We are a startup from Asia and what prerequisites we need to fulfill to get a chance in YC?
I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
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Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#7221) How common are applications from companies that have bootstrapped to a certain size in a non-US market where local knowledge helps (showing some early traction but could still grow in that market) and want to expand to the US? What are you mostly looking for in these companies, do you see them "diluting their markets" as a potential red flag (assuming the idea is transferable culturally etc.)? 2) I get the feeling…
> except slower/more deliberate.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#723Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#724Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the employee has one massive advantage to the investor: the actual ability to influence the success of the company.
Investors have a lot more control over the board than a average employee will.
Startup boards have very little to do with the company's success. Key employees have much more impact.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#725Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it'd be good to do this, but that the startup scene is really broken in Boston for many other reasons. I'm not very optimistic this would be enough to fix it.
How else is the startup scene broken in Boston?
The founder of the first start-up I worked for around 2006 told me that most of the money and network was centered around Harvard. It was difficult to get funding as a non-Harvard alum.
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#726Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#727Hey sama! From the YC founder's profile application: > Please tell us about the time you, , most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage. I am so much longing to know, why a "non-computer" system? There are so many things I could have boasted of but can't because of the "non-computer" thing :P
Those are very different skills. When I was a stock analyst, well before Reg FD, it was about getting information other people didn't. Same is true now that I'm a self-employed industry analyst. It's about relationships, and having the relationships be productive in specific ways.
Self-promotion generally takes some cleverness. It shares aspects with my previous example -- you use people who like you in ways that are productive, that don't harm them (or, much better, explicitly help them), and don't cause them to stop liking you. This requires understanding of other people's needs and motivations.
I did some clever negotiating things back in the day -- getting a game theory PhD in 1979 pretty much guaranteed that I was a negotiation "expert" in the 1980s, although subsequently general understanding of game theory and negotiation advanced and obviated such an advantage.
The first time a company threatened me with a scary libel suit I got their arch-competitor to, the same day, offer to pay my legal fees. That may have been my flashiest hack of all. :)
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#728Earlier quoted context omitted.
We really prefer at least two founders, but it's not a deal-breaker. We funded Drew Houston of Dropbox as a solo founder, but he got a cofounder before the batch started. A bad cofounder is far, far worse than no cofounder. I'd spend maybe 20% of your time looking for a cofounder, and the rest on your business. But don't force a cofounder if you don't have a good, organic option. The more progress you make on the bus…
Sorry, my view is that a solo founder can be just fine. I'm a solo founder and believe I don't need and shouldn't want a co-founder. Here's why: The bottleneck in my project is just cutting my way through bad documentation -- all the rest, especially the crucial, core, secret sauce , original applied math, technical part along with typing in the code itself and getting it into good shape, has been fast, fun, and easy…
Awesome
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#729Question re solo founders: "A startup is too much work for one person" and if you can't convince even one friend to join you, that doesn't speak well for your idea! On the other hand, a bad hire/partnership can ruin the company. YC gives signal it really prefers to look at teams than individual applications. Q: Do you have have advice or rules of thumb re how much time a solo founder should put into finding partner(s…
I think you're still missing the importance of the cofounder. It's to demonstrate that you are able to convince at least one single person to join you on the journey. Running a startup is basically one continuous stream of persuasion. Persuading customers. Persuading recruits. Persuading investors. Persuading employees. Persuading investors. Persuading the media. Etc. Etc. Building product, while fun, is easy (in mos…
What if you've already convinced people/companies to buy your product/service? Do you think you still need a co-founder then?
Re: I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA
#730Independent of the fact that there's currently a tech bubble or not. If it hypothetically exploded, would Y Combinator stop its investment activities?
No, I totally ignore this. We'll keep funding good companies no matter what the macro does.
This is basically what Warren Buffett does w/r/t Berkshire's portfolio cos. Though he invests less in frothy times and more in times of pessimism. But he's bottoms up too.