What do you think about a location-aware, food truck app with social login?
I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
221–230 of 757 posts
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#222Hello Sam,
Amid a never-ending war between anti-AI and pro-AI , you've recently shown strong positions( http://blog.samaltman.com/machine-intelligence-part-1) about it.
As an 'AI applicant', I can't stop wondering whether such position could influence an application decision.
What's your take on it?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#223If the product is good and if the product has a single co-founder, what are the chances of getting accepted? The reason is that I live in a place where it's very hard to find a good co-founder and I don't want to team up with the only options that I have. I don't want to make wrong choices. In my place, people tend to join companies and look for jobs rather than start companies.
We will fund a company with 1 founder, but the bar is very high.
Have you thought about working at a startup first as a way to meet potential cofounders?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#224YC is famous for funding startups at a very early stage, even at a pre-traction stage, which seems to contradict the popular knowledge that an idea without a good execution is worth nothing. With just an application form and a 10 minute interview, how can you tell if the founders will be able to execute the idea properly? What are the most important traits that you look for in an application from a very early stage s…
Even if the company is only a few weeks old, we look for signs that the founders are determined, getting things done week by week, and improving quickly.
If it's just an idea, then we look at what the founders have done in the past. Most people don't magically start doing great things for the first time when they start a startup.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#225If we get an interview but aren't accepted, will you still reimburse the traveling expenses for us poor people?
Yes, of course. We reimburse travel expenses for everyone who comes to interview with us, and I think it's shameful when other accelerators don't. I probably would not have interviewed at YC if I had to pay for the trip--I was super poor at the time.
Thanks! That's why YC is the best. They understand Top Ramen founders.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#226With you recently leading a round of investment for reddit, it seems you are quite optimistic about its success but as of late 2013 (and maybe now too), Reddit remains in red even after nearly a decade of its inception[1]. Reddit CEO once said, that ads are the reasons Digg failed[2], so I believe the site would be wary of using ads to the fullest. How do you think Reddit would become profitable and would be able to…
I am an extremely patient investor. I just invested in a company that I believe will take 20-30 years to work.
If reddit gets to a billion users, which I believe it will, the company will have many, many interesting monetizations opportunities. It's on its way to become one of the great monopolies of the web.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#227With you recently leading a round of investment for reddit, it seems you are quite optimistic about its success but as of late 2013 (and maybe now too), Reddit remains in red even after nearly a decade of its inception[1]. Reddit CEO once said, that ads are the reasons Digg failed[2], so I believe the site would be wary of using ads to the fullest. How do you think Reddit would become profitable and would be able to…
Also, if you don't use Alien Blue (the mobile app for Reddit) then you might not know they have been testing "Sponsored" posts. It didn't take a genius to know people would complain, but the ads are getting A LOT of pushback from users. I supposed you can put this in context and look at how Facebook gets crap for changing anything, but is this really the most creative idea Reddit can come up with to generate more rev…
I don't use it (I just read reddit in mobile safari) but I will pass this along to the reddit team.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#228What are the chances of getting funding if I want to focus on my home country (Brazil) as my main market?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#229How was your meal at Delifina the other night? Just kidding :)
I don't really have a question, but my girlfriend and I were seated next to you and I wanted to introduce myself and thank you for your insights, writing, and contributions to the startup community, but didn't want to disturb your meal. Now I have an opportunity. Thanks!
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#230The YC application asks teams to discuss their current equity split / legal situation. What happens to teams who haven't figured that out, or are looking for advice on those matters from Ycombinator? Will an uncertain equity plan or organizational structure kill an otherwise exciting application, if they are open to advice?
No, you can just say "we're still figuring this out, but here is about what we're thinking".
Leaving this question unanswered for a long time is a sign of badness, though. It's important to resolve this quickly and move on to the real work.