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Applications Open for Winter 2013 YC Funding
- hiddenstage 14y agoPG, in the question asking if founders are available to move to the Bay Area, you still have June through August rather than January through March.
- rdl 14y agoVery sneaky doing this during the Apple iPhone 5 launch event. I wonder how many ideas just got doomed and founders now have to do something new.
- pplante 14y agoi doubt any startups were planning to launch the iPhone 5. in your eyes, what exactly have they announced that would cause someone to pivot?
- rdl 14y agoVarious iOS 6 features: panoramic photos, photo stream, shared photo stream. Also the loyalty card market (passbook). Also, missing stuff: there's no NFC, so NFC payments are pushed out for another year in favor of scan-screen. iPod Nano pedometer kind of kills fitbit somewhat (or a new fitbit like product, including sleep monitors like wakemate). Arguably the sapphire crystal vs. glass lens for camera makes the market tougher for iPhone/iPod Touch cases. New iTunes + iTunes Match/iCloud features should hurt Pandora/Spotify type companies.
- majorapps 14y agoUnfortunately Apple have adopted a philosophy of rejecting any app that loosely competes with iOS native apps - we for example had an app rejected for allowing users to share apps on Facebook/Twitter... the reason given was apparently it didn't provide any additional functionality over the native app (even though it did!)
- kurtvarner 14y agoPG, any results from the apply without an idea experiment?
- pg 14y agoIt's still too early to tell.
- bfe 14y agoI took the guidelines to say the important thing about the idea submission is that it provides evidence the founders are smart. Wouldn't smart founders still want to take advantage of every opportunity to provide such evidence?
- vbv 14y agoI asked PG yesterday and last week here are the links: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507244 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4507244 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4475469 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4475469
- gkoberger 14y agoBased on previous years, this means: * Interviews will be around November 25th [EDIT: November 27th-Dec 1] * First dinner will be around November 30th [EDIT: Early January] * Demo day will be approximately March 25th
- pg 14y agoInterviews are November 27 through December 1. The first dinner will be the first tuesday in January.
- tomkit 14y agoGiven that some people think YC is starting to see scaling problems, I wonder if they will continue the trend of growing each class size or try to keep it around the same (or maybe even try to scale it down?).
- par 14y agoim sure i'll get in this time ;)
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- nickbarnwell 14y agoFor those who prefer working offline, I've created a raw-text version of the application here: https://github.com/nickbarnwell/YC/blob/empty_app/form.txt https://github.com/nickbarnwell/YC/blob/empty_app/form.txt It was very useful for me when faux-applying to have the dark glow of vim instead of the YC page's harsh white, and I thought I might put it out there for others to use.
- netvarun 14y agoThe previous time we applied, we pasted the text version on a google doc and created two versions (main and redacted versions), which we were then shared with the team and our app-reviewers (for the app-reviewers, disable editing and allow only for comments). We found this strategy to be really helpful in gathering feedback and more importantly it helped speed up filling up the app.
- nickbarnwell 14y agoI have a whole writing workflow built around using vim and git for testing out new story ideas or structure, and this format works best for in terms of rebasing/merging at the very end. It's really about getting all the distractions out of the way and taking a long, hard look at your business - whatever gets you to that point is awesome :)
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- wheels 14y agoFor such things I invariably use WriteRoom. I find formatting and futzing with a web app to be built in procrastination mechanisms. It's generally trivial to spend a few minutes copying and pasting once the actual text is done. http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom
- nickbarnwell 14y agoI'm partial to writer.vim - aesthetically similar to WriteRoom with none of the foreign keybindings.
- dude_abides 14y agoCan a non-citizen currently on H1B visa apply?
- patrickod 14y agoAbsolutely. Many people apply even without a H1B
- pclark 14y agoI think it is fair to say that YC doesn't care about your immigration status. YC has a great community to discuss this kind of question: do not let your immigration status prevent you from applying.
- c0mpute 14y agoA very valid question.How about those on H4? As some might know the H1 for this year has been used up (unlike in the past 4-5 years), will YC still be ok accepting ideas/startups that cannot be on h1? Some clarity on this front will be very helpful for immigrants :)
- anatoli 14y agoUnless I'm mistaken, H1B is not the visa that YC founders would use anyway. Even if you have an H1B visa, you would still have to re-apply for the appropriate visa.
- c0mpute 14y agoHey, thanks for the response. I am not very sure there is another visa that might work well, unless the founders are from Canada/Australia (maybe even Europe not sure). Rest of the founders might still have to be on H1 if my research is right.
- federicoweber 14y agoThis is interesting for me also. I'm an Italian citizen and I would like to apply and relocate to the Bay Area. But I need to figure out the entire visa thing, and how to make it work for starting company.
