Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

getfluently.notion.site

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 64 posts

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#31

Post by echelon »

dbbk wrote: post #27
carlgreene wrote: post #10

Any other founders feel like YC has lost its luster? Not only are the number of AI companies in the portfolio ridiculous, but the large class sizes seem so much less personal. Not to bag on anyone who’s in YC right now, but it seems to be going the way of many ivy leagues - still meaningful, but very much not the same proxy for extraordinary it once was.

Yes the sheer number of AI slop companies is so uninspiring. Where is the creativity? There are still plenty of great technology companies to be built that are not ChatGPT wrappers.

> AI slop companies

There is so much market up for grabs. Most companies will fail, but the ones that succeed can win really big. And the surface area is so much larger than attempting a non-AI company since the advantages are potentially huge.

> ChatGPT wrappers.

Create value. Doesn't matter how you do. Just create value.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#32

Post by tptacek »

preommr wrote: post #3

This is missing the most important requirement: Be an AI company.

I think it's likely everyone is overindexing on this, in every direction. The modal reason any startup applies to YC is to line up fundraising. Investors are obsessed with AI right now. Yes, they shouldn't be. At the same time: the CS techniques underneath "AI" are the most important thing to happen to CS in decades; it would be a little weird not to somehow intersect "AI", if only because you're working with embeddings or high-dimensional data somewhere; it would be like building an application purposefully without topological sort, or without trees. And if you're doing anything like that, it would be pretty dumb not to play up the "AI" angle in this market.

I'm sure a lot of it is pure slop, just a bunch of prompts and a CRUD app. But I wouldn't be so quick to assume that anybody talking about "AI" is just a bunch of prompts.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#33

Post by tptacek »

tivert wrote: post #13
burcs wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly this is the same level of snarkiness of saying, "Be a web company." in the early 2000s YCombinator is a tech investor, of course they are investing in the future. It just so happens that in this current tech cycle AI is the future.

> YCombinator is a tech investor, of course they are investing in the future. It just so happens that in this current tech cycle AI is the future. I think the term you're looking isn't "future," it's "hype."

No. I think we're past the point of it being hipsterism to suggest that AI techniques are "hype". Not every startup exploiting it is bona fide, but what's happening here is for real.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#34

Post by tptacek »

dgfitz wrote: post #24
senko wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My feeling is that if you think quitting the day job is risky, you probably won't fit the profile YC and VCs look for. YC is an enormous brand in the VC and startup industry, and as a YC startup doors open to you that would be harder to pry open otherwise. The connections, and willingness of people to "pay it forward" are a huge (probably biggest) asset. The odds of your idea working are not great, that's correct. YC…

Thank you for the explanation, that is very helpful. You said “ My feeling is that if you think quitting the day job is risky, you probably won't fit the profile YC and VCs look for.” And “ The odds of your idea working are not great, that's correct.” So it is kind of geared towards wealthy people?

So it is kind of geared towards wealthy people?

In the sense that everybody with an established career in this field is "wealthy" relative to most other working people in the economy, yes.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#36

Post by threeseed »

echelon wrote: post #31
dbbk wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes the sheer number of AI slop companies is so uninspiring. Where is the creativity? There are still plenty of great technology companies to be built that are not ChatGPT wrappers.

> AI slop companies There is so much market up for grabs. Most companies will fail, but the ones that succeed can win really big. And the surface area is so much larger than attempting a non-AI company since the advantages are potentially huge. > ChatGPT wrappers. Create value. Doesn't matter how you do. Just create value.

> but the ones that succeed can win really big

May. Not can.

There is no evidence yet that AI is anything other than a feature.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#37

Post by threeseed »

dgfitz wrote: post #9

I guess I don’t get it, and I’d like to. Y-Combinator enables connections and mentorship along with a stipend. This allows a team to work full time for a few months, having quit or taken a hiatus from their day job. So the risk is $dayjob unless you’re a serial founder, the reward is the connections and money to float for a few months, while selling I think 10% of your company? The odds of your idea working out, even…

If you haven't quit your job and aren't working on full-time don't apply to YC.

The partners have said on many occasions it's a major red flag for them.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#38

Post by woadwarrior01 »

atleastoptimal wrote: post #18

Great advice, but the fact that you're a former FAANG employee pitching an AI company did ~70% of the work

Late 30s, former Facebook and Google engineer. Applied thrice at the behest of my co-founder, and got rejected each time. Once before we had a product, twice after being bootstrapped and profitable. Never again.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#39

Post by senko »

dgfitz wrote: post #24
senko wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My feeling is that if you think quitting the day job is risky, you probably won't fit the profile YC and VCs look for. YC is an enormous brand in the VC and startup industry, and as a YC startup doors open to you that would be harder to pry open otherwise. The connections, and willingness of people to "pay it forward" are a huge (probably biggest) asset. The odds of your idea working are not great, that's correct. YC…

Thank you for the explanation, that is very helpful. You said “ My feeling is that if you think quitting the day job is risky, you probably won't fit the profile YC and VCs look for.” And “ The odds of your idea working are not great, that's correct.” So it is kind of geared towards wealthy people?

Others have given good answers, but what I meant here was you got to have a certain appetite for risk, (naive?) confidence in your abilities, few family/monetary obligations, willingness to go to the extremes, and at least a bit of disdain/boredom in your current job.

Re: Guide to applying to YC – from a founder who was accepted on the third try

#40

Post by senko »

LanceJones wrote: post #23
carlgreene wrote: post #10

Any other founders feel like YC has lost its luster? Not only are the number of AI companies in the portfolio ridiculous, but the large class sizes seem so much less personal. Not to bag on anyone who’s in YC right now, but it seems to be going the way of many ivy leagues - still meaningful, but very much not the same proxy for extraordinary it once was.

Looks like YC is moving to 4 cohorts annually -- and I agree with you on the AI product density in the past few batches -- but I've heard (from two alum) that the smaller sub-cohorts (i.e., within a batch) make it feel smaller and more intimate.

Yes.

250ish per cohort meant the partners were spread very thin, and founders could realistically connect with just a subset of batchmates.

I'm glad they're scaling back the batch size.

Post reply on HN