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YC applications open for summer 2010; note earlier deadline
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
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- bretpiatt 17y agoDon't be lazy, click through and read his post.. "Summer 2010 will be our 5th anniversary, and since we fund startups twice a year it will be the 11th group of startups we've funded. We've funded 171 companies so far..." Average of 17.1.. it is a bit higher in the recent rounds due to more qualified applicants and a larger pool of available investment funds.
- pg 17y agoActually it's not that unreasonable a question. We tend to grow each year, and there are 27 in w2010, so the number will probably be at least that. But it's unlikely it would be over, say, 40.
- lloydarmbrust 17y agoThe correct answer is that there is no set number. They seem to try to interview as many applicants as they can in three days and then pick the ones that work from that batch. Since PG believes that they are getting better at picking startups that will not die, my bet is that number will grow every year. Another thought: I seriously doubt that the number of startups funded has anything to do with available capital, but rather the logistics of each startup being able to work directly with Paul.
- alanthonyc 17y agoPG's point about the size of the YC founders pool makes me curious what the effects of hitting some kind of Dunbar number will be.
- pg 17y agoI wonder about that too, but we may not hit a limit. I think limits like Dunbar's number are consequences of hierarchical structure, and the YC founder network is completely distributed.
- Alex3917 17y agoDunbar's number generally applies to communities that are organized around content or ideology. So for example, a web forum gets too large for everyone to agree on what's on topic or off topic, so it splits in two. Or a democratically run government can't agree on whether the society should be gemeinschaft or gezellschaft. The YC network is more like a dating site than a polis, so while there may be some limiting factor I don't think it would be Dunbar's number.
- alanthonyc 17y agoThe YC network is more like a dating site than a polis Is this true? I may have a utopian view of things, but my impression is that of a community that helps each other out in order to make this new model of work succeed. If my impression is accurate, then I can see how the society could change or break down once it gets past a certain size. Cliques, subgroups, etc. could form. I see this support group structure as one of the main reasons to apply to YC. The money would be useful, but the support would be invaluable.
- Alex3917 17y ago"My impression is that of a community that helps each other out in order to make this new model of work succeed." In YC when you have a problem you generally find another startup who can help and then pair off with them to work alone, like on a dating site. Alternatively, there other seed programs where all the startups sit around a big table and talk about each person's problems one at time. This is more like a polis, because different discussions create value for different people. The latter exposes you to more new ideas, but it also wastes enormous amounts of time. (And a lot of these new ideas don't end up sticking because you haven't already tried yourself and failed first.) I think the YC model probably maximizes your chances of success after three months, but only if you already have a pretty good chance of succeeding. If you still have a bunch of missing skills you need to fill in, then looking into non-YC options might make more sense.
- gkoberger 17y agoGood luck, everyone! :)
- bretpiatt 17y agoI like the effort to move the date and sync up with the other programs out there. It really feels like everyone should get together like the colleges have with application deadlines and acceptance notification back to applicants.
- pg 17y agoWe're hoping this move will cause that to happen de facto. The fact that YC etc have cycles with similar, fixed dates makes it structurally like college applications, so customs should be similar. It is much worse to use exploding termsheets in that context than in something asynchronous like VC series A rounds.
- araneae 17y agoUnless something like early admission happens... It's advantageous to be early in the cycle, so you could have a continual creep up of deadlines, and continual asynchrony.
- pg 17y agoIn fact one of them already has something they call early admissions. I can't imagine why any startup would think it was to their advantage to limit their options that way, though, so as far as I can tell it is just a negative IQ test and thus nothing to worry about.
- rms 17y agoIt probably makes sense for those founders living in that specific geographic area that can't move for whatever reasons.
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- DanielBMarkham 17y agoWoohoo! I think I actually think I might be in a good spot to apply this time around.
- lloydarmbrust 17y agoI can't imagine how the YC partners have time to make this happen, but then again, I'm not sure how they fulfill their current responsibilities.
- arfrank 17y agoThe apply link in the footer below is now dead as it links to the w2010.html page. Should be s2010.html Also clickable link to the apply page at: http://ycombinator.com/s2010.html http://ycombinator.com/s2010.html
- chrischen 17y agoI really hope there is significantly more engagement this time. I'm not real good at explaining things the first time so a question-response type situation would give me a good chance to properly explain my self a one-time application wouldn't. I do have a question for Paul Graham though: should I assume you guys know nothing about previous applications?
- pg 17y agoThat's a good assumption, though we sometimes look at previous applications.
- benologist 17y agoFantastic news and timing. :)
- paraschopra 17y agoHi PG, I really want to apply to YC this time. I browsed through the application but I am not sure if you will consider my case for the application: single founder and based out of India?
- chrischen 17y agoI'm a single founder too. I guess there's not much we can do but apply and see what happens and to keep seeking a founder (of course for you I assume you also have to find a way over here). But from what I've heard (from emailing founder's coop) is that if you're a single founder you better be at least technical to enough build your idea yourself.
- Slashed 17y agoWhen I applied about a year ago at TechStars, I was a single founder. I had a meet-up with David Cohen from the TechStars and asked him on this. He told me: "It's very difficult to run the business being a single founder. You should probably keep on searching and then just email me if anything has changed". While I do believe that successful business can be created by a single founder, I don't think that this is an issue when you're searching for someone to invest in your business. Anyway, I wish you good luck.
