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The only problem I see with pg giving advice is that future applicants might tweak their application just to fit what pg is looking for, possibly resulting in a
by kyro 18y ago
The only problem I see with pg giving advice is that future applicants might tweak their application just to fit what pg is looking for, possibly resulting in an application that misrepresents the team or idea.
- edw519 18y agoActually, that's exactly what I was hoping for (the tweak, not the misrepresentation). The "tweaking" wouldn't be the effect, but the cause. The effect would be to help the team focus on their best target. I believe that anything that gives people a better chance at succeeding is a good idea.
- SwellJoe 18y agoI think that'd be a disservice to future applicants and YC. Here's why: Any single application cannot represent everything YC is looking for. They invest in wildly varying startups. I was surprised when we were asked to come for an interview, and equally surprised when we were accepted...because YC had never funded anything in our area before (we're not web 2.0, we're not a hosted app, we're not social or user generated, and our design sense historically kinda sucks). But, history now indicates that YC is looking for more than merely more web 2.0 apps. They've now funded hardware, enterprise apps, sports related apps, and a lot more. There is no "YC style startup". Reddit was a great success, and one can find parallels in some of the other YC startups...but there are far more that don't fit that mold at all. If you tweak to fit what you think is the YC mold, you may very well tweak out the really unique and interesting bit of your application.