I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#1

Post by sama » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:01 PM UTC

YC applications for the Summer 2015 batch are due in a week, so I thought I'd do an AMA to answer questions about applying to YC, how the program works, or anything else.

EDIT: 12:55 PM. This has been a really fun three hours, but now I have back to back meetings for the rest of the day. Sorry I couldn't answer everything--I typed as fast as I can :)

Special thanks to the YC software team for fixing an issue very quickly in the middle of this!

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#2

Post by toddsaunders » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:02 PM UTC

How has the relationship between mentors/companies changed since the batches have grown? Are there still ample opportunities for office hours, etc?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#3

Post by new_user_name » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:03 PM UTC

Having slow organic growth for our startup reduce our chances of an interview? What is the average growth week-over-week YC looks at?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#4

Post by Backlash85 » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:03 PM UTC

In your opinion do you see anything coming along that can become an alternative to the current status of the "internet"?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#5

Post by jorkos » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:04 PM UTC

What are the hardest lessons for founders to learn during YC?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#6

Post by knicksjets121 » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:04 PM UTC

Sam,

What would you say is the average amount of times a company applies before a. getting an interview at YC and b. actually getting in?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#7

Post by sama » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:04 PM UTC

toddsaunders wrote: post #2

How has the relationship between mentors/companies changed since the batches have grown? Are there still ample opportunities for office hours, etc?

Unlike most other programs, YC does not have mentors--just partners that spend all their time advising startups (and some part-time partners).

This is really important--most people give terrible startup advice, and people that do nothing but select and advise startups all day are probably the best source of good startup advice.

We split into 4 groups, and each company gets 2-3 "group partners" as their main points of contact. We encourage you to talk to these partners at least once a week, and then other partners whenever you need their specific expertise.

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#8

Post by cm2012 » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:04 PM UTC

Have you guys followed the alternative lending IPOs recently? (Lending Club and OnDeck in December, both with billion dollar valuations). What does YC think of the industry?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#9

Post by synunlimited » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:04 PM UTC

How often do you fund people on their secondary ideas compared to the main idea people apply with?

Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

#10

Post by newstargazer » Fri, Mar 20, 2015, 5:05 PM UTC

What percent of YC founders decide against relocating to Silicon Valley after demo day and any correlation between future success and being in Silicon Valley after coming out of YC?