> 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 an

> 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.