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- salimmadjd 14y agoWe are still waiting to hear back from AngelPad after 2 months. I personally prefer the smaller size of AngelPad to YC. But I'm hopeful we'll hear back and get into AngelPad before application date of YC, if not we'll be applying to YC to hedge our bets.
- neurotech1 14y agoThey are both excellent programs. I definitely wouldn't be disappointed if I got accepted in YC or AngelPad. If you get a confirmed yes from AngelPad, ONLY then re-evaluate your choice. Remember that YC graduates have a convertible note from StartFund as well.
- salimmadjd 14y agoTo your point, we'll plan on applying to YC. But just so you know, AngelPad also gives about $100k of additional fund from other investors on top of the $6k/n. However, the size of angelpad 10-12 makes me feel you get a lot more attention and focus than a class of 70-80. BTW, are you a YC applicant or graduate yourself?
- neurotech1 14y agoI've applied to YC before. I'm not sure If I'll apply this cycle, especially since I don't have a co-founder for my startup team.
- salimmadjd 14y agoCool...would you mind letting me know if you did get an interview or not-thanks!
- akshxy 14y agoWill YC consider funding a nanotechnology company?
- pg 14y agoSure!
- jayzalowitz 14y agoFinally, robots!
- akshxy 14y agoI just want to ask whether a prototype and customers willing to use the product will be valuable for YC? The problem is we are an unproven team and because YC focuses more on the teams rather than ideas, should we wait for the YC S13 applications? Your take on that?
- sskates 14y agoA prototype and customers willing to use the product are forms of traction that YC looks for. There is no harm in applying now and then applying again later if you get rejected, other than your time.
- brador 14y agoIs there a list somewhere of these metrics/things which look good/signs of success to have before applying? If not, care to flesh out a few more?
- dm8 14y agoI'm not a YC founder/partner but as far as my knowledge goes, I don't think YC discriminates between hardware and software startups.
- pg 14y agoWe had 6 hardware startups in the most recent batch in fact.
- kaolinite 14y agoPG: What would your advice be to someone with no co-founder? Apply anyway and see what you think, or don't even bother and wait until you've found someone to work with? I appreciate the issues with single founder companies however am finding it hard to locate someone with the required interest and skill in my area.
- olivercameron 14y agoAs someone who applied as a single founder (and got in), just apply anyway. However, ensure that you get across that you are indeed open to finding a co-founder.
- kaolinite 14y agoThanks Oliver, that's reassuring. May I ask what happened after you were accepted - did you find a co-founder then?
- olivercameron 14y agoYep, pretty much immediately after starting YC I met my co-founder (through an intro from PG).
- glaugh 14y agoFor what it's worth, about 15% of last batch had only one founder: http://blog.statwing.com/a-statistical-portrait-of-a-y-combinator-batch/ http://blog.statwing.com/a-statistical-portrait-of-a-y-combi...
- kaolinite 14y agoThat I did not know. I always thought that single founder companies were quite rare. Many thanks.
- pg 14y agoGet a cofounder. If your startup succeeds, you could spend 5 years or more working on it. It's rounding error to spend 6 months making a concerted effort to find a cofounder first. And while it can be hard to find a cofounder, it's not as hard as starting a successful startup.
- jayzalowitz 14y agoGood luck everybody
- callmevlad 14y agoPG, if my co-founder and I are currently bootstrapping a company and starting to work with a law firm to go through all the formalities of incorporation, would you recommend holding off on that for a few months in case we are accepted into YC? It's not cheap (by far) to pay for that stuff out of pocket, and I imagine YC has a lot more experience guiding young companies through the formation process, so curious about your opinion. Thanks.
- pplante 14y agoin my experience, regardless of your application to YC it is a good idea to get things documented. not because you mistrust your cofounder, or anything of that sort. simply it puts everyones mind at ease for what they get out of it. not having documentation lingers in the back of your mind. just my 2 cents.
- callmevlad 14y agoTotally agree about getting everyone on the same page and putting things on paper. The main reason I asked, however, is cost. Some lawyers have squishy/unpredictable pricing when it comes to formation and advice, while the fixed "good" ones are not cheap (e.g. ~$5K). Others try to wave their hands around pricing and just use a "pay it later" approach, but we'd rather keep things simple. I was just wondering if it's safer to get YC help/guidance to make sure we don't get burned, in case we get in since the timing between now and the deadline is almost a rounding error.
