7 ms·

Apply to YC for the Winter 2018 funding cycle

112 points by dotmanish 9y ago

lettergram 9y ago
Seems fairly far away from the next application cycle close
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  It'll probably get further each cycle. When you have to review thousands of applications, you either need more partners or more time.
  - lettergram 9y ago
    Fair point, didn't think about that
- snowmaker 9y ago
  Yep. We want to get better at allowing companies to apply at any time since people start companies year round.
  - lettergram 9y ago
    I can see that. However, if you still plan on wonly accepting companies twice a year.. doesn't it still have many of the same disadvantages? I.e. a company which wants funding likely won't wait to hear back / get funded in 6 months. I know my company is potentially looking for funding. If we jumped on that option, I'd be reaching out to everyone I could tomorrow.
  - philip1209 9y ago
    Are decisions going to become rolling? i.e. if a company applies now, rather than the night before applications are due, ostensibly they are at a disadvantage because they should have shown some kind of growth (even if in just understanding of the problem) over those 4 months.
    - bambax 9y ago
      That would be great if it worked that way. Any chance it will? Otherwise if one applies today, will they only get an answer in early October?
wand3r 9y ago
YC is great and am interested to see how their investment thesis progresses. It is an answer to Harvard/Ivy league criticism that if the teaching methodologies were as good as the institutions claim; scaling them would be a net good. Conversely, they are competitive because they do not scale them and thus Ivy schools have a finite demand and the scarcity boosts the value. I hope YC can continue to deliver value by raising batch levels and providing support to through their satellite offering. It is difficult to replicate; or if replication is the wrong word-- provide a service consistent with their brand and values-- via a distributed network with a remote team. In many ways since it started, I think the Stripe Atlas program is a great way to address this issue and I can see it evolving into an investment model. I hope YC has the resources to scale their efforts. Scaling is hard; a mistake hurts their brand, credibility and their companies. Success broadens their Network, their portfolio and gives them a foothold in different markets and verticals. Good luck; and sincerely thanks for pioneering this. It is much more brave than the ivy approach. YC believes-- with good reason-- in it's mission and I'm glad they are willing to expand it's breadth with this, non profit, hard science and funding research
- slackingoff2017 9y ago
  Reminds me of something I heard watching silicon valley.
  - wand3r 9y ago
    Only saw a few episodes; mind expanding a bit?
pplonski86 9y ago
I was doing Startup School online this year with MLJAR (https://mljar.com https://mljar.com - it is Machine Learning as a Service) - the progress during school was huge. I am very curious how the acceleration after stationary YC will look like :)
- futhey 9y ago
  Wow, just checked this out, super interesting. Worked on something similar. Will reach out!
the_common_man 9y ago
Is it considered good etiquette to keep applying to YC even if we failed in previous attempts?
- gh1 9y ago
  Yes, please do it. I am not affiliated with YC, but I have heard YC Partners mention many times that they encourage people to reapply. There was a case when someone didn't get in 7 times but got in on the 8th attempt.
  - sillysaurus3 9y ago
    There are also cases of people applying every cycle and never getting in. YC seems to be looking for sustainable companies that can be accelerated. If you weren't going to work on your company without YC, that's a point against you, as far as I know. Not a showstopper, but the overall goal is probably to fund people committed to their startup rather than fund people who might commit to a startup. The application process is valuable beyond simply getting accepted, though, so it's worth doing.
  - iamwil 9y ago
    Yes. Unspoken caveat is that you should show progress since the last time you applied.
  - bulldoa 9y ago
    I always wonder if there is an internal criteria to getting accepted ie. # of users minimum, working prototype...etc
  - dalton 9y ago
    that is correct.
  - bald 9y ago
    take everything said here with a grain of salt. as a fund, they naturally want to maximize their deal flow, so they are incentivized against advising you not to re-apply (if you aren't accepted this time, it's mainly your time that's wasted, not theirs).
dzink 9y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as a startup your metrics, learnings, and progress grows every single day, which means that applying early puts you at a disadvantage from your future self, let alone from competing companies, to get into one of those 400 interview spots. YC doesn't have the time and resources to re-review 7000 applications over and over again. If you re-submit later in this application cycle, you may not get reviewed again (I've regretted submitting early in the past, after our updated video with co-founders, vs solo founder, didn't get viewed at all.) Thus even with months of application time, it still makes sense for applicants to wait until the last moment to submit. Again, comment if you know more. Is rolling admissions an idea worth trying out for YC - all teams start at the same time, but interviewing and admission decisions don't have to?