- ewjordan 17y agoFrom http://ycombinator.com/faq.html http://ycombinator.com/faq.html: Can a single person apply for funding? Yes, but the odds of being accepted are much lower. A startup is too much work for one person. Do we have to be US citizens? No, as long as you can get here for at least three months. We've funded many startups founded by non-citizens. Can you get us visas? No, sorry, we don't do that. You'll have to figure out visas for yourself. If you know people from previous YC-funded companies who came from outside the US, we suggest you ask them for advice. They understand the options better than we do.
- paraschopra 17y agoThanks!
- hypermatt 17y ago"submit successive drafts of your application as you modify it" My favorite quote, I like that. I've never been a big fan of college applications in one shot.
- danielzarick 17y agoPG- Will there be RFS ideas again? I'm not necessarily looking for ideas, but it is always interesting to see what you and the crew are thinking about.
- gridspy 17y agoYes, there are a few interesting RFS ideas from 16 August 2009 : http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html
- kuvkir 17y agoJust out of curiosity – is there any list of YC participants of past years?
- chrischen 17y agohttp://ycombinator.com/faq.html http://ycombinator.com/faq.html There's a list. I'm not sure if it's comprehensive. I know there's another list somewhere out there that also details the status of the companies. Can't seem to find it right now.
- patrickmclaren 17y agohttp://www.crunchbase.com/company/y-combinator http://www.crunchbase.com/company/y-combinator
- ig1 17y agohttp://blog.awesomezombie.com/2009/12/analyzing-y-combinator.html http://blog.awesomezombie.com/2009/12/analyzing-y-combinator...
- daeken 17y agoPG: Would you consider funding a startup aiming to take on a massive but completely monopolized market, e.g. desktop OSes? Being one of the developers on a completely new OS, I frequently wonder about how it could be commercialized and pitted against the likes of MS, and it seems that it would be effectively untouchable from a funding perspective, with the way things are now. I know investors like risk, but it seems like the chances of success are such that 99% of the time, you're going to be throwing your money way. Any insight here?
- billclerico 17y agothat's sort of a vague question. some of history's biggest monopolies have been the most vulnerable to disruption (telecom, anyone?). i don't want to speak for PG, but I think when YC considers applications they weigh risk against potential return. m$ certainly has demonstrated there is a tremendous market for desktop software (though with the onset of cloud computing, perhaps it is becoming obsolete).
- daeken 17y agoI perhaps made it a bit too vague in an effort to make it applicable outside my specific case (I work on a pure-managed OS focused on desktop/mobile applications). Even though I fully believe in the project, the chances of it ever becoming the Next Big OS (TM) are slim to nil, so I'm curious if any sane investor would touch it. Obviously there's a profit to be made with it in certain niches, but I don't know if that would be big enough for anyone to fund it.
- cperciva 17y agoPG: Would you consider funding a startup aiming to take on a massive but completely monopolized market, e.g. desktop OSes? From what I've seen I'd say that YC has a high probability of funding the sort of brave/foolish people who would try such a thing. Keep in mind that to a first approximation, YC funds teams, not startups -- PG has stated many times that one of the most important things a startup can do is be ready to throw everything out and start moving in a completely new direction.
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- follower 17y agoShould "It will take place in Mountain View, CA from July through August 2010" actually say "June" rather than "July" given point #4?
- pg 17y agoFixed, thanks.
- pmjordan 17y agoEngaging with applicants before the deadline seems like a great move. From the stories from previous YCers it sounds like this sometimes happened already, but it's good to have it spelled out. Oh, by the way Paul: the "Apply" link in the footer is still the W2010 one, which now 404s. It shouldn't stop anyone serious about applying, but... :)
- discolemonade 17y agoIt would be interesting to see stats on the composition of groups that YC has funded since inception; ie, percentage of all programmer groups vs programmer/biz guy vs all biz guys, etc. Any insights PG?
- icey 17y agoI would be especially interested in seeing percentage of single founder applicants (vs total applicants) and percentage of single founder companies accepted (vs total companies accepted).
- discolemonade 17y agoI imagine it's not that high. If I were in PG's shoes, I would be more reluctant to fund single founder groups too for the simple reason that startup ideas go through countless iterations and it's very hard to mold an idea if you have no one to bounce ideas off of. Sure, you could get the opinions of family and friends, but they'll tell you anything because they don't have a stake in the idea.
- icey 17y agoMy guess is that the percentage of single founder applicants is enormous, while the percentage of single founder accepted companies is minuscule. I just wonder how big the gap is.
- discolemonade 17y ago@icey what makes you think it's enormous? I would think that most people who have a business idea they're confident enough to pursue have it because they've discussed it at length with someone else who's also interested in the idea.
- icey 17y agoJust a gut feeling. There's no real cost to applying, so why wouldn't a single founder apply? Given the number of people that post about looking for a cofounder here, I'm just guessing that a lot of people don't have one, but feel that they've got a good enough idea to make a business. Some of them really will have what it takes; but I'm sure the proportion of single founders that apply is quite different that the proportion of single founders that are accepted.
- samd 17y ago"Are any of the following true? ... (e) None of the founders are programmers." Isn't that basically automatic disqualification?
- pg 17y agoNo; we've funded a couple groups that didn't have any programmers.
- dzlobin 17y agoPG, Just how much of a minus would it be that both founders would have to return to college in the fall? Given they can reasonably continue to work in school.