Let a million flowers bloom!

12K is more than I'd make in a month (because I'm a terrible negotiator when it comes to money - and old) but what do they want you to get done in what 5 or 6 weeks?

Re: YC Fellowship

#279

Post by lnanek2 »

bicknergseng wrote: post #172
arihant wrote: post #167

I'm not sure why it is repeated over and over that 12k is small sum of money. 12k can easily pay off 2-3 months rent, server costs, marketing stuff, even a few flights. That's mental peace for 12 weeks to build something with 100% focus. That's an extremely high value priviledge. This should make sense for a lot of startups.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/networth/article/Average... 12k is a small sum of money in SF. Assuming the founders don't want to live together in a studio, looking at >5k month in just rent. Other costs of living are also high. This leaves almost nothing for any actual start up costs. Makes some sense if you're 22 and have no dependents, but 12k wouldn't be persuasive for a Bay Area founder with a family.

For rich people, it is a small sum. I've lived in a private room in East Palo Alto while working on startups for years for $500/month rent. If having your own private place is a must, I think you should be working at a big company anyway, since you sure aren't sacrificing any comfort for your startup.

Re: YC Fellowship

#280

Post by jebblue »

jrowen wrote: post #269
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 would really love to see an option for people who are not in this group. I'm sure many people would. Your proposal appears to be that YC do this exact program, but with a 200k+ grant instead of 12k. This is obviously not feasible, given that these grants are being awarded for little more than an idea. Founding a startup is a huge risk, there's no way around that. If you're at a point in life where you can't afford…

"This is obviously not feasible, given that these grants are being awarded for little more than an idea."

A patent is an idea, sometimes worth nothing and sometimes worth 10's of Billions.

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