- pbreit 9y ago
  What if they received so many fantastic applications ahead of yours there were few or no spots left?
  - Hydraulix989 9y ago
    There's always spots for good startups (even at/especially at YC). The worst thing for an investor is a missed opportunity (after all, they're looking for that 100th portfolio item that makes up for the 99 other losses). Meanwhile, you're just shooting yourself in the foot by giving yourself a bad early impression from the get go (solo founder who didn't find a technical cofounder a few weeks later, didn't close your first customer yet so you were still pre revenue, etc.), and the difference week over week can be night-and-day for an early stage startup.
- dustingetz 9y ago
  i think there's a hot spot if you can get your shit together a week or two early. If it's your first time, obviously your shit will not be together and you should submit last second with everybody else.
- dalton 9y ago
  If you have already submitted your application and then your startup has material changes to the idea, new cofounders, huge progress, etc. you can email us using this form https://www.ycombinator.com/contact/ https://www.ycombinator.com/contact/ and we will make sure to make note of what has changed since you submitted.
ikeboy 9y ago
Now it's time for me to apply for the third time, and probably not get even an interview, just like the first two times. Maybe I should stop applying with just ideas, and apply for the company I have actually been running, even though it's not a "tech" company per se.
- asenna 9y ago
  If I may ask, what does the company do? Some kind of a store?
  - ikeboy 9y ago
    Pure Amazon reselling, about 300k revenue in 2016. I would love to run a tech company, and code on the side and to some extent code tools for my business, but I feel safer in a business that's actually bringing in money.
    - ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
      What do you mean "reselling"? As in selling retail goods online on Amazon?
      - ikeboy 9y ago
        Yes, exactly. Sourcing either from retail or wholesale, selling on Amazon.
        nikanj 9y ago
        Where is the 1000x return in that? Put in 300k, sell for 300 million to..who? Not saying you don't have a great business, congratulations on making something profitable and getting ahead of 95% of the crowd here :)
        ikeboy 9y ago
        Etailz exited for $75 million https://www.geekwire.com/2016/bootstrapped-success-story-profitable-e-commerce-retailer-etailz-sells-75m/ https://www.geekwire.com/2016/bootstrapped-success-story-pro...
blizkreeg 9y ago
Does it benefit or even make sense for startups that are already at a 5-figure MRR and on the road to profitability with a small team?
- keerthiko 9y ago
  We were in a similar spot, and applied and got through to interview stage twice, once in 2013 and once again in 2015. We went to the interview in 2013 and didn't make it, and we had reasons to not follow through in 2015. Everyone I have talked to who went to YC said it was great. They've accepted older/mature companies in the past (Quora as an extreme example), who have joined purely for the network and the mentorship. We decided not to go with it for a few reasons: * Over the years we had gathered a couple of angels in the cap table. And YC was unlikely to budge from their $120k@5m terms for us, which would have ruffled some feathers from the others. * We'd outgrown (ie us cofounders as individuals) the "hustle or die for my startup" mentality -- being a profitable business where we make our own rules was nice and valuable and we are extremely happy with it. We don't want to live as the stars of a Silicon Valley episode, it's nice watching from the sidelines in a profitable, fun business. * I did not have a US visa at the time and it would have been a logistical nightmare to colocate with my team in Mountain View, which is (was?) non-negotiable to YC. Americans underestimate how much of a showstopper immigration to their country can be.
  - ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
    >* I did not have a US visa at the time and it would have been a logistical nightmare to colocate with my team in Mountain View, which is (was?) non-negotiable to YC. Americans underestimate how much of a showstopper immigration to their country can be. A very valid point that you bring up and it's not even to do with the current political climate. My co-founder left US and moved to Australia with me. There are plenty of people like him (and even my wife) who are pretty adamant to not even visit US, even for a day. We used to live in Brooklyn and the number of times we saw/heard gun violence is staggering. Once you get used to the ultra-safe communities like EU/Australia/Canada you can just wonder why would you even think about visiting US risking your life and your families life?
taytus 9y ago
This is my sixth time applying. "But he persisted"
- ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
  What kind of startup is it? Can you share your "elevator pitch" so I can take a look?
  - taytus 9y ago
    I don't have a website yet. But I'm working on a CMS for AMP websites. It's also an AMP generator, you pass it an URL and it returns an AMP version of the website.
    - ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
      very nice. I am pretty sure I would use that for my blog but then again I hate using Google proprietary AMP