- thaumaturgy 14y agohttp://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2246544 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2246544: > Don't incorporate, though, if you can avoid it. It's easier to start with our paperwork than to transfer an existing LLC or S-Corp to a C-Corp. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1778985 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1778985: > It's not a deal-breaker unless it's botched. The right way to do it would be to use a convertible note written so that YC funding wouldn't trigger conversion. If you have a lawyer who can arrange that. But you'd have to incorporate, and you (and we) would then be stuck with however you did, so we'd hope you did it right. According to those and other previous comments from him, they prefer it if you leave the incorporation process up to YC, since they specialize in setting up startups, but if you've already incorporated (or even taken funding), it's not a deal-breaker -- unless it's been done in a way that's incompatible with YC investment.
- hiddenstage 14y agoWould sketches/rough drafts/db designs/etc. count as a demo? Not sure if it would even be worth posting if you guys don't care about that stuff.
- bulltale 14y agoWinter is coming, and your company should be too. Apply.
- kposehn 14y agoPG: are music related products still something you are avoiding? We have found a clever way around the liability and would like to apply with it.
- jonathanjaeger 14y agoThey've accepted several music-related startups in the last batch or two. Maybe the bar is higher, but they still accept them regardless of the hesitation. There is a difference between a music startup that needs millions in upfront record label deals and one that relies on getting music in other ways (e.g. artists upload their own music with consent).
- pg 14y agoMusic startups are ok so long as you don't have to license label music.
- kposehn 14y agoBeautiful.
- MatthewB 14y agoI'm a rails hacker and user acquisition/web analytics expert looking for a cofounder in the bay area to apply to the next round of YC. If anyone is interested in chatting, please email me (email address in my profile). Thanks!
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- epicureanideal 14y agoI've been interested in applying to YC for quite a while, but recently I graduated and moved to the south bay (near Mountain View) for work. It really stood out to me this time that $11,000 + $3,000n is not a lot of money. With 3 founders that's $20,000. 3 founders working in the tech industry can make $20,000 PER MONTH on typical salaries. It seems like it would be more appealing to people without good paying work, or who are interested more for the connections (which maybe applies to me, I'm thinking about it). Assuming all 3 founders cohabit (which I think is standard), this is a reasonable amount of money to live on, but it would be fairly bare bones if my quick mental math is right.
- startupfounder 14y agoIt's not about the money, it's enough to survive. The founders of Reddit after selling their company for tens of millions went through YC again for Hipmunk. It's not about the money, its about the people.
- Matsta 14y agoExactly. That's the main reason I want to get accepted into YC. The contacts and people you meet are going to be way more valuable to you and your startup than the money itself. If you had a good paying job, you could probably save up and fund the $11k yourself. YC is just a good way to fast track your startup and get it moving right from the beginning.
- jcfrei 14y agoI've always looked at the yc program not as a means to get funds but rather as a sort of exclusive community where you get very good advice for your startup. if money is crucial for starting your business then you might indeed be better of with more traditional VCs.
- dwynings 14y agoDon't forget that Start Fund offers every YC startup a $150k uncapped convertible note.
- vecter 14y ago
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- akcreek 14y agoFirst point from the link: "If you want to apply, please submit your application online by 8 pm PT on October 30, 2012. Groups that submit early have a significant advantage because we have more time to read their applications."
- tlogan 14y agoIs there a way to access/download our previous applications?
- tlogan 14y agoIs there a way to access/download our previous applications?
- brackin 14y agoPerfect, thanks. Will be applying with Kindful. Good luck everyone. Was impressed with the quality of the last couple of cycles.
- rd108 14y agocan anyone confirm the Start fund's $150K convertible debt note is still on the table for every YC startup?
- rd108 14y agocan anyone confirm the Start fund's $150K convertible debt note is still on the table for every YC startup?
- bravura 14y agoAre you looking for a co-founder? I've created this Google survey so that you can put in a little information about yourself, and what you're looking for: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDAtOWhUa2N6TjZvYm92NFhjRkJ3eUE6MQ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDAtOWh... When you fill it out, you can see the other responses. Perhaps you won't find a co-founder, but at least you might meet other people to talk to. [edit: This is my first survey on google docs, so if I need to change any of the sharing permissions let me know.] [edit 2: Here is the spreadsheet of results. Please respect the contributors, and don't use the spreadsheet unless you actually filled out the survey yourself. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnaOC0UphlFtdDAtOWhUa2N6TjZvYm92NFhjRkJ3eUE https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AnaOC0UphlFtdDA... ]
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- limedaring 14y agoI wanted to jump in here and to caution that finding a cofounder with the specific intent of applying for this round of YC would be a bad idea. Keep in mind that a co-founding relationship is very much a relationship, and you have to "date" a bit before you get married — having a startup is like having a child, you want to know a potential cofounder is the right person to found a startup with first. That said, be inspired to try finding a cofounder now, work with them for a few months and keep S13 in mind — it might all fall into place by the time the next round comes around. And if you can't find a cofounder, don't be afraid of being persistant and just learning the skills necessary to build and launch startup solo, since a great cofounder is likely to come along if you already have an intriguing product launched.
