To be honest, I wasn't sure whether or not the noidea application was live. I had to go look at the source. So it looks like we de facto killed it by never enabling it for s13. Frankly it's not a big deal either way. We only accepted one noidea application last cycle, and IIRC there were only about 50 applications.
Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
21–30 of 63 posts
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you evaluate the quality of the outsourced work? I find that silly. I'm not a chef but I can taste food. Increasingly I have the tendency to believe that all this technical/non-technical is a really unfortunate simplification. I think especially when it comes to a startup tackling really big problems whether you've programmed before might be a rounding error in the equation toward succeeding.
Quality of software is beyond what it does, it also means how easy is it to maintain and change.
Of course I said im non technical not non having a brain .
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#23I'm a sole founder with a non techincal background who is currently outsourcing the development of my site .I applied for the summer batch what do you guys think my chances are ???
The LawDingo dude is a non-technical sole founder. The bar will be higher for you for sure, but it's not impossible and you wouldn't be the first. Good luck with your application, I wish you all the best.
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you evaluate the quality of the outsourced work? I find that silly. I'm not a chef but I can taste food. Increasingly I have the tendency to believe that all this technical/non-technical is a really unfortunate simplification. I think especially when it comes to a startup tackling really big problems whether you've programmed before might be a rounding error in the equation toward succeeding.
Exactly my thinking I believe that the whole non techincal thing is kinda off a black cloud over my application . Im learning how to basics thru codeacademy but to answer the earlier question . There are tons of ways to assess the quality of the outsourced work...thank you
Assess. FTFY =)
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#25To be honest, I wasn't sure whether or not the noidea application was live. I had to go look at the source. So it looks like we de facto killed it by never enabling it for s13. Frankly it's not a big deal either way. We only accepted one noidea application last cycle, and IIRC there were only about 50 applications.
Those low numbers would be expected, not having an idea would certainly be an exception or a minority among entrepreneurs (the type of people who constantly can't fall asleep because of some new crazy idea eatting away at them).
But it was certainly an interesting experiment to see if there are people who accept that they have the skillset to build a company but not have the idea part figured out.
Although requiring them to come up with an idea could be a good ability test, even if it isn't what they end up building. Because a large number of companies end up doing something different that turns out to be successful.
ala "getting to plan b" (or the abused "pivoting") http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Plan-Breaking-Through-Business...
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#26I'm a sole founder with a non techincal background who is currently outsourcing the development of my site .I applied for the summer batch what do you guys think my chances are ???
why not find a technical co-founder? have you tried? convincing a technical person to go-in with you will be much simpler than convincing anyone at YC to accept you.
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
How do you evaluate the quality of the outsourced work? I find that silly. I'm not a chef but I can taste food. Increasingly I have the tendency to believe that all this technical/non-technical is a really unfortunate simplification. I think especially when it comes to a startup tackling really big problems whether you've programmed before might be a rounding error in the equation toward succeeding.
I'm not a chef but I can taste food. That's an unfortunate simplification. Without a technical background, you wouldn't know how long it takes to make a basic CRUD app. "3 weeks? Ok I guess. Oh, 3 months actually? Ok I guess." And what about performance, scalability, costs, etc? You'd have no clue.
Yes, this is what I was thinking. Obviously you don't have to know everything, but having at least a basic background seems valuable. Even knowing how to code I find it's hard enough to find good developers, especially freelance.
Also, and perhaps most importantly, when I find a minor bug in my app, I can fix it myself and push an update immediately. If I relied on freelance developers, well, crap, it's Good Friday. So very least I'm waiting a few days. And then maybe my developer isn't available to drop everything and work on my project on Monday (or Tuesday)... One of the primary advantages of startups is their ability to react and adapt quickly; running a technical startup alone, without a technical background, appears to give up some of that advantage.
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#28I'm a sole founder with a non techincal background who is currently outsourcing the development of my site .I applied for the summer batch what do you guys think my chances are ???
why not find a technical co-founder? have you tried? convincing a technical person to go-in with you will be much simpler than convincing anyone at YC to accept you.
I was in the process of doing that then some things out of my control came up and he left the country
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#29To be honest, I wasn't sure whether or not the noidea application was live. I had to go look at the source. So it looks like we de facto killed it by never enabling it for s13. Frankly it's not a big deal either way. We only accepted one noidea application last cycle, and IIRC there were only about 50 applications.
Who was it?
Re: Ask PG: Did the "apply to YC without an idea" experiment work?
#30While not related to the original question, how does YC work for non US residents and Visa related issues? Does it accept/sponsor a few outside the US startups? IS it interested in doing so?