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YC Interview Stories and Advice from 7 Companies in YC W11

86 points by kapilkale 15y ago

pg 15y ago
Oddly enough that may be a picture of John Resig.
aacook 15y ago
Part 1 by The Grubs (http://blog.grubwithus.com/our-path-to-the-magical-whiteboard-part-i http://blog.grubwithus.com/our-path-to-the-magical-whiteboar...) is great - is there a part 2?
rokhayakebe 15y ago
I would like to see an Inside YC companies video show. Something similar to ThisWeekIn, but the interviewer actually goes and meet the companies. An inside look.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
fbuilesv 15y ago
Awesome article overall, I'm thankful for the founders taking the time to answer this. I only wish the Like.fm guys had been a bit more concise: There are things you do that lets them know you really are committed, all-in, focused, and determined to succeed. Do those things What are those things? They did ask something that I wasn’t expecting, but I forgot what it was. Might have been why Last.fm users would switch over. What was the answer? Overall, as someone who's preparing to go through this in a week, I'm extremely grateful for the article.
- chrischen 15y ago
  Like.fm founder here. I guess the thing I did that might have most likely shown that I was committed to what I was doing was that I had dropped out of college for the site before applying to YC.
  - fbuilesv 15y ago
    A lot more informative, thanks Chris.
lpolovets 15y ago
I think it's interesting that 7 out of 9 companies basically said they didn't get any questions that flustered them. I wonder if this indicates: 1. so much confidence that you don't get flustered. 2. so much prior preparation that you don't get flustered. 3. not wanting to seem imperfect in the interview story. I wonder what the actual breakdown between 1, 2, and 3 is... 50%/50%/0%? 90%/5%/5%? 5%/90%/5%? 20%/20%/60%? Something else? Or perhaps there are other possibilities that I missed?
- kapilkale 15y ago
  I don't think anyone within this sample was #3.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- zbruhnke 15y ago
  It's probably a good indicator that the team at YC is very good at picking people who know their market and target audience. For the project our team is working on now we know everything there is to know about the industry and we wake up every morning trying to learn more. Sometimes preparedness is a side affect of knowledge, if you feel you have prepared for every possible question that could be asked, then be sure to think of 10 more questions too just in case. Confidence is a trait that almost never goes unnoticed and typically having confidence in yourself gives those around you confidence in your abilities

86 points by kapilkale 15y ago

pg 15y ago

Oddly enough that may be a picture of John Resig.

Part 1 by The Grubs (http://blog.grubwithus.com/our-path-to-the-magical-whiteboard-part-i http://blog.grubwithus.com/our-path-to-the-magical-whiteboar...) is great - is there a part 2?

rokhayakebe 15y ago

I would like to see an Inside YC companies video show. Something similar to ThisWeekIn, but the interviewer actually goes and meet the companies. An inside look.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

fbuilesv 15y ago

Awesome article overall, I'm thankful for the founders taking the time to answer this. I only wish the Like.fm guys had been a bit more concise: There are things you do that lets them know you really are committed, all-in, focused, and determined to succeed. Do those things What are those things? They did ask something that I wasn’t expecting, but I forgot what it was. Might have been why Last.fm users would switch over. What was the answer? Overall, as someone who's preparing to go through this in a week, I'm extremely grateful for the article.

chrischen 15y ago
Like.fm founder here. I guess the thing I did that might have most likely shown that I was committed to what I was doing was that I had dropped out of college for the site before applying to YC.
- fbuilesv 15y ago
  A lot more informative, thanks Chris.

lpolovets 15y ago

I think it's interesting that 7 out of 9 companies basically said they didn't get any questions that flustered them. I wonder if this indicates: 1. so much confidence that you don't get flustered. 2. so much prior preparation that you don't get flustered. 3. not wanting to seem imperfect in the interview story. I wonder what the actual breakdown between 1, 2, and 3 is... 50%/50%/0%? 90%/5%/5%? 5%/90%/5%? 20%/20%/60%? Something else? Or perhaps there are other possibilities that I missed?

kapilkale 15y ago
I don't think anyone within this sample was #3.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
zbruhnke 15y ago
It's probably a good indicator that the team at YC is very good at picking people who know their market and target audience. For the project our team is working on now we know everything there is to know about the industry and we wake up every morning trying to learn more. Sometimes preparedness is a side affect of knowledge, if you feel you have prepared for every possible question that could be asked, then be sure to think of 10 more questions too just in case. Confidence is a trait that almost never goes unnoticed and typically having confidence in yourself gives those around you confidence in your abilities