- devgutt 14y agoAgree. Take the wrong co-founder and you will regret for a long time.
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- vbv 14y agoPG - My cofounder and I have a product already (about to launch). But we have doubts that we may not be able to get in with that idea based on the previous ideas that got selected for YC. Should we apply with our current idea, come up with a completely new idea, or apply as a no idea?
- SwaroopH 14y agoOf course, apply with your current idea. None of the accelerators have anything against existing product. The later the stage, the easier it gets to make a decision. And from your side, your product hold more truth than the application itself. On the other hand, if you are about to launch but you are ready to give up something at this stage just to work on something else for YC, you have a different problem, think again :)
- saddino 14y agoOut of curiosity (since nobody every mentions this), do successful entrepreneurs every apply (and get in?). Obviously someone with a previous exit already has a network of investors, co-founder(s), etc., but could the exposure via YC (and Start Fund funding) warrant applying? Or is YC's mission geared towards new entrepreneurs?
- kevs 14y agoKul had an informative post about doing YC a second time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3520856 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3520856
- markmm 14y agoDid Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Twitter or Dell use YC or anything similar? In my opinion YC is a business to make money out of desperate entrepreneurs.
- cfontes 14y agoDoes YC fund companies outside US ? I am from Brazil and I would love to apply, but there is no mention about US ousiders. Thanks
- jamesjguthrie 14y agoAlready applied.
- bchatrath 14y agoPG, When you fund startups, what do you look for beside founders. If the technology is not patentable or it can be easily copied, would you still fund those startups?
- szpilman 14y agoin the video, is humor generally seen as a good thing or as distracting from the pure message? what about a 'fucking [adjective]' sprinkled here and there to drive the point home?
- rdl 14y agoIf there are any teams who want to do security or network/server/cloud infrastructure stuff for S13, I'd be very interested in talking with them -- I know a lot of YC founders and might be able to give you useful advice.
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- mapcat 14y agoHey I'm looking for a technical co-founder for summer 2013 or later. I won't be ready until then. I don't know much about the business side of things so if you could bring that to the table, awesome. About me: I've been programming since I was 14, I'm 22, just graduated from college, and working at a big company in the valley (think Google/Microsoft/Apple). I have a few ideas and would be interested in hearing yours. Send me an email at mapcat@outlook.com
- dreaming2 14y agoIf you are in an immigration limbo (came to the states as a young kid, have no SS#) are you able to apply? Basically I'm in the same position as Jose Vargas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Antonio_Vargas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Antonio_Vargas)
- pbiggar 14y agoYC doesn't care about immigration status, and doesn't even look (they're not hiring you).
- Mangol 14y agoFew months ago, I've seen a post which gave list of Questions every start up entrepreneur must answer. It was a list of around or more than 30 questions. I've been searching for it for past one week. If any one know, what I'm looking for, kindly post it.
- abbasmehdi 14y agoFor all those applying, this blog post was really helpful when we applied. We were in the W12 batch. http://www.giftrocket.com/yc-application-checklist http://www.giftrocket.com/yc-application-checklist
- markmm 14y agoIf you really believe in you startup then _you_ should be handing out forms to potential investors, and you should be giving _them_ 10 min interviews. If your service/product is great then you will have potential investors lining up.
- guero 14y agoYou may want to try http://www.founder2be.com http://www.founder2be.com as an additional tool in your co-founder search. Note: I co-founded this up after not finding a co-founder for an earlier idea myself. Somehow this idea of building a match.com for co-founder seems to have filled a need and now there are 10,000 or so incl. current and ex- Googlers, Apple, etc. I love the topic of co-founder finding. Also because some people have surprisingly strong opinions about whether a service like this can be possible at all or if you need to go way back with your co-founder. As was said earlier, the Dropbox co-founders did not know each other long before... I think anything is possible. It depends on the co-founders ;)
- possibilistic 14y agoI'm not ready to apply for YC yet, but if anyone is based in Atlanta, please touch base. My areas of expertise include CS and biochem. I'm starting to hack around with lasing now, too. I'm very interested in edutech, bioinfo, and cheminfo. I'm also in the process of exploring two "novel" (read: absurd?) market spaces right now and I'd love to chat about it. I'm echelon at gmail.
- mukaiji 14y agoI'm in the bay. Background in matsci. Got interesting ideas?
- ralphacosta 14y agoHow does YC view larger start ups? For example a start up serving the enterprise with 6 people including sales and marketing? Too many people to participate in the program?