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Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

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11–18 of 18 posts

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#11
post #5

As a recent alumnus (S16), I encourage everyone to apply. Not as good as past companies? Apply. Don't see any companies like you? Apply. Don't see other founders that look like you? Apply. You're not quite ready and just need a few more months to polish things up? Apply. Too big for YC? Apply. Your company is starting to maybe figure things out, but also secretly kind of fucked up, but you think maybe you can pull it…

I'm sure YC is great, but I don't think everyone should apply. It's a waste of time if you're seasoned and it leaks your business plans to a lot of well connected, moneyed people. The other side of the "never ask for an NDA" coin is "don't needlessly share your plans with people you don't know or trust".

If you think you'll get in - apply - it's obviously the best out there; but don't drink the punch.

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#12
post #9

I came up with an idea yesterday, perhaps someone can do something with it as my life isn't at a place where I would do YC right now and applying today would be a bit short notice... but if you wanted to apply, and were looking for a strong idea, maybe this is it. What is it? - A tithe manager. Tithes are a historical donation of a % of earnings to charity, many religions have this but many non-religious people donat…

Its a cool idea. Do people actually provision a fixed amount yearly for all their charities? I suppose the intermediary makes money by taking a percentage (5 percent?) of the donated amount? Is there something I am missing? One would not really need YC to implement this

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#13
post #9

I came up with an idea yesterday, perhaps someone can do something with it as my life isn't at a place where I would do YC right now and applying today would be a bit short notice... but if you wanted to apply, and were looking for a strong idea, maybe this is it. What is it? - A tithe manager. Tithes are a historical donation of a % of earnings to charity, many religions have this but many non-religious people donat…

Its a cool idea. Do people actually provision a fixed amount yearly for all their charities? I suppose the intermediary makes money by taking a percentage (5 percent?) of the donated amount? Is there something I am missing? One would not really need YC to implement this

One would not need YC for many of the things YC supports, but the mentoring, dinners, intensity, those things help deliver and make a success.

And I have operated a 10% on net earnings since forever. Well, since I learned about them at school... from a Sikh friend. It's called Dasvandh in Sikhism, and is literally 10% and must go to community. Islam has the Zakat, Christianity the Tithe, and atheists just give (though there isn't as widespread awareness in predominantly non-religious countries of the habit).

I choose to give to a variety of charities, but things like Open Rights, MSF, Computers for Africa, etc win out. And of course I consider open source donations and contributions to be within this.

Mostly... it's static, and one just needs accounting tools. But sometimes it varies by demand, i.e. Open Street Map request recently, or perhaps a humanitarian crisis.

Giving individually, direct, makes it hard to make adjustments as a reaction to urgent things like that. One cannot just cancel and renew standing orders easily, most charities wish to own the whole thing (naturally, as they want to have a base revenue guaranteed), but this actually makes it harder for donors to give more at times and makes it harder for donors to give more regularly (if they may need to make adjustments).

5% is too much, I'd probably suggest barely 1% on the payment processing. Instead it's services to charities that would produce the revenue, and fees to donors when you help get their tax return sorted, after all you would know that you helped them claim back a certain figure. There's obviously a lot of money there, but the business model would have to be worked on to make sure it didn't discourage giving.

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#14
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its a cool idea. Do people actually provision a fixed amount yearly for all their charities? I suppose the intermediary makes money by taking a percentage (5 percent?) of the donated amount? Is there something I am missing? One would not really need YC to implement this

One would not need YC for many of the things YC supports, but the mentoring, dinners, intensity, those things help deliver and make a success. And I have operated a 10% on net earnings since forever. Well, since I learned about them at school... from a Sikh friend. It's called Dasvandh in Sikhism, and is literally 10% and must go to community. Islam has the Zakat, Christianity the Tithe, and atheists just give (thoug…

I see the potential quite clearly. Sounds like something I'd like to do.

Mind if I send you an email?

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#15
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One would not need YC for many of the things YC supports, but the mentoring, dinners, intensity, those things help deliver and make a success. And I have operated a 10% on net earnings since forever. Well, since I learned about them at school... from a Sikh friend. It's called Dasvandh in Sikhism, and is literally 10% and must go to community. Islam has the Zakat, Christianity the Tithe, and atheists just give (thoug…

I see the potential quite clearly. Sounds like something I'd like to do. Mind if I send you an email?

Feel free, it's on my profile.

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#16
post #9

I came up with an idea yesterday, perhaps someone can do something with it as my life isn't at a place where I would do YC right now and applying today would be a bit short notice... but if you wanted to apply, and were looking for a strong idea, maybe this is it. What is it? - A tithe manager. Tithes are a historical donation of a % of earnings to charity, many religions have this but many non-religious people donat…

Its a cool idea. Do people actually provision a fixed amount yearly for all their charities? I suppose the intermediary makes money by taking a percentage (5 percent?) of the donated amount? Is there something I am missing? One would not really need YC to implement this

Yep, people (I) do. Or try to.

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#17
I thought of this idea recently. Something to connect voters with people living in swing states. So that they could use the address of those people to go vote. For instance PA is very close to NY and Nevada is very close to CA, and so on. So people could vote in near by states where their vote would make a difference once they got the address of someone in a swing state. Because you can't register to vote using a po box or private mail box.

Re: Tell HN: Today is the last day to apply to Y Combinator

#18
post #5

As a recent alumnus (S16), I encourage everyone to apply. Not as good as past companies? Apply. Don't see any companies like you? Apply. Don't see other founders that look like you? Apply. You're not quite ready and just need a few more months to polish things up? Apply. Too big for YC? Apply. Your company is starting to maybe figure things out, but also secretly kind of fucked up, but you think maybe you can pull it…

The actual application process helps, undoubtedly, and I also recommend everyone to fill it, so you know how to answer those questions.

But don't expect to get in if you're "not quite ready". The last time I applied, they didn't even look at the demo, although they did watch the video.

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