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What is telling about this example is that what seemed to have made the biggest impression was the least rehearsed, thought out, planned answer he could give, b

What is telling about this example is that what seemed to have made the biggest impression was the least rehearsed, thought out, planned answer he could give, but rather the one that was the most sincere and most "down to earth." I think there is so much about the YC format which really hints at that strategy likely being your best route of success -- the time constraint, the lack of pitch deck, etc. I mean, these are people who quite literally go through thousands of these. I can't really see any other way to possibly stand out than to try to be radically genuine and sincere, even when that seems (as the author seemed to have thought!) that it is the "less fancy" or "not the thing you are supposed to say." Quite literally anything else will be something they will have heard, at a minimum, dozens of other times.

joeberon 5y ago
> I can't really see any other way to possibly stand out than to try to be radically genuine and sincere You could have a unique idea that isn't shit. If you can't have a unique idea that isn't shit, you shouldn't be a startup founder in the first place.
- phillc73 5y ago
  I don't think a unique idea is necessarily required for a startup. It could be instead that you've identified an under serviced market niche. This could still be a very good startup idea.
  - joeberon 5y ago
    True, but your idea has to at least be good or relevant, which OP's unfortunately wasn't. It doesn't take some weird emotional outburst to stand out, it takes having an actually good idea. Of course you need to convince them it's a good idea, but again you don't need an emotional outburst for that, if it's an actually good idea it should not be difficult.
    - Nevermark 5y ago
      In this case the emotional outburst suggested the founder might be in such close contact with the problem that he might find better solutions, and will likely recognize many non-solutions before wasting time on them. At least that is a takeaway I would have. It is not everything a VC might want to hear, but it is a positive.
      - joeberon 5y ago
        Why would the emotional outburst suggest that when he's already spent so much time on something the YC interviewer considered a non-solution?
        fakedang 5y ago
        You can spend so much time on something, yet it wouldn't tell a YC interviewer that it's a problem you're intent to solve. Case in point, my YC idea. I spent loads of my free time on building a MVP, got praise for it, but I did not have a burning passion to solve that problem, or even any desire that I wanted to be in that space long term.
- paxys 5y ago
  What startup has a truly unique idea? Doing the same thing a hundred other companies are doing and being slightly better and luckier is how most of them got successful.
- RNCTX 5y ago
  > If you can't have a unique idea that isn't shit, you shouldn't be a startup founder in the first place. A taxi service available via a phone is not a unique idea, and it loses millions every single day (Uber). A company that trades in government issued tax credits for not-pollution is not a unique idea, the Reagan administration invented it (Tesla) A database sold to end users is not a unique idea, IBM did it in the 1960s (Oracle) This list could go on ad-infinitum.
  - mdorazio 5y ago
    You’ve grossly mischaracterized every single one of these.
cardosof 5y ago
It seems to me they're not evaluating the pair {problem, solution}, they're evaluating the pair {problem, founder} - the solution may be changed and tweaked and not be special but the founder has to be special, and carefully designed charts with pretty numbers don't explain a founder, emotional speeches do.
- joeberon 5y ago
  How are you inferring that from this blog post? Everything about it seems to be saying "I've heard this solution a million times, and seen a million failures, do you have anything new?" The answer is to have a solution that has not seen a million failures.
  - CamperBob2 5y ago
    Seems like the sort of thing that wants to be a game. If you asked me to name a successful "urban exploration" startup, I'd probably name Pokemon Go and maybe Groupon. The former isn't a "startup" companywise, and the latter isn't one now, but both were certainly novel, and strongly adjacent to the space under discussion. They both got people out of their homes and offices and into unfamiliar parts of town. My guess is the ultimate winner will find a way to hit both the Pokemon Go and Groupon psychological buttons at once.
  - gerbilly 5y ago
    Because, just like the author of the blog, most of us have trained ourselves not to share these kinds of feelings. In his pitch the founder conceived/pitched the solution as a veiled way to talk about his real problem. I see it at my job all the time, we talk about technical problems and their solutions as a way of trying to share our fears, anxieties and feelings. All the heady technical talk is just a proxy for what we really wish we could say. I know this because I'm often the only one on the team brave enough to state the subtext openly, and have I often been thanked for that. Every team needs a therapist, it would seem.
    - joeberon 5y ago
mwseibel 5y ago
You nailed it.
- ChicagoBoy11 5y ago
  Wait does this mean I get to interview for YC? /s Not a founder, but a fan of y'alls work :-)

