4 ms·

Startup School 2016 applications are open

92 points by shayannafisi 10y ago

whbk 10y ago
Interesting, looks like the application this time around is definitely more geared towards people actively working on a new company :) Great speaker lineup too.
- rrecuero 10y ago
  Yes, that was my impression as well, strong lineup. I think I'll apply. It would be nice to get out of Seattle during September. Rain is coming...
perezGrey 10y ago
Do you know if they're gonna stream it?
- katm 10y ago
  Yes, we're going to livestream it at startupschool.org. And then we'll put the videos online after as well.
jedberg 10y ago
Why does Startup School always overlap with a Berkeley home game? :P
- jrowley 10y ago
  YC definitely has ties to Stanford.
  - jedberg 10y ago
    Nah, they just don't care about football. It's just coincidence that it overlaps every year.
hamhamed 10y ago
If anyone abroad is coming down to Cupertino and wants a place to crash near the Flint Center, I run a startup that helps you with just that: https://www.stay22.com/events/startup-school-2016 https://www.stay22.com/events/startup-school-2016
ecmermaid 10y ago
Just saw Ooshma speak at StartupFest. Loved her talk!
Impossible 10y ago
I went to Startup school in 2012, and although the talks and event were good, is there a strong reason to go to the physical event over watching the live stream? I remember it being difficult to network, and not having much time to do so. I guess the "energy" was nice, lots of Stanford students and startup hopefuls that were really excited, but I didn't get any value out of being there. Was I just doing it wrong? Is it because there wasn't anyone there in my network to introduce me to people. Was it an age\experience or because I work in a tangential industry? Curious to see what people's thought are as to what they get out of going to the event outside of the talks.
- duncanawoods 10y ago
  I lol'd at Jessica Livingstone at the Women's conference telling attendees to not get distracted and do things like... go to conferences. There is some networking but that has a pretty dubious cost\benefit. You can treat it as a day off that might help you view your startup from the outside. If you are in a very isolated place then a bit of startup buzz might be nice. However, if you've got shit to do, I wouldn't bother and just watch the talks on youtube at your own pace in your downtime.
- _sentient 10y ago
  Most of this stuff is noise, but Startup School is a notable exception. I found the combination of great talks and interesting attendees made it a decent use of time. Oh, and it's free. :) As for networking, like most of these things your mileage will vary depending on your base networking-quotient * luck (who you happen to talk to). There are definitely worse ways to invest a Saturday.
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  I went to Startup School in 2014 (this was at De Anza, not Stanford) and made one good friend at the pre-Startup School BBQ. IMO that alone made the meet and greet cocktail party nature of the pre-event worthwhile. I don't think the "meet people" aspect was nearly as strong during the actual event. The talks were "inspiring/motivational rather than practical/tactical", and I agree that you can get 95% of the value from the video streams. I think that being in the presence of "luminaries" will bring you back down to earth realizing that they're just ordinary folks at the end of the day.
cperciva 10y ago
A word of advice for anyone who hopes to use electronic devices at Startup School: Make sure they're fully charged before you arrive. There are very few power outlets in the Flint Center, and (unless they've changed their policy in the past two years) the staff won't even let you use those few that exist.
- pohungc 10y ago
  portable chargers for phones are really awesome for cases like these :)
  - cperciva 10y ago
    In my case I wanted to charge my laptop, but yes, extra batteries could have helped there too. There are a variety of solutions; I just wanted to alert people to a potential problem before they arrived.
    - masthead 10y ago
      Thanks buddy. People like you are keeping this community healty Cheers!
bozoUser 10y ago
is there a possibility of adding a live stream?
- gnocchi 10y ago
  I would like to have a live stream or videos available for the event. It would allow people who can't travel to gain knowledge.
aaronkchsu 10y ago
I am also curious how much its worth coming out to these things! How much would it be to stay at a place in Cupertino for a night?
agibsonccc 10y ago
Fwiw: I came to startup school in 2012. One yc founder was kind enough to house me. I bought a 1 way ticket to San Francisco. I met someone who referred me to a startup hostel. I stayed there for about a month and met my co-founder. We decided what to focus on and got into yc 2 years later. You never know what can happen. Startups school is what you make of it.
wasd 10y ago
My cofounder and I were hoping to attend startup school. Surprisingly, we don't have a name or a URL but we do have a prototype and interested customers! Is there any good way to batch our applications together?
- jaredsohn 10y ago
  Domains are cheap; why not just buy one and make up a working name for now? Alternatively, you can get webhosting on subdomains for free on sites like tumblr, so at worst you could do that (but the former doesn't seem that much harder but seems a lot more professional.) Another option would be to each put the same string in those fields; the grouping (assuming there is one; I haven't looked into it in depth) probably would be based on string matching rather an actual website existing.
asadlionpk 10y ago
I went to this in 2014 (they didn't do it in 2015 I guess?) The BBQ event night before was more awesome than the actual event! Although I was too shy to network, luckily I found some other introverts :D Visiting the YC HQ was a dream come true for me. Too bad I am away and won't be able to attend it this time.