112 points by dotmanish 9y ago

lettergram 9y ago

Seems fairly far away from the next application cycle close

sillysaurus3 9y ago
It'll probably get further each cycle. When you have to review thousands of applications, you either need more partners or more time.
- lettergram 9y ago
  Fair point, didn't think about that
snowmaker 9y ago
Yep. We want to get better at allowing companies to apply at any time since people start companies year round.
- lettergram 9y ago
  I can see that. However, if you still plan on wonly accepting companies twice a year.. doesn't it still have many of the same disadvantages? I.e. a company which wants funding likely won't wait to hear back / get funded in 6 months. I know my company is potentially looking for funding. If we jumped on that option, I'd be reaching out to everyone I could tomorrow.
- philip1209 9y ago
  Are decisions going to become rolling? i.e. if a company applies now, rather than the night before applications are due, ostensibly they are at a disadvantage because they should have shown some kind of growth (even if in just understanding of the problem) over those 4 months.
  - bambax 9y ago
    That would be great if it worked that way. Any chance it will? Otherwise if one applies today, will they only get an answer in early October?

wand3r 9y ago

YC is great and am interested to see how their investment thesis progresses. It is an answer to Harvard/Ivy league criticism that if the teaching methodologies were as good as the institutions claim; scaling them would be a net good. Conversely, they are competitive because they do not scale them and thus Ivy schools have a finite demand and the scarcity boosts the value. I hope YC can continue to deliver value by raising batch levels and providing support to through their satellite offering. It is difficult to replicate; or if replication is the wrong word-- provide a service consistent with their brand and values-- via a distributed network with a remote team. In many ways since it started, I think the Stripe Atlas program is a great way to address this issue and I can see it evolving into an investment model. I hope YC has the resources to scale their efforts. Scaling is hard; a mistake hurts their brand, credibility and their companies. Success broadens their Network, their portfolio and gives them a foothold in different markets and verticals. Good luck; and sincerely thanks for pioneering this. It is much more brave than the ivy approach. YC believes-- with good reason-- in it's mission and I'm glad they are willing to expand it's breadth with this, non profit, hard science and funding research

slackingoff2017 9y ago
Reminds me of something I heard watching silicon valley.
- wand3r 9y ago
  Only saw a few episodes; mind expanding a bit?

pplonski86 9y ago

I was doing Startup School online this year with MLJAR (https://mljar.com https://mljar.com - it is Machine Learning as a Service) - the progress during school was huge. I am very curious how the acceleration after stationary YC will look like :)

futhey 9y ago
Wow, just checked this out, super interesting. Worked on something similar. Will reach out!

the_common_man 9y ago

Is it considered good etiquette to keep applying to YC even if we failed in previous attempts?

gh1 9y ago
Yes, please do it. I am not affiliated with YC, but I have heard YC Partners mention many times that they encourage people to reapply. There was a case when someone didn't get in 7 times but got in on the 8th attempt.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  There are also cases of people applying every cycle and never getting in. YC seems to be looking for sustainable companies that can be accelerated. If you weren't going to work on your company without YC, that's a point against you, as far as I know. Not a showstopper, but the overall goal is probably to fund people committed to their startup rather than fund people who might commit to a startup. The application process is valuable beyond simply getting accepted, though, so it's worth doing.
- iamwil 9y ago
  Yes. Unspoken caveat is that you should show progress since the last time you applied.
- bulldoa 9y ago
  I always wonder if there is an internal criteria to getting accepted ie. # of users minimum, working prototype...etc
- dalton 9y ago
  that is correct.
- bald 9y ago
  take everything said here with a grain of salt. as a fund, they naturally want to maximize their deal flow, so they are incentivized against advising you not to re-apply (if you aren't accepted this time, it's mainly your time that's wasted, not theirs).

dzink 9y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as a startup your metrics, learnings, and progress grows every single day, which means that applying early puts you at a disadvantage from your future self, let alone from competing companies, to get into one of those 400 interview spots. YC doesn't have the time and resources to re-review 7000 applications over and over again. If you re-submit later in this application cycle, you may not get reviewed again (I've regretted submitting early in the past, after our updated video with co-founders, vs solo founder, didn't get viewed at all.) Thus even with months of application time, it still makes sense for applicants to wait until the last moment to submit. Again, comment if you know more. Is rolling admissions an idea worth trying out for YC - all teams start at the same time, but interviewing and admission decisions don't have to?