joeberon 5y ago

> I can't really see any other way to possibly stand out than to try to be radically genuine and sincere You could have a unique idea that isn't shit. If you can't have a unique idea that isn't shit, you shouldn't be a startup founder in the first place.

phillc73 5y ago
I don't think a unique idea is necessarily required for a startup. It could be instead that you've identified an under serviced market niche. This could still be a very good startup idea.
- joeberon 5y ago
  True, but your idea has to at least be good or relevant, which OP's unfortunately wasn't. It doesn't take some weird emotional outburst to stand out, it takes having an actually good idea. Of course you need to convince them it's a good idea, but again you don't need an emotional outburst for that, if it's an actually good idea it should not be difficult.
  - Nevermark 5y ago
    In this case the emotional outburst suggested the founder might be in such close contact with the problem that he might find better solutions, and will likely recognize many non-solutions before wasting time on them. At least that is a takeaway I would have. It is not everything a VC might want to hear, but it is a positive.
    - joeberon 5y ago
      Why would the emotional outburst suggest that when he's already spent so much time on something the YC interviewer considered a non-solution?
      - fakedang 5y ago
        You can spend so much time on something, yet it wouldn't tell a YC interviewer that it's a problem you're intent to solve. Case in point, my YC idea. I spent loads of my free time on building a MVP, got praise for it, but I did not have a burning passion to solve that problem, or even any desire that I wanted to be in that space long term.
paxys 5y ago
What startup has a truly unique idea? Doing the same thing a hundred other companies are doing and being slightly better and luckier is how most of them got successful.
RNCTX 5y ago
> If you can't have a unique idea that isn't shit, you shouldn't be a startup founder in the first place. A taxi service available via a phone is not a unique idea, and it loses millions every single day (Uber). A company that trades in government issued tax credits for not-pollution is not a unique idea, the Reagan administration invented it (Tesla) A database sold to end users is not a unique idea, IBM did it in the 1960s (Oracle) This list could go on ad-infinitum.
- mdorazio 5y ago
  You’ve grossly mischaracterized every single one of these.

cardosof 5y ago

It seems to me they're not evaluating the pair {problem, solution}, they're evaluating the pair {problem, founder} - the solution may be changed and tweaked and not be special but the founder has to be special, and carefully designed charts with pretty numbers don't explain a founder, emotional speeches do.

joeberon 5y ago
How are you inferring that from this blog post? Everything about it seems to be saying "I've heard this solution a million times, and seen a million failures, do you have anything new?" The answer is to have a solution that has not seen a million failures.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  Seems like the sort of thing that wants to be a game. If you asked me to name a successful "urban exploration" startup, I'd probably name Pokemon Go and maybe Groupon. The former isn't a "startup" companywise, and the latter isn't one now, but both were certainly novel, and strongly adjacent to the space under discussion. They both got people out of their homes and offices and into unfamiliar parts of town. My guess is the ultimate winner will find a way to hit both the Pokemon Go and Groupon psychological buttons at once.
- gerbilly 5y ago
  Because, just like the author of the blog, most of us have trained ourselves not to share these kinds of feelings. In his pitch the founder conceived/pitched the solution as a veiled way to talk about his real problem. I see it at my job all the time, we talk about technical problems and their solutions as a way of trying to share our fears, anxieties and feelings. All the heady technical talk is just a proxy for what we really wish we could say. I know this because I'm often the only one on the team brave enough to state the subtext openly, and have I often been thanked for that. Every team needs a therapist, it would seem.
  - joeberon 5y ago

mwseibel 5y ago

You nailed it.

ChicagoBoy11 5y ago
Wait does this mean I get to interview for YC? /s Not a founder, but a fan of y'alls work :-)