4 ms·

How to get into Y Combinator according to the founders that did get in

52 points by foti-panagio 7y ago

foti-panagio 7y ago
After applying myself and not getting in for the S19 batch, I decided to do some research. What if I just reached out to the founders that actually did get in, and just straight up ask them the nitty gritty questions of how they did it? So I proceeded to do exactly that. 3 months later, countless hours of interviews, transcribing, and editing, I'm finally done. https://www.growthmentor.com/blog/post_series/y-combinator/ https://www.growthmentor.com/blog/post_series/y-combinator/ There are 12 interviews live now but will be adding a few more over the next couple of weeks. For anyone applying to this next batch, I wish you the best of luck. Really hope this helps!
- SkyMarshal 7y ago
  Did you account for survivorship bias? Eg, did you also ask a bunch of folks who failed to get in what they did, and examine whether they did all the same things as the successful applicants but just got unlucky? https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias
slowhand09 7y ago
On a related note: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20919455 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20919455
ex3ndr 7y ago
Many of the founders prepared in the ur chat where YC alumni payback by helping new one to shape theirs startups: https://openland.com/invite/wT6XDbT https://openland.com/invite/wT6XDbT
killion 7y ago
Thanks for including Suiteness Foti, we are always happy to help other founders.
dmitrygr 7y ago
The article doesn't mention how they account for survivorship bias. Does anyone know?
- foti-panagio 7y ago
  Who is "they"?
  - dmitrygr 7y ago
    Authors of the article
homeproject_123 7y ago
Are the YC applications ever made public? I am not really paranoid about 5-10 partners reviewing my application. But i would not want to be permanently google-able
- foti-panagio 7y ago
  No, they are never made public.
grumpy8 7y ago
> How much time and effort did you put into the application? Spent a whole week on it because the questions were really good and had to do a lot of thinking and research. > Do you need traction to get into Y Combinator? At its core, to get in YC you need an insight to build something that has the potential to be a $1B+ company. Having traction is great because it shows that this insight is grounded -- but this isn't required. If you have no insight and no traction, then you need something else exceptional to convince them to invest in you rather than the idea. > What are some tips for writing the written application? Don't bullshit and get a founder from YC to review the application. Unlike most people, you don't need to "bullshit YC" to get in.. they actually want to fund you as long as you can prove that your insight is grounded and made significant progress relative to where you were a few weeks earlier. Also, be concise because they're reading thousands of applications.. if as the CEO you can't be concise, it's kind of a red flag against you that you won't communicate properly to customers, employees and investors. > Bonus tips on how to get into Y Combinator Don't read too much into "How to get into YC" things. Be ruthlessly focussed on working on your product and talking to users. Better to fail fast and move on to a different product if users don't love it or you're not solving a major pain point.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
  I've applied before but, looking back, my idea likely wasn't a $1B idea. For those of us with ideas in the $10m-$100m's range: What is our best avenue? I think those of us that have business ideas in that range, you know, we still have something valuable to offer society, even if it doesn't get an investor a very big return.
threwawasy1228 7y ago
You know what would be 10x as useful as this AND account for survivorship bias? If you did this same format but instead only talking to founders who failed one or even multiple times before eventually getting in. Then they could compare and contrast what they did wrong originally and how they corrected it. That would be much more useful to me, and wouldn't stink of survivorship issues.
- new_realist 7y ago
  I would like to see a list of per-company YC outcomes vs. outcomes with traditional VCs. Is it worth “getting in?”, or is it just a low paying job with long hours, with nobody winning, on average, except YC itself?
  - jjeaff 7y ago
    I don't know about being in YC vs raising capital directly. But getting into a program like YC makes it significantly easier to raise money.
- foti-panagio 7y ago
  This series was intended to be an expose' on the patterns of those that got in, some on first try, most on their subsequent attempts. Nothing more, nothing less.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

52 points by foti-panagio 7y ago

After applying myself and not getting in for the S19 batch, I decided to do some research. What if I just reached out to the founders that actually did get in, and just straight up ask them the nitty gritty questions of how they did it? So I proceeded to do exactly that. 3 months later, countless hours of interviews, transcribing, and editing, I'm finally done. https://www.growthmentor.com/blog/post_series/y-combinator/ https://www.growthmentor.com/blog/post_series/y-combinator/ There are 12 interviews live now but will be adding a few more over the next couple of weeks. For anyone applying to this next batch, I wish you the best of luck. Really hope this helps!

SkyMarshal 7y ago
Did you account for survivorship bias? Eg, did you also ask a bunch of folks who failed to get in what they did, and examine whether they did all the same things as the successful applicants but just got unlucky? https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias

slowhand09 7y ago

On a related note: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20919455 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20919455

ex3ndr 7y ago

Many of the founders prepared in the ur chat where YC alumni payback by helping new one to shape theirs startups: https://openland.com/invite/wT6XDbT https://openland.com/invite/wT6XDbT

killion 7y ago

Thanks for including Suiteness Foti, we are always happy to help other founders.

dmitrygr 7y ago

The article doesn't mention how they account for survivorship bias. Does anyone know?

foti-panagio 7y ago
Who is "they"?
- dmitrygr 7y ago
  Authors of the article

homeproject_123 7y ago

Are the YC applications ever made public? I am not really paranoid about 5-10 partners reviewing my application. But i would not want to be permanently google-able

foti-panagio 7y ago
No, they are never made public.

grumpy8 7y ago

> How much time and effort did you put into the application? Spent a whole week on it because the questions were really good and had to do a lot of thinking and research. > Do you need traction to get into Y Combinator? At its core, to get in YC you need an insight to build something that has the potential to be a $1B+ company. Having traction is great because it shows that this insight is grounded -- but this isn't required. If you have no insight and no traction, then you need something else exceptional to convince them to invest in you rather than the idea. > What are some tips for writing the written application? Don't bullshit and get a founder from YC to review the application. Unlike most people, you don't need to "bullshit YC" to get in.. they actually want to fund you as long as you can prove that your insight is grounded and made significant progress relative to where you were a few weeks earlier. Also, be concise because they're reading thousands of applications.. if as the CEO you can't be concise, it's kind of a red flag against you that you won't communicate properly to customers, employees and investors. > Bonus tips on how to get into Y Combinator Don't read too much into "How to get into YC" things. Be ruthlessly focussed on working on your product and talking to users. Better to fail fast and move on to a different product if users don't love it or you're not solving a major pain point.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
I've applied before but, looking back, my idea likely wasn't a $1B idea. For those of us with ideas in the $10m-$100m's range: What is our best avenue? I think those of us that have business ideas in that range, you know, we still have something valuable to offer society, even if it doesn't get an investor a very big return.

threwawasy1228 7y ago

You know what would be 10x as useful as this AND account for survivorship bias? If you did this same format but instead only talking to founders who failed one or even multiple times before eventually getting in. Then they could compare and contrast what they did wrong originally and how they corrected it. That would be much more useful to me, and wouldn't stink of survivorship issues.

new_realist 7y ago
I would like to see a list of per-company YC outcomes vs. outcomes with traditional VCs. Is it worth “getting in?”, or is it just a low paying job with long hours, with nobody winning, on average, except YC itself?
- jjeaff 7y ago
  I don't know about being in YC vs raising capital directly. But getting into a program like YC makes it significantly easier to raise money.
foti-panagio 7y ago
This series was intended to be an expose' on the patterns of those that got in, some on first try, most on their subsequent attempts. Nothing more, nothing less.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]