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YC Series A Program

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: YC Series A Program

#21

Post by akharris »

noahmbarr wrote: post #15
CyrusL wrote: post #2

For people who don't read the article and jump straight to the comments: YC is not leading Series A rounds. YC is creating a program to help improve outcomes for portfolio companies that go on to raise a Series A from other VCs.

I’d be curious as to the details of this program. The post is mostly focused on the “why”. Duration, inaugural class start date, size of program, YC resources committed to program, cost in terms of cap table, criteria for eligibility, etc

- Duration depends on the requirements of the company - No real classes, this is rolling - No cost to the cap table - Have to be a Y company

Re: YC Series A Program

#22

Post by bobwaycott »

> These often-discussed milestones have lead a lot of founders to believe they’re ready to raise when they’re not.

The word here is led, not its metallic homonym.

I do not understand why this mistake appears to be increasing in occurrence over the last few years.

Re: YC Series A Program

#23

Post by jforman »

I had assumed they did this already. As much as we hate to admit it, pitching (or "running a process" — see comments below) is critical to the success of a company and therefore a required skill for founders. And YC seems to be an ideal place to build a collective set of best practices.

Re: YC Series A Program

#24

Post by staticautomatic »

jforman wrote: post #23

I had assumed they did this already. As much as we hate to admit it, pitching (or "running a process" — see comments below) is critical to the success of a company and therefore a required skill for founders. And YC seems to be an ideal place to build a collective set of best practices.

It's not critical to the success of all the companies that don't raise money.

Re: YC Series A Program

#25

Post by vjeux »

All the founding rounds are discrete events. I wonder if there's an opportunity to have a way to do funding in a more continuous way. You can get more people chipping in funding at random points in the life of the company that unlocks over time.

Re: YC Series A Program

#26

Post by akharris »

jforman wrote: post #23

I had assumed they did this already. As much as we hate to admit it, pitching (or "running a process" — see comments below) is critical to the success of a company and therefore a required skill for founders. And YC seems to be an ideal place to build a collective set of best practices.

The program isn't actually just - or even mainly - about the act of pitching. There's an entire process around running a successful fundraise that changes from round to round and company to company.

Pitching is part of that process, and what we've learned is that the A pitch is a different thing altogether from seed pitches. We have a lot of work to do to get great at that, and I'm grateful for the help we're getting from alums who have gone through it before and have been giving us advice.

Re: YC Series A Program

#27

Post by jforman »

staticautomatic wrote: post #24
jforman wrote: post #23

I had assumed they did this already. As much as we hate to admit it, pitching (or "running a process" — see comments below) is critical to the success of a company and therefore a required skill for founders. And YC seems to be an ideal place to build a collective set of best practices.

It's not critical to the success of all the companies that don't raise money.

I think everybody is aware that if you never need anybody else's money (as in ever, which includes an IPO), you can write your own rules.

Although YC companies seem by definition to already not be included in that group.

Re: YC Series A Program

#28

Post by lacker »

vjeux wrote: post #25

All the founding rounds are discrete events. I wonder if there's an opportunity to have a way to do funding in a more continuous way. You can get more people chipping in funding at random points in the life of the company that unlocks over time.

You can do that, it's just stressful. Big company analogy: it's like what if instead of getting headcount allocated just once a year, you had to re-argue about how much headcount your team deserved constantly. ;-)

Re: YC Series A Program

#29

Post by jforman »

akharris wrote: post #26
jforman wrote: post #23

I had assumed they did this already. As much as we hate to admit it, pitching (or "running a process" — see comments below) is critical to the success of a company and therefore a required skill for founders. And YC seems to be an ideal place to build a collective set of best practices.

The program isn't actually just - or even mainly - about the act of pitching. There's an entire process around running a successful fundraise that changes from round to round and company to company. Pitching is part of that process, and what we've learned is that the A pitch is a different thing altogether from seed pitches. We have a lot of work to do to get great at that, and I'm grateful for the help we're getting…

Indeed, "running a process" is the important skill, which includes the deck, storytelling, etc. I was using "pitching" loosely.

Re: YC Series A Program

#30

Post by akharris »

bobwaycott wrote: post #22

> These often-discussed milestones have lead a lot of founders to believe they’re ready to raise when they’re not. The word here is led , not its metallic homonym. I do not understand why this mistake appears to be increasing in occurrence over the last few years.

Whoops! Thanks for catching the typo. Much appreciated.
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