Perhaps a better messaging here would be - if you're working on gene editing, nuclear fusion, or some such radical and ambitious project, we want to hear. Tell us the path you took to get to this point, and your ideas for the future. Then select from everyone who writes in?
YC 120
101–110 of 145 posts
Re: YC 120
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
People eventually get tired of giving useful feedback to unhelpful people. Maybe that's a piece of advice someone should share with sama sama.
There's no obligation to give useful feedback. Just to not waste people's time with unuseful feedback. We want to maintain the high signal to noise ratio. If you don't feel like providing signal is worth your time, the correct alternative is not to add noise.
Re: YC 120
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
What type of person is that? I'm honestly at a loss because it asks for nothing more than a simple narrative for why this opportunity fits the candidate, where the complexity of the video can be "turn on my phone's front camera and recorded for 60 seconds". Is that a type of person? Is it a bad type of person? I don't understand the insinuation.
Many cultures/subcultures/microcultures place high value on being humble. This is the exact opposite of humble, it's blatant self-promotion. That's not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it's very much required in business, in interviews, in admissions, etc. But it does rub against those cultures who value humility and frown upon self-promotion. As an example I grew up in a poor farming town in the Midwest. Everyone dr…
Exactly this. I grew up in Switzerland. Talking about why you're great would raise a lot of eyebrows. I live in SF now, and in my experience everyone is "bragging" all the time. I know that it's not bragging in that sense, but it just seems like that to me.
When I'm pitching (or applying to YC or whatever), it's really hard for me to talk about my achievements in that way. I just feel bad doing it. Naturally, I do it less. For investors or partners that are used to people telling them why they are the next Steve Jobs 24/7, and assuming I'm doing the same, think I'm the dumbest person ever.
Re: YC 120
#104“Finally solving Physics?” Yikes.
How can physics be solved?
Re: YC 120
#105For everyone who's being cynical about this opportunity: This seems like a great way to practice pitching what you do and why it matters. Personally, this seems like an interesting exercise, regardless of whether you get in or not. For anyone else who is interested, it might be fun to have an organized "Show HN" where we exchange and critique pitches. Edit: Since this is getting some upvotes, here is what I propose:…
the organized Show HN event - actually sounds like a better idea that the OP. hmm - maybe organized for the same April 26 - 28 weekend?
I was thinking online, but offline could work too. We could even do both. Maybe we'll wait to see how the online version goes first? If that gets traction then we can see about organizing an offline version.
Re: YC 120
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Many cultures/subcultures/microcultures place high value on being humble. This is the exact opposite of humble, it's blatant self-promotion. That's not necessarily a bad thing, in fact it's very much required in business, in interviews, in admissions, etc. But it does rub against those cultures who value humility and frown upon self-promotion. As an example I grew up in a poor farming town in the Midwest. Everyone dr…
I will give that false humility is rampant, but it's incredible (and perhaps ironic) in the context because so many seem to be saying "Well I wouldn't want to be with these people." That is the opposite of humility. Virtually all of life is self-promotion (however massaged and clouded we make it -- we see humility as a virtue because it's great if everyone else just gets out of the way), and sideways mechanisms to do…
First time I've seen a quote from Ahad AhEm on HN.
Re: YC 120
#107Re: YC 120
#108For everyone who's being cynical about this opportunity: This seems like a great way to practice pitching what you do and why it matters. Personally, this seems like an interesting exercise, regardless of whether you get in or not. For anyone else who is interested, it might be fun to have an organized "Show HN" where we exchange and critique pitches. Edit: Since this is getting some upvotes, here is what I propose:…
I'm really struggling with how to structure this kind of video from a college student's (although with only one semester left) perspective. I've worked at a lot of different companies and have two or three "dream" projects, but as for what I'm working on right now? Does literature review count? Or relevant experience? I realize that people like me are not necessarily the target audience, but it still leaves me wonder…
Sorry, my original post was geared a little too much toward things you're already working on---which I think is not actually what the YC 120 call is asking for. I think they're looking more for what you'd like to work on, and to the extent that you're doing anything now it's more about demonstrating potential.
In my opinion, if you've done work with a lot of different companies, that's actually great experience to have as a college student! Working is one of the best ways to get exposure to different sorts of problems and ways of approaching solutions.
Personally, the way I find problems to solve is by trying to do everyday sorts of things---be that building an app, game, a scientific simulation, a data analysis script or whatever---and then observing what's hard about it. Do this a couple times and you may start to see recurring problems. Usually my biggest problem is that I tend to undersell myself because these issues seem "obvious" to me after I've been in the trenches for a while. But sometimes the obvious problems are the most fundamental.
Anyway, if you have ideas of your own, I'd say just go for it. The instructions say they're "adjust[ing] for whatever life circumstances you were born into", and I think it's probably not unreasonable to expect them to adjust for e.g. age and stage of life as well. Compared to people in similar age categories I think you'll compare favorably in an application like this.
Re: YC 120
#109This looks pretty interesting, so I decided to apply. Here’s my application and video in case anyone’s curious: https://goo.gl/mhCCNK
Re: YC 120
#110> What are you interested in and what are you working on?
I'm working on liberating child students trapped by coercive institutions. Inmates have a reason for their incarceration, but students are trapped through no fault of their own. Unlike students, inmates in prison have the luxury of choosing what they read.
> What have you done so far that shows your potential for greatness, adjusted for whatever life circumstances you were born into?
I have been actively working on increasing my influence so I can save those who can be saved during my lifetime. I have been tutoring, and teaching, and teacher training, and running programs in schools, constantly broadening my scope. My experiences working in public schools have convinced me that 'working from the inside' is a fool's breakfast. I am now working on founding a school in a methodical and careful manner so that it can succeed in Toronto and grow to other cities. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to liberate a few hundred students before I die, and the schools will succeed without me.
> In a best-case scenario, what do you want your obituary to say?
Loving grandson, son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, Ryan checked out at the hour of his choosing and saved 7 lives through organ donation as his final gift. His autobiography 'Not Everyone Likes The Flavour' lays out his reasoning for ending his life as 'passing the torch', exhorting young people everywhere to realize their true power to shape the world. His legacy endures in the schools he founded and the students he empowered.
I should be so lucky!