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> This admissions team is solely focused on the all-important problem of sifting through the mountain of inbound applicants to determine who we should fund each

> This admissions team is solely focused on the all-important problem of sifting through the mountain of inbound applicants to determine who we should fund each batch and ensure we don’t overlook incredible founders. I would rather they did overlook incredible founders. Getting a rejection shouldn't mean you were judged not to be ready. It was also nice when there could be only a couple Launch HN's a week, at most.

dang 6y ago
> It was also nice when there could be only a couple Launch HN's a week, at most Ah, you've touched on something that I've been worrying about. Jared's made a great case (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26557978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26557978) about how YC can grow the resources it provides to startups, but HN front page space is one resource with a hard limit. That means that as YC batches continue to expand, the percentage of YC startups who do a Launch HN is going to have to decrease. When are we going to hit that point? We've probably hit it already. During W21 we've been allowing two YC startups to launch on most days—but I think that's too much. My gut feeling is that 2 launches a day is ok during the run up to Demo Day (i.e. a week or two before), but not during the entire batch. The question is what the criteria should be for deciding which startups get a Launch HN. In the past it was simply "email the mods and they'll schedule you". Now that (edit: close to) 150 startups are doing that in a batch, we need something else to narrow it down.
- tptacek 6y ago
  How are you scaling the editorial work you do for these? I saw the internal threads for Fly, and the work you put in was significant, and you can see what looks like similar guidance in a lot of the good Launch posts. You have to be aware of how valuable that work is. Have you thought about building it out?
  - snowmaker 6y ago
    I work with Daniel and I have no idea how he manages to do this. He's incredible.
- breck 6y ago
  Is there a difference between Launch HN and Show HN? I love how you have "Show HN" setup. Anytime I want some positivity in my life I just hop on over there. It's very inspiring to see people always building new things.
  - ZephyrBlu 6y ago
    Yes, Launch HN is specifically for YC startups and they start on the frontpage. I think they stay on there for the whole day as well. Show HN is a normal post tagged with "Show HN:" for the rest of us average joes who made anything.

dang 6y ago

> It was also nice when there could be only a couple Launch HN's a week, at most Ah, you've touched on something that I've been worrying about. Jared's made a great case (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26557978 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26557978) about how YC can grow the resources it provides to startups, but HN front page space is one resource with a hard limit. That means that as YC batches continue to expand, the percentage of YC startups who do a Launch HN is going to have to decrease. When are we going to hit that point? We've probably hit it already. During W21 we've been allowing two YC startups to launch on most days—but I think that's too much. My gut feeling is that 2 launches a day is ok during the run up to Demo Day (i.e. a week or two before), but not during the entire batch. The question is what the criteria should be for deciding which startups get a Launch HN. In the past it was simply "email the mods and they'll schedule you". Now that (edit: close to) 150 startups are doing that in a batch, we need something else to narrow it down.

tptacek 6y ago
How are you scaling the editorial work you do for these? I saw the internal threads for Fly, and the work you put in was significant, and you can see what looks like similar guidance in a lot of the good Launch posts. You have to be aware of how valuable that work is. Have you thought about building it out?
- snowmaker 6y ago
  I work with Daniel and I have no idea how he manages to do this. He's incredible.
breck 6y ago
Is there a difference between Launch HN and Show HN? I love how you have "Show HN" setup. Anytime I want some positivity in my life I just hop on over there. It's very inspiring to see people always building new things.
- ZephyrBlu 6y ago
  Yes, Launch HN is specifically for YC startups and they start on the frontpage. I think they stay on there for the whole day as well. Show HN is a normal post tagged with "Show HN:" for the rest of us average joes who made anything.