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Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

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Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#41

Post by jknoepfler »

The post is biz-dev, not friendly advice.

Look, it benefits YC if you apply. They are trying to reduce the probability that you don't apply. It takes a lot of time and effort from you to put together a high quality pitch and very little for them to evaluate it. They lose nothing turning you down. They lose a lot if you are successful but didn't bother to apply.

The numbers are kind of a crock of shit for reasons others have articulated in this thread. YC is a business, this is a press release. Don't be shocked that it's transparent biz-dev bullshit. (But do be offended, and do let it reduce the probability that you do business with YC, because if they can't treat you like an intelligent customer, they're probably peddling snake oil.)

Edit: I'm not trying to discourage startups from seeking funding. I just hate pre-21st-century marketing hype. Developers live in a post-Cluetrain-manifesto universe, we expect intelligence, authenticity, and depth. Our currency is trust, you build trust by being correct, thorough, and sincere. The blog post was correct but shallow and insincere. That loses trust; lost trust means lost business.

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#42

Post by thaumasiotes »

cperciva wrote: post #36
goeric wrote: post #31

Adding a thought here. It's easy to find a reason not to apply. But 100% of the companies accepted into YC applied. Don't let any stat deter you, you have to start somewhere.

100% of the companies accepted into YC applied Is this true? I know companies have been accepted which didn't apply before the deadline, and IIRC one of the early YC companies got in basically because they bumped into one of the principals and were told "you should be part of YC". I wouldn't be surprised if there have been a few companies which due to unusual circumstances got into YC without submitting a formal appl…

>> 100% of the companies accepted into YC applied

> Is this true?

Depending on how you want to think about it, you can trivially falsify this by looking at ImagineK12.

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#43

Post by mkagenius »

dsacco wrote: post #30
KanyeBest wrote: post #11

> S16: 54.7% did not have a recommendation. This begs the question: How much weight does a recommendation carry? Or put in another way: Should you network with YC alumni in case you ever want to apply?

>>Or put in another way: Should you network with YC alumni in case you ever want to apply? Absolutely, yes. It doesn't mean that you will certainly get in, but having a professional relationship with one or more influential YC alumni will be very helpful. Like almost anywhere else in life, networking is an essential business skill to have and use.

not good

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#44

Post by dbnoch »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #42
cperciva wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% of the companies accepted into YC applied Is this true? I know companies have been accepted which didn't apply before the deadline, and IIRC one of the early YC companies got in basically because they bumped into one of the principals and were told "you should be part of YC". I wouldn't be surprised if there have been a few companies which due to unusual circumstances got into YC without submitting a formal appl…

>> 100% of the companies accepted into YC applied > Is this true? Depending on how you want to think about it, you can trivially falsify this by looking at ImagineK12.

codecombat might fit this criteria too.

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#45

Post by imh »

craigcannon wrote: post #22
cperciva wrote: post #14

Without knowing how many applications meet each criterion, advertising how many YC companies meet those criteria is more misleading than helpful. If 95% of applications are from pre-revenue companies, then the 50/50 split between acceptees which are with/without revenue would indicate that companies with revenue are 19x more likely to be accepted; if half of applications are solo-founder, the fact that only 8.5% of a…

Thanks for the feedback. With this post I was hoping to clarify misconceptions that might be used as reasons not to apply. I tried to avoid doing an analysis that could be interpreted as a playbook for getting into YC because it would result in the same issue: "If I'm not like X I shouldn't do YC." Anyway, thanks for the feedback and it's cool to know there's interest around YC data.

If the data backs it up, it isn't a misconception. If it doesn't fit the story you want to tell, you are being misleading.

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#46

Post by miiiiiike »

How many groups were accepted without having a live product or a prototype with users?

> Misconception: I did another accelerator so I can’t do YC.

Sam posted back in January that it was actually much harder to get into YC if you'd done program: https://blog.ycombinator.com/getting-into-y-combinator

Did this change?

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#47

Post by Iv »

jknoepfler wrote: post #41

The post is biz-dev, not friendly advice. Look, it benefits YC if you apply. They are trying to reduce the probability that you don't apply. It takes a lot of time and effort from you to put together a high quality pitch and very little for them to evaluate it. They lose nothing turning you down. They lose a lot if you are successful but didn't bother to apply. The numbers are kind of a crock of shit for reasons othe…

After reading it, I totally disagree. They provide numbers, they assume the reader is intelligent and hope they will learn new things and unlearn wrong assumptions.

Yes, their interest is in more people applying, but I don't see them being misleading. For me, they are actually really assuming intelligence from their readers. They don't say "We love foreign companies! Apply if you are foreigner!" They say "29% [of W16] were from outside the US". Which I read as "we are pretty US-centric but you still have a chance".

They don't say "Apply even if you are solo!" They say that some solo project were funded but that they are a small minority and that they do not recommend this path.

Of course this is self-interested, but I fail to see where it is dishonest.

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#48

Post by venkynarayanan »

Iv wrote: post #47
jknoepfler wrote: post #41

The post is biz-dev, not friendly advice. Look, it benefits YC if you apply. They are trying to reduce the probability that you don't apply. It takes a lot of time and effort from you to put together a high quality pitch and very little for them to evaluate it. They lose nothing turning you down. They lose a lot if you are successful but didn't bother to apply. The numbers are kind of a crock of shit for reasons othe…

After reading it, I totally disagree. They provide numbers, they assume the reader is intelligent and hope they will learn new things and unlearn wrong assumptions. Yes, their interest is in more people applying, but I don't see them being misleading. For me, they are actually really assuming intelligence from their readers. They don't say "We love foreign companies! Apply if you are foreigner!" They say "29% [of W16…

YC encourages founders to be concise and get to the point, so if they wanted to say "we are pretty US-centric but you still have a chance", they could have and should have just said in plain language.

> They provide numbers, they assume the reader is intelligent and hope they will learn new things and unlearn wrong assumptions.

This exactly is the issue people here are intelligent and that is why they can see the glaring gaps in the way the data is presented.

I think people are little pissed because the article chose to go the data route and dint provide the complete information for people to infer from.

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#49

Post by Iv »

venkynarayanan wrote: post #48
Iv wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading it, I totally disagree. They provide numbers, they assume the reader is intelligent and hope they will learn new things and unlearn wrong assumptions. Yes, their interest is in more people applying, but I don't see them being misleading. For me, they are actually really assuming intelligence from their readers. They don't say "We love foreign companies! Apply if you are foreigner!" They say "29% [of W16…

YC encourages founders to be concise and get to the point, so if they wanted to say "we are pretty US-centric but you still have a chance", they could have and should have just said in plain language. > They provide numbers, they assume the reader is intelligent and hope they will learn new things and unlearn wrong assumptions. This exactly is the issue people here are intelligent and that is why they can see the gla…

You seem to complain that they did not dumb it down enough and that did dumb it down too much.

They provided a number, explaining what this number was. Assuming the reader is actually educated in statistics 101, that is not misleading at all.

Yes, they could publish all their data, but you also said you want concision. You can't have it both ways!

Re: Common Misconceptions About Applying to YC

#50

Post by jondubois »

Everything listed there makes me more pessimistic about my own chances.

Only 30% of founders are from outside the US, only 14% aren't incorporated, 50% had no revenue, only 8.5% are solo founders, 54.7% were recommended by YC alumni...

So basically the odds of being accepted if you fit into ALL those buckets are probably very very slim. I don't see how fitting into all those buckets make your company unworthy of investment.

It's good to know this though then you can mess with your startup to make it fit into high-probability buckets. I don't think it would improve the startup, but it would certainly improve your chances of getting into an accelerator.

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