92 points by shayannafisi 10y ago

whbk 10y ago

Interesting, looks like the application this time around is definitely more geared towards people actively working on a new company :) Great speaker lineup too.

rrecuero 10y ago
Yes, that was my impression as well, strong lineup. I think I'll apply. It would be nice to get out of Seattle during September. Rain is coming...

perezGrey 10y ago

Do you know if they're gonna stream it?

katm 10y ago
Yes, we're going to livestream it at startupschool.org. And then we'll put the videos online after as well.

jedberg 10y ago

Why does Startup School always overlap with a Berkeley home game? :P

jrowley 10y ago
YC definitely has ties to Stanford.
- jedberg 10y ago
  Nah, they just don't care about football. It's just coincidence that it overlaps every year.

hamhamed 10y ago

If anyone abroad is coming down to Cupertino and wants a place to crash near the Flint Center, I run a startup that helps you with just that: https://www.stay22.com/events/startup-school-2016 https://www.stay22.com/events/startup-school-2016

ecmermaid 10y ago

Just saw Ooshma speak at StartupFest. Loved her talk!

Impossible 10y ago

I went to Startup school in 2012, and although the talks and event were good, is there a strong reason to go to the physical event over watching the live stream? I remember it being difficult to network, and not having much time to do so. I guess the "energy" was nice, lots of Stanford students and startup hopefuls that were really excited, but I didn't get any value out of being there. Was I just doing it wrong? Is it because there wasn't anyone there in my network to introduce me to people. Was it an age\experience or because I work in a tangential industry? Curious to see what people's thought are as to what they get out of going to the event outside of the talks.

duncanawoods 10y ago
I lol'd at Jessica Livingstone at the Women's conference telling attendees to not get distracted and do things like... go to conferences. There is some networking but that has a pretty dubious cost\benefit. You can treat it as a day off that might help you view your startup from the outside. If you are in a very isolated place then a bit of startup buzz might be nice. However, if you've got shit to do, I wouldn't bother and just watch the talks on youtube at your own pace in your downtime.
_sentient 10y ago
Most of this stuff is noise, but Startup School is a notable exception. I found the combination of great talks and interesting attendees made it a decent use of time. Oh, and it's free. :) As for networking, like most of these things your mileage will vary depending on your base networking-quotient * luck (who you happen to talk to). There are definitely worse ways to invest a Saturday.
hkmurakami 10y ago
I went to Startup School in 2014 (this was at De Anza, not Stanford) and made one good friend at the pre-Startup School BBQ. IMO that alone made the meet and greet cocktail party nature of the pre-event worthwhile. I don't think the "meet people" aspect was nearly as strong during the actual event. The talks were "inspiring/motivational rather than practical/tactical", and I agree that you can get 95% of the value from the video streams. I think that being in the presence of "luminaries" will bring you back down to earth realizing that they're just ordinary folks at the end of the day.

cperciva 10y ago

A word of advice for anyone who hopes to use electronic devices at Startup School: Make sure they're fully charged before you arrive. There are very few power outlets in the Flint Center, and (unless they've changed their policy in the past two years) the staff won't even let you use those few that exist.

pohungc 10y ago
portable chargers for phones are really awesome for cases like these :)
- cperciva 10y ago
  In my case I wanted to charge my laptop, but yes, extra batteries could have helped there too. There are a variety of solutions; I just wanted to alert people to a potential problem before they arrived.
  - masthead 10y ago
    Thanks buddy. People like you are keeping this community healty Cheers!

bozoUser 10y ago

is there a possibility of adding a live stream?

gnocchi 10y ago
I would like to have a live stream or videos available for the event. It would allow people who can't travel to gain knowledge.

aaronkchsu 10y ago

I am also curious how much its worth coming out to these things! How much would it be to stay at a place in Cupertino for a night?

agibsonccc 10y ago

Fwiw: I came to startup school in 2012. One yc founder was kind enough to house me. I bought a 1 way ticket to San Francisco. I met someone who referred me to a startup hostel. I stayed there for about a month and met my co-founder. We decided what to focus on and got into yc 2 years later. You never know what can happen. Startups school is what you make of it.

wasd 10y ago

My cofounder and I were hoping to attend startup school. Surprisingly, we don't have a name or a URL but we do have a prototype and interested customers! Is there any good way to batch our applications together?

jaredsohn 10y ago
Domains are cheap; why not just buy one and make up a working name for now? Alternatively, you can get webhosting on subdomains for free on sites like tumblr, so at worst you could do that (but the former doesn't seem that much harder but seems a lot more professional.) Another option would be to each put the same string in those fields; the grouping (assuming there is one; I haven't looked into it in depth) probably would be based on string matching rather an actual website existing.

asadlionpk 10y ago

I went to this in 2014 (they didn't do it in 2015 I guess?) The BBQ event night before was more awesome than the actual event! Although I was too shy to network, luckily I found some other introverts :D Visiting the YC HQ was a dream come true for me. Too bad I am away and won't be able to attend it this time.