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YC Fellowship

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC Fellowship

#301

Post by [deleted] »

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?

[deleted]

Re: YC Fellowship

#302

Post by songgao »

arjunnarayan wrote: post #236
songgao wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Kat, thanks for being available for questions! I'm currently on F-1 (student) visa, and I'll be graduating soon. And I think this may represent some other people's situation as well. In order to maintain the visa status after graduation while working, I'll need an OPT (Optional Practical Training). OPT is supported by the school AND a company that hires the person full-time, and is commonly used before the employ…

You don't need a job offer to do OPT. I'm on an F-1 student visa in the US, and just finished a PhD, and will be starting a company on OPT. You even qualify for the STEM extension (you just have to register your business on e-verify). This gives a total of 29 months of runway, which is more time than I have money for. You don't need any help from YC to do this - talk to your international student office, they process…

Thanks for sharing. I guess registering your own company e-verify counts that you are employed, so you don't need to worry about the 90 days unemployment limit? Also good luck with your start-up!

Re: YC Fellowship

#303

Post by markm208 »

Was there any reason why this wasn't timed for the summer months?

It seems like a lot of entrepreneurial college students would love to spend their summer working on their ideas. Perhaps it just came together at this time but in hindsight I wonder if summer is a more logical time since students have the free time anyway. The 12K would allow them to easily live/eat too.

I can even imagine involving college professors and students. Then it might disrupt entrepreneurship education in higher ed.

Re: YC Fellowship

#304

Post by IsaacL »

dschiptsov wrote: post #297

BTW, there are places, like Nepal, where $12k could buy a lot more for a team. Kathmandu could be a hub for backpacker coders and small teams. It is an ideal place for coding camps and sprints - rentals are cheap. Also it is an education hub of a small country, so there is no shortage of English speaking CS students. Nepal needs new visitors after earthquake.

I'm in Chiang Mai, Thailand right now, and $12k would also go a lot further here. Maybe I'll look at Nepal next, and it would be interesting both for personal adventure and to help the local economy recover... but what puts me off is the internet speed - how fast is it out there?

Re: YC Fellowship

#305

Post by hazzajay »

Schwolop wrote: post #286
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.

Are there any plans to do a normal YC program (7%/$120k) but also be inclusive of remote teams? 0% for $12k is obviously a great deal, but my main stumbling block has always been the loss of income from dropping paid work, and $12k over two months is barely half an engineer's salary - let alone to cover multiple team members. That said, it may well be enough to make someone like me think "well, at least I won't be ea…

You aren't "earning 12K" you are using that 12K to kick start your idea.

Re: YC Fellowship

#306

Post by CydeWeys »

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…

People with years of experience who have already been in industry should already have lots of money saved up. The $12K is useful for college students with no money and loans.

Joining a startup is only not feasible later in life if you're living paycheck to paycheck, which you shouldn't be doing for other reasons.

Re: YC Fellowship

#307

Post by jebblue »

nostrademons wrote: post #282
jebblue wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

Some would say that the fact that a patent is sometimes worth 10s of billions is a flaw in the current legal system. While true, I don't think YC is in the business of funding patent trolls.

A patent being worth billions is absolutely not a flaw of any legal system.

Re: YC Fellowship

#308

Post by tw04 »

CydeWeys wrote: post #306
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…

People with years of experience who have already been in industry should already have lots of money saved up. The $12K is useful for college students with no money and loans. Joining a startup is only not feasible later in life if you're living paycheck to paycheck, which you shouldn't be doing for other reasons.

People who have a family generally aren't excited to burn their safety net on a hope and a dream. At least I'm not. I would imagine most, like me, would expect that safety net to carry them through finding a new job should the YC thing not pan out.

Or are you implying that you think everyone with 10 years of experience has a year of living expenses in the bank? If so, I tip my hat to you, but paying off student loans, buying a house, and having a kid haven't really made that a possibility for me.

Re: YC Fellowship

#309

Post by mattkrisiloff »

kasbah wrote: post #298
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.

Would it be ok to apply solo but also as a co-founder on another team?

Please only submit one application! Figure out whether you'd rather work on your solo project or with the co-founder, and then choose whichever idea you think is more promising.

Re: YC Fellowship

#310

Post by mattkrisiloff »

Schwolop wrote: post #295
mattkrisiloff wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're requiring that you'll work on it full-time for 8 weeks, but we hope you'll commit to it longer; the most important founder trait to us is determination -- answering no to that question won't disqualify you, but we'd love it if you were able to answer yes!

How about a conditional yes? e.g. "We've been working on this project( ) for over a year on evenings and weekends, collectively contributing >1500 effort hours, and we have spent $75k on rent and expenses. To keep that going, and have each member meet their familial costs, at least some of us need to earn money from consulting. However, if sufficient follow-on funding can be found, we'd be very glad to answer yes, an…

I'd say you should answer that question honestly there, but explain the situation in the video you make. We're pretty understanding, and don't want to discourage people from giving their ideas a real try.
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