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YC: Requests for Startups

ycombinator.com

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Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#281

Post by shrimpx »

To those who think this list will help them get into YC, or lament "why didn't I get into YC when my idea was squarely on this list":

The YC application is a sales pitch, and you're not selling your idea, you're primarily selling your charisma and capacity to spin vision and sell. Second, you're selling your chemistry with your cofounders and stability of your relationship. Third, you're selling your capacity to build, at least some usable prototype, but this a low bar.

At no point are you actually selling the concrete idea, unless you're doing something extremely specific that seems valuable and you're one of the few who can build it. For the rest, the idea is a rhetorical vehicle to sell the other things.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#282

Post by nradov »

turnsout wrote: post #270
bruceb wrote: post #171

Eliminating middlemen in healthcare In the spirit of Jeff Bezos’ “your margin is my opportunity”, we believe it’s possible to build a highly profitable business and make the system more efficient at the same time. Didn't Amazon try this and is now shutting down part of its healthcare (pill selling) play?

They didn't go big enough: they should have become a payer/insurer. If they started with their ~1M US employees and then applied the flywheel to HC insurance, they could have essentially created a single-payer system by default. Slightly scary to think about Amazon having a near monopoly on healthcare, but ask yourself whether our current reality is better or worse…

Amazon is already an insurer, and has been for years. They are self-insured for the health plans they offer to employees, and only rely on third-party payers for network management and claims administration. They could take that part in house but it's a low-margin business where they would have no particular advantage.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#283

Post by sesm »

hipadev23 wrote: post #85
gavinhoward wrote: post #77

I am building a company that falls under two categories (commercial Open Source and developer tools based on internal tools), but I would never take YC money for it. Because of that stake, they want an "exit" in some form, and the drive to that exit will pave the road to user-hostile software and make it the path of least resistance.

> Because of that stake, they want an "exit" in some form Every single entity who invests in your company wants an exit.

This depends on type of stock, old-fashioned stock had dividends, so investors were interested in profit rather than liquidity event.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#284

Post by leetrout »

shrimpx wrote: post #281

To those who think this list will help them get into YC, or lament "why didn't I get into YC when my idea was squarely on this list": The YC application is a sales pitch, and you're not selling your idea, you're primarily selling your charisma and capacity to spin vision and sell. Second, you're selling your chemistry with your cofounders and stability of your relationship. Third, you're selling your capacity to buil…

Spot on. Add in an ivy league or similar pedigree as social proof for a better chance.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#285

Post by MangoCoffee »

Animats wrote: post #221

Most of those take a lot more time and money than YC usually offers. There are some opportunities in "New Defense Technology". Something like a low-cost replacement for the Javelin anti-tank missile based on off the shelf phone camera parts ought to be possible. Of course, once that's out there, every insurgent group will have some. "Explainable AI" is really important. "Stablecoin finance" is mostly how to make sure…

Low cost swarm of drones for new defense technology.

We have seen consumer grade DJI drone use in Ukraine-Russia war by both sides.

AI to control a swarm of cheap drones to survey and kill?

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#286

Post by crowcroft »

eltondegeneres wrote: post #122

Jared Friedman and Gustaf Alströmer want to make it easier to kill other human beings, and turn a profit while doing it. Shame on them and anyone else who works on "defense technology." > I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee. I have also told them not to work for companies which…

> I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres

I do believe the majority of humans involved with massacres are not doing so by choice.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#287

Post by hef19898 »

briandear wrote: post #274
SteveNuts wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Step one is to make sure it's auditable. Every auditor on the planet is intimately familiar with how Oracle EBS and SAP do certain things. If you don't have that trust built up, a customer simply won't want to take the risk and additional headache and overhead passing an audit will take.

Sounds like there is the opportunity. An ERP that can eliminate the need for auditors. Then it won’t matter what the auditors think. Auditing isn’t some black magic. It’s a set of rules. Rules a machine can follow.

A machine controlled by the audited company. Audits are there to minimize the risk of companies cooking the books.

You never went through an audit, did you?

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#288

Post by arach »

these are great. if anyone is interested in or already exploring the enterprise + AI opportunities shared, message me

alternatively find me on the founder matching platform: https://www.startupschool.org/cofounder-matching/candidate/t...

for reference these are the ideas: 1/ New enterprise resource planning software (ERPs) 2/ AI to build enterprise software 3/ Better enterprise glue 4/ LLMs for manual back office processes in legacy enterprises

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#289

Post by silentsea90 »

meow_mix wrote: post #272

I'd be curious about YC's thoughts on founders breaking into manufacturing/robotics from a normal SWE background

I imagine you need someone who's technical in the hardware/robotics space. There's also the route of doing a masters perhaps, or working at a robotics startup before you start your own company. I am curious about YC's thoughts here as well as someone who's enthusiastic about this space. I feel this is the next trillion dollar industry.

Re: YC: Requests for Startups

#290

Post by smashah »

Does no 4. include startups that are developing systems to protect innocent civilians from US weapons and drones used by Israelis to conduct their genocide? I'm certain it will have many sales and be a viable business or do they have to be in line with American and Israeli imperial aims?

Defense startups should not be normalized. If you are going to forcibly normalize it then don't pick sides as that's not good for business.

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