4 ms·

As someone who's both conducted interviews for an incubator, and been through the YC interviews, I think you're focusing on the wrong thing here. "The team" goe

As someone who's both conducted interviews for an incubator, and been through the YC interviews, I think you're focusing on the wrong thing here. "The team" goes a lot beyond paper qualifications, and I think a lot of your shortcomings are there if anywhere: * You changed your answers quickly before your interview because you hadn't thought them through before-hand. * You weren't confident. * You weren't committed. This is the big one for me. If this is a great idea, why is putting your PhD on hold conditional on getting into YC? YC often accepts startups with ideas they don't like. We got a phone call right after walking out the door even though half the partners still weren't convinced of our idea. The important thing isn't having amazing figures at the start, it's being able to think things through. The YC partners can help with tuning to get the most impact. (It honestly doesn't seem like this is the biggest issue for them, either.)

akh 14y ago
As I mentioned in the post, we changed our answer because we were overwhelmed by the YC Alumni placing an important emphasis on the figures. You can't advise someone to put their PhD on hold if it's a great idea without knowing the status of their PhD progress. I'm very close to finishing, I only have to write my introduction and conclusion chapters, the rest is all done, and I have published several papers. So I don't think it would be wise to put it on hold when I'm so close to finishing. If I was YC, I'd be placing my bets on the companies who say they can give me bigger returns. So I think YC's final decision might be heavily influenced by figures.
- paulsutter 14y ago
  tylermenezes is utterly right - I would up vote his reply 10 times if I could. Dude you need to stop ignoring all the good advice you're getting. PG says the single most common trait to unsuccessful teams is that they get defensive and object to suggestions. Grow up.
- tylermenezes 14y ago
  I understand wanting to get into YC, but if your figures were wrong, you should have known that long before the interview. If your figured weren't wrong, and you changed them for the interview, that's also a pretty big problem. We got in with half the partners disliking our idea. I don't know how they can make it more clear than the "no idea" application - they care about the team so much more than the idea. The biggest thing for me is this: if you were willing to put your PhD on hold with YC, you should be willing to put your PhD on hold without YC. The fact that it changes your answer is probably one of the biggest reasons you weren't selected. pg has stated before, YC doesn't want to make companies succeed. They want to make companies which _will_ succeed more successful. Successful teams know they're going to be successful with or without YC. If you were turned away for low numbers, they would have said so in the rejection email. I find it unlikely that they did, or you would have posted it, I'm sure. The fact that so many people are giving you advice as to actual problems, and that you're ignoring them, is a pretty big issue.

akh 14y ago

As I mentioned in the post, we changed our answer because we were overwhelmed by the YC Alumni placing an important emphasis on the figures. You can't advise someone to put their PhD on hold if it's a great idea without knowing the status of their PhD progress. I'm very close to finishing, I only have to write my introduction and conclusion chapters, the rest is all done, and I have published several papers. So I don't think it would be wise to put it on hold when I'm so close to finishing. If I was YC, I'd be placing my bets on the companies who say they can give me bigger returns. So I think YC's final decision might be heavily influenced by figures.

paulsutter 14y ago
tylermenezes is utterly right - I would up vote his reply 10 times if I could. Dude you need to stop ignoring all the good advice you're getting. PG says the single most common trait to unsuccessful teams is that they get defensive and object to suggestions. Grow up.
tylermenezes 14y ago
I understand wanting to get into YC, but if your figures were wrong, you should have known that long before the interview. If your figured weren't wrong, and you changed them for the interview, that's also a pretty big problem. We got in with half the partners disliking our idea. I don't know how they can make it more clear than the "no idea" application - they care about the team so much more than the idea. The biggest thing for me is this: if you were willing to put your PhD on hold with YC, you should be willing to put your PhD on hold without YC. The fact that it changes your answer is probably one of the biggest reasons you weren't selected. pg has stated before, YC doesn't want to make companies succeed. They want to make companies which _will_ succeed more successful. Successful teams know they're going to be successful with or without YC. If you were turned away for low numbers, they would have said so in the rejection email. I find it unlikely that they did, or you would have posted it, I'm sure. The fact that so many people are giving you advice as to actual problems, and that you're ignoring them, is a pretty big issue.