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

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

#51

Post by decocted »

tptacek wrote: post #30
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.

What ever was the "luster"? It depends on what you thought YC was. Everything else it did or could do aside: if you're building a company that is going to need to raise funds for the business model to work, YC is still the most straightforward path to doing a high-dollar syndicated unpriced seed round, which is a funding model that YC more or less pioneered.

YC didn’t start as a VC firm, but it is one now. You don’t even mention pre-seed here, which is what YC was: the first pre-seed for an absolutely tiny batch of promising founders, who actually got a disproportionate advantage compared to average pre-seed rounds overall. Now, YC only gives disproportionate advantage against unfunded startups, and only a proportionate one against the average raise of equivalent size.

YC has lost all of the people who were there at the start. Saying something like “what ever was the ‘luster’” is akin to saying “who the heck was Steve Jobs, who cares, Apple is still the same business.”

Sheesh.

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

#52

Post by det2x »

burcs wrote: post #14
tivert wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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."

I am sure wheelwright's felt the same way... I just saw a realtime generative minecraft demo, your head is in the sand if you think this is hype.

So much pessimism and downright denial on the impact of this technology.

The old guard have put earplugs in and wonder why everyone's dancing, they just can't hear the music. In this context it's their refusal to try anything and attempt to downplay everything. The technology will move on, with or without them, and that's the most beautiful part.

You can hate the marketing of AI, you can hate people starting startups to take advantage of this new technology, but you can not stop this technology from moving forward. They will fall into the same category as the people who denied the impact of the Microcomputer, the Graphical User Interface, and the Smartphone.

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

#53

Post by tptacek »

thruway516 wrote: post #49
tptacek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I second this. I just fear the hype surrounding generative AI is leading to extreme tunnel vision and neglect of other promising tech (cough crypto) and even other areas in ML and deep learning that might actually be more fruitful for Agi.

(If it helps anyone else, I'm completely dismissive of the value of crypto).

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

#54

Post by twelve40 »

senko wrote: post #7
preommr wrote: post #3

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

One of the most impressive companies in my batch (W24) had nothing to do with AI, or indeed software: https://www.astromecha.co/ So no, not a requirement. OTOH if you do come with an AI idea, they won't reject you just because they already accepted a few hundred others :)

maybe that's why it was impressive/memorable?

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

#55

Post by dartos »

tptacek wrote: post #53
thruway516 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second this. I just fear the hype surrounding generative AI is leading to extreme tunnel vision and neglect of other promising tech (cough crypto) and even other areas in ML and deep learning that might actually be more fruitful for Agi.

(If it helps anyone else, I'm completely dismissive of the value of crypto).

The best thing to come out of crypto hype is the attention to Markel trees.

That probably played a part I. The development of CRDTs, which are straight up magic.

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

#56

Post by dartos »

burcs wrote: post #14
tivert wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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."

I am sure wheelwright's felt the same way... I just saw a realtime generative minecraft demo, your head is in the sand if you think this is hype.

Personally, I didn’t find the Minecraft demo very impressive, aside from the speed of inference. 20fps is quite an achievement, generating Minecraft screenshots, not as much.

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

#57

Post by swores »

decocted wrote: post #51
tptacek wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What ever was the "luster"? It depends on what you thought YC was. Everything else it did or could do aside: if you're building a company that is going to need to raise funds for the business model to work, YC is still the most straightforward path to doing a high-dollar syndicated unpriced seed round, which is a funding model that YC more or less pioneered.

YC didn’t start as a VC firm, but it is one now. You don’t even mention pre-seed here, which is what YC was: the first pre-seed for an absolutely tiny batch of promising founders, who actually got a disproportionate advantage compared to average pre-seed rounds overall . Now, YC only gives disproportionate advantage against unfunded startups, and only a proportionate one against the average raise of equivalent size.…

> "YC has lost all of the people who were there at the start. Saying something like “what ever was the ‘luster’” is akin to saying “who the heck was Steve Jobs, who cares, Apple is still the same business.” Sheesh."

Apple does still make hugely popular products and still makes a huge amount of profit.

Plenty of institutions, from universities to businesses, have managed to continue succeeding across multiple generations, just as many have failed after losing a generation.

I've no idea how YC helps now vs. the beginning, but different people isn't proof of it being worse.

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

#58

Post by dbbk »

senko wrote: post #43
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.

Go build one? (with or without YC support) I do like your comment as the critique of contemporary tech entrepreneurship culture that is very hype oriented, likely at the expense of comparatively few blue ocean ideas that get crowded out. However I do fear that's global and not something specific to YC or the valley. Here across the pond we have the same gold rush, except at minor league level.

I am building one

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

#59

Post by thruway516 »

dartos wrote: post #55
tptacek wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(If it helps anyone else, I'm completely dismissive of the value of crypto).

The best thing to come out of crypto hype is the attention to Markel trees. That probably played a part I. The development of CRDTs, which are straight up magic.

The ratio of hype to substance is ridiculously out of this world. But like GP said (about AI), there's something there underneath all the hype

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

#60

Post by yumraj »

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.

I had met someone once who made a point that the value of a Harvard MBA was not the education, but rather that you got selected/admitted to this program and could use the brand.

I believe the same is true for YC. The primary value is being able to claim that you’re funded by YC and you were part of a cohort. That opens doors, to both investors as well as potential partners. The education/advice is standard and freely available everywhere.

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