How YC will be funding the S20 batch • Hacker News Board

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#31

Post by ivanfon » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 12:44 AM UTC

badfrog wrote: post #26

aresant wrote: post #3

Get a great web camera or at LEAST some great lighting for your interviews! A poorly lit fuzzy image is a great way to start off at a disadvantage. Study after study shows that people that identify themselves as broadly accepting and non-bias hold deep unconscious bias tied to personal appearance, etc. (1) (2) Logitech has a number of web cameras with strong light sensors and software you can use to generate a profes…

I've also been surprised at how much of an improvement headsets with microphones are over built-in laptop mics.

I’ve experienced the same thing - I always right the microphones attached to earbuds were worthless, but compared to a laptop microphone, which picks up every last bit of background noise, my cheap ($15) earbuds’ microphone does a good job at only picking up my voice, with clear enough quality.

If you’re using Linux and Pulseaudio, look into echo cancellation, it’s easy to enable and can help improve your voice quality a little bit.

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#32

Post by zupa-hu » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 12:56 AM UTC

dustingetz wrote: post #28

gbear605 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for people who live in a cheap area, this can make the YC money last even longer.

you’re not supposed to make the money last, you’re supposed to raise a seed round in 3 months or die

> you’re not supposed

While I understand the reason behind your comment and it even seems right, I can't stop thinking that we are born rebels.. If we are not supposed to do something, that might just represent an opportunity, doesn't it?

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#33

Post by anticsapp » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 1:08 AM UTC

I don't want to get banned but what is the point of this substack post? I know four founders who would have applied to YC only if it were remote. One has a startup with a $10MM valuation, the others not so much.

But the March 16th date has passed. So why announce it now, of course it would have been remote.

edit: ignore, reading is fundamental.

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#34

Post by anticsapp » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 1:10 AM UTC

juped wrote: post #10

If YC goes fully remote this batch, I will apply. Moving to California for several months is well outside my price range and would waste way too much of the YC investment. I also have a relatively pricey NYC apartment lease that I can't just break, so I would basically be on the hook for two astronomical rents for at least the duration.

No, you can't. It says March 16th was the due date to apply. Why even get the country remote people excited?

edit: nope, i'm a dumbass. you can still apply.

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#35

Post by juped » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 1:53 AM UTC

anticsapp wrote: post #34

juped wrote: post #10

If YC goes fully remote this batch, I will apply. Moving to California for several months is well outside my price range and would waste way too much of the YC investment. I also have a relatively pricey NYC apartment lease that I can't just break, so I would basically be on the hook for two astronomical rents for at least the duration.

No, you can't. It says March 16th was the due date to apply. Why even get the country remote people excited? edit: nope, i'm a dumbass. you can still apply.

They've always taken late applications.

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#36

Post by __s » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 2:16 AM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #13

waxman wrote: post #2

I worked on a video chat startup in 2006 and a concept that still stands out is "floor exchange," which is when one person stops talking and another person starts talking during a conversation. Floor Exchange usually happens seamlessly in most in-person conversations, but it can be a challenge over video chat, even in 2020. In any video chat it's helpful to keep your points short and pause for longer than you normall…

> Floor Exchange usually happens seamlessly in most in-person conversations This is definitely just me (and, I guess, other people like me, but clearly there aren't enough of us to shift the norms in our direction), but I don't find this to be true at all. I have problems with people not recognizing whether I've finished speaking, and even more problems with people deciding that I'm not speaking so they need to conti…

A lot of people will start talking before they've thought through something, figuring out what they're saying half way. There's been past HN threads getting into how some cultures have small interjections which the speaker generally talks over to collaboratively steer conversation which can have this "floor exchange" occur when the speaker responds to the interruptions with a prompt

I've met some people who think all the way through what they say before speaking. Interrupting generally shuts them up, so one has to learn to not. Important to stop talking & wait for response, double digit silence may be the right call

If you're the latter type, you can help people understand this is your preferred mode of communication by finding a way to non verbally signal that you're thinking. It can be as stupid as pointing a finger aimlessly if you're thinking of a response after half a second of silence, to sign that if the speaker doesn't continue you will eventually bring something up. Thought being put into responses is appreciated in the end

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#37

Post by juped » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 2:30 AM UTC

dustingetz wrote: post #28

gbear605 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for people who live in a cheap area, this can make the YC money last even longer.

you’re not supposed to make the money last, you’re supposed to raise a seed round in 3 months or die

We're told (correctly) by all YC's public communication that raising is a distraction and founders should focus on real work as much as possible. If what you say is the case, YC is either broken or lying, and they're not lying since it's 100% true that raising is a distraction.

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#38

Post by russell_h » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 2:40 AM UTC

juped wrote: post #20

viklove wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Congratulations, you just described push-to-talk.

Business-targeted tools don't have this because they're intended for people used to conference calls on a telephone system.

Zoom has this. Mute yourself, then you can use space bar as a PTT button.

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#39

Post by rubatuga » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 2:54 AM UTC

waxman wrote: post #2

I worked on a video chat startup in 2006 and a concept that still stands out is "floor exchange," which is when one person stops talking and another person starts talking during a conversation. Floor Exchange usually happens seamlessly in most in-person conversations, but it can be a challenge over video chat, even in 2020. In any video chat it's helpful to keep your points short and pause for longer than you normall…

Having longer pauses is good, but also randomizing your pause length ensures that there is a fair distribution among who gets to go first. It's kind of like the collision logic in the WiFi protocol.

Re: How YC will be funding the S20 batch

#40

Post by genericone » Wed, Apr 01, 2020, 3:48 AM UTC

aresant wrote: post #3

Get a great web camera or at LEAST some great lighting for your interviews! A poorly lit fuzzy image is a great way to start off at a disadvantage. Study after study shows that people that identify themselves as broadly accepting and non-bias hold deep unconscious bias tied to personal appearance, etc. (1) (2) Logitech has a number of web cameras with strong light sensors and software you can use to generate a profes…

Great advice, just a few weeks too late for me. Looking at the available mid to high end usb webcams in stock now shows everything out of stock and backordered. Looks like I'll have to make do with a built-in laptop camera and a headset microphone if/when I get that YC interview.

Thesr work at home directives really depleted all existing stock of good webcams...

Over 50% markup for nice webcams on eBay, yeesh.