7 ms·
Single founders get accepted all the time. IMO, it's a pretty simple formula. 1) Build something people want-- ideally, prove it. Have users. Show that they
by webwright 18y ago
Single founders get accepted all the time.
IMO, it's a pretty simple formula.
1) Build something people want-- ideally, prove it. Have users. Show that they log in every day and would sooner gnaw off their own arm than lose your app. There are other ways to prove market demand other than loyal users. Find them. Leave no question that people desperately want what you're building.
2) Prove that you can build stuff. Have an impressive and interesting resume for getting stuff launched/shipped-- ideally, you can show that you've build/shipped stuff under great adversity. Show determination.
3) Show that it's a big opportunity. I remember there was a team talking about building a tool to manage D&D campaigns online. That's not a big opportunity. YC only makes "keep the lights on" money with the 10-20m exits. You should hopefully be playing in a space where there is a ghosts chance of a 9-figure exit. They're pretty lenient on this one, I think-- ya never know what can get big.
(IMO) The biggest risk YC is taking on is that no one will want what you're building. The second biggest risk is that you aren't capable enough or determined enough to get it built. Your adding the risk that you can't find a decent co-founder-- which doesn't help.
- many 18y agoIMO your "pretty simple formula" expires in five months. Not to be caustic or merely clever, but I personally feel that "off the cuff" advice is better than "off the shelf" advice. Thus, be awesome and have a soul. Make people STOP wanting to gnaw their arms off because of your work :-)
- mcotton 18y agothanks
- deleted 18y ago[deleted]
- maxklein 18y agoIf a startup already gets significant press, does that lower or improve its chances of entering the YC program?
- webwright 18y agoI'd say improves, assuming the press seems to indicate that people want it (which I'd guess it usually does). It also indicates that you successfully handled a little attention (successfully dealt with reporters/bloggers and your servers didn't 'splode).
- CaptainMorgan 18y agowebwright offers some great insight here. mcotton, just wanted to say best of luck to you. And if the others aren't willing to commit, give them an ultimatum and then part ways if things don't work out. Definitely go it alone though if you've got the drive.
- trapper 18y agoOut of all the ycombinator apps so far, which would you say satisfy number 1? The only one that falls into that category for me, amusingly, is this site.
- furiouslol 18y agoEven youtube doesn't satisfy No. 1 in the early years when there weren't much interesting videos in their database.
- trapper 18y agoYes, but hotmail, gmail, gdocs, skype, firefox, delicious, flickr et al did from word go. Once you started, you never stopped. By all accounts youtube was lucky, got momentum at the right time and struck it rich. It could have been many of the other similar sites in the same position. I'm not saying its easy to develop something a user would jump off a cliff for, more the contrary. People say it like it's easy, iv'e been doing my own startups for 5+ years now and still don't have one, but i'm working on it just like everyone else here I suppose!
- webwright 18y agoThere are lots of ways to prove that people want something. The best is (obviously) to launch something lovable. ;-) We proved it by launching a "coming soon" page with a form to submit your email addy to hear about the launch. We had a 25%+ conversion rate on that form and got thousands of email addys. Another way to prove it is to show 3 or 4 apps that do something similar that SUCK, but people use them/pay for them anyway. And there's plain ol' market research.