pbreit 9y ago
What if they received so many fantastic applications ahead of yours there were few or no spots left?
- Hydraulix989 9y ago
  There's always spots for good startups (even at/especially at YC). The worst thing for an investor is a missed opportunity (after all, they're looking for that 100th portfolio item that makes up for the 99 other losses). Meanwhile, you're just shooting yourself in the foot by giving yourself a bad early impression from the get go (solo founder who didn't find a technical cofounder a few weeks later, didn't close your first customer yet so you were still pre revenue, etc.), and the difference week over week can be night-and-day for an early stage startup.
dustingetz 9y ago
i think there's a hot spot if you can get your shit together a week or two early. If it's your first time, obviously your shit will not be together and you should submit last second with everybody else.
dalton 9y ago
If you have already submitted your application and then your startup has material changes to the idea, new cofounders, huge progress, etc. you can email us using this form https://www.ycombinator.com/contact/ https://www.ycombinator.com/contact/ and we will make sure to make note of what has changed since you submitted.

ikeboy 9y ago

Now it's time for me to apply for the third time, and probably not get even an interview, just like the first two times. Maybe I should stop applying with just ideas, and apply for the company I have actually been running, even though it's not a "tech" company per se.

asenna 9y ago
If I may ask, what does the company do? Some kind of a store?
- ikeboy 9y ago
  Pure Amazon reselling, about 300k revenue in 2016. I would love to run a tech company, and code on the side and to some extent code tools for my business, but I feel safer in a business that's actually bringing in money.
  - ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
    What do you mean "reselling"? As in selling retail goods online on Amazon?
    - ikeboy 9y ago
      Yes, exactly. Sourcing either from retail or wholesale, selling on Amazon.
      - nikanj 9y ago
        Where is the 1000x return in that? Put in 300k, sell for 300 million to..who? Not saying you don't have a great business, congratulations on making something profitable and getting ahead of 95% of the crowd here :)
        ikeboy 9y ago
        Etailz exited for $75 million https://www.geekwire.com/2016/bootstrapped-success-story-profitable-e-commerce-retailer-etailz-sells-75m/ https://www.geekwire.com/2016/bootstrapped-success-story-pro...

blizkreeg 9y ago

Does it benefit or even make sense for startups that are already at a 5-figure MRR and on the road to profitability with a small team?

keerthiko 9y ago
We were in a similar spot, and applied and got through to interview stage twice, once in 2013 and once again in 2015. We went to the interview in 2013 and didn't make it, and we had reasons to not follow through in 2015. Everyone I have talked to who went to YC said it was great. They've accepted older/mature companies in the past (Quora as an extreme example), who have joined purely for the network and the mentorship. We decided not to go with it for a few reasons: * Over the years we had gathered a couple of angels in the cap table. And YC was unlikely to budge from their $120k@5m terms for us, which would have ruffled some feathers from the others. * We'd outgrown (ie us cofounders as individuals) the "hustle or die for my startup" mentality -- being a profitable business where we make our own rules was nice and valuable and we are extremely happy with it. We don't want to live as the stars of a Silicon Valley episode, it's nice watching from the sidelines in a profitable, fun business. * I did not have a US visa at the time and it would have been a logistical nightmare to colocate with my team in Mountain View, which is (was?) non-negotiable to YC. Americans underestimate how much of a showstopper immigration to their country can be.
- ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
  >* I did not have a US visa at the time and it would have been a logistical nightmare to colocate with my team in Mountain View, which is (was?) non-negotiable to YC. Americans underestimate how much of a showstopper immigration to their country can be. A very valid point that you bring up and it's not even to do with the current political climate. My co-founder left US and moved to Australia with me. There are plenty of people like him (and even my wife) who are pretty adamant to not even visit US, even for a day. We used to live in Brooklyn and the number of times we saw/heard gun violence is staggering. Once you get used to the ultra-safe communities like EU/Australia/Canada you can just wonder why would you even think about visiting US risking your life and your families life?

taytus 9y ago

This is my sixth time applying. "But he persisted"

ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
What kind of startup is it? Can you share your "elevator pitch" so I can take a look?
- taytus 9y ago
  I don't have a website yet. But I'm working on a CMS for AMP websites. It's also an AMP generator, you pass it an URL and it returns an AMP version of the website.
  - ganeshkrishnan 9y ago
    very nice. I am pretty sure I would use that for my blog but then again I hate using Google proprietary AMP