5 ms·

Super last minute advice for startups applying for Y Combinator

74 points by rantfoil 18y ago

markup 18y ago
This useful article comes from Garry Tan, cofounder @ Posterous.
sgrove 18y ago
Thanks to garry for posting this, always nice to hear a bit of advice distilled down. Even nicer when you're able to check off most of the points :D
delano 18y ago
That's a thoughtful post. But why do I literally need to get out onto a life raft in the ocean with my co-founders? Are there customers out there?
- rantfoil 18y ago
  It's a metaphor for the fact that all you have is your cofounders, so choose wisely.
  - whughes 18y ago
    I assume he's playing off of the usage of 'literally' regarding a metaphor.
    - carlosrr 18y ago
      This is a very interesting article about how "literally" is used to mean "figuratively." http://www.slate.com/id/2129105/ http://www.slate.com/id/2129105/
  - profgubler 18y ago
    I don't think it is so much a matter of all you have is your cofounders, but more that if this goes down you all go down together. That is why you must use each other to get to shore. But still use all other avaiable resources as needed.
  - mrtron 18y ago
    Perhaps I should stop calling my cofounder my 'wife', and call him my 'raft-mate'?
david927 18y ago
Paul, can we have a feature that when we save an application there's also a 'feedback' button, which sends the application to select YC alumni and others who have time to give feedback?
- mrtron 18y ago
  Nobody is going to hold your hand when you are starting up. It would be unwise to have a feature that gives you that false impression.
  - david927 18y ago
    What are you talking about? The whole YC program is explicitly about getting your hand held. Anyone can get a credit card or family/friend loan for 5,000 for a three month project. YC is not about the money; it's about the advice. YC is about nurturing seeds to see what comes up, rather than testing them for the Winter. There's a reason seeds sprout in Spring -- to give them as good as possible running start before Winter comes. They'll get tested soon enough.
- unalone 18y ago
  No. I like how uncluttered the application is. It made me feel like we were applying for something professional, unlike some of the other applications I've seen, which either look decades-old or really sloppy and amateur.
- mishmax 18y ago
  Just save the webpage as html, and send the html file. (I find safari does the best job here)
ThanksBudRJ 18y ago
Great post Gary! My favorite is #5 "A little help from friends." It took me a long time to realize the value of letting everyone know what you're doing and what you need. I use to try to keep everything secret until launch. Now I realize that if you tell people what you're doing and what you, they're much more likely to HELP you.
- jlees 18y ago
  Even if they can't help you, they get excited about you and tell other people who can help you. I'm amazed at the amount of support, help, advice and ideas I've been getting from people even in entirely unrelated fields. Of course, dealing with it all and not following every last piece of fishwives' wisdom is another story... ;)
- domdelimar 18y ago
  I should probably listen to this advice myself. And thank Gary and other people who're trying to open my eyes. All in all great advices for someone like me who's only just getting started.
utnick 18y ago
Is posting your application here for feedback in the form of an ASK YC post frowned upon? Surprised I haven't seen anyone do that.
- unalone 18y ago
  In my opinion that's a little bit tacky. I don't know if I'd like people seeing exactly how I answered every application question a week before applications were due, and I don't think that an application post would be HN-worthy. (Especially not if a bunch of different people all posted theirs at once.) I'd advise emailing a few people that you think could give you feedback. I sent Garry a rough draft of my application, and his feedback helped a lot. Either write to a few HN people (and don't get upset if some people you write to are really busy right now), or join the IRC channel and ask people there.
  - mcdowall 18y ago
    Didnt know there was an IRC channel! Does anyone have the channel and the server?
    - fallentimes 18y ago
      freenode #startups
unalone 18y ago
There's always something awesome about reading a guy's blog that's hosted on the engine he himself built. Excellent post, as always.
- cperciva 18y ago
  There's always something awesome about reading a guy's blog that's hosted on the engine he himself built. There is? He didn't write nginx, or the C libraries it uses, or the linux kernel it's running on, or the Xen virtualization layer slicehost is using, or the C compiler which was used to compile all of the above -- but each of those is far more sophisticated than the blog engine. What's so awesome about a very thin layer at the top of a very deep stack?
  - unalone 18y ago
    One memorable Thursday I got to eat dinner with a writer and a teacher of mine. He cooked an excellent meal. Part of me was thrilled that he cooked for me and my peers. He didn't plant the seeds that grew into the vegetables he used. He didn't grind out the flour he used to cook. He didn't raise the cattle, or clean the meat. He just took some finished products and he made a meal. Every step of any process requires an awesome effort. I'm just as impressed with the people who wrote those many, many laters. But in the end, design is that layer you're talking about, and Posterous is very well-designed, and when I use a web site that's all that I care about. That's the product of the Posterous team, and it's a pretty awesome one. Why bother doing anything if all you're ever doing is building a thin layer? Could it be that any product is a result of lots of people working on something, and that each contribution is integral? Nah, couldn't be. We're all insignificant and nothing is awesome. What happened to the ability of hackers to look at something cool and say "Gee golly wow"? I still do that all the time, and every time I do I get these little snide remarks. Why? What harm is there in thinking that lots of things are awesome? Lots of things are awesome! Life is so awesomely super-duper cool! Let's not ruin it by sneering.
    - cperciva 18y ago
      Allow me to clarify somewhat. This isn't the first time I've seen someone make a comment like yours; but I have never seen anyone say "wow, it's really cool that a FreeBSD developer is running FreeBSD on his server" (substitute "nginx", "Apache", "linux", "Xen", etc. for "FreeBSD" as required). It's more the opposite -- it seems that those of us who work on the lower layers only ever get attention if we don't eat our own dogfood. To turn my question around: Ok, so the blog engine and all the underlying layers are all awesome; but why don't all the underlying layers get as much attention?
malvosenior 18y ago
While good design is important, I'd think twice about having a designer/cofounder. Look at this site for instance; design easily done by a developer, yet the service itself fills a niche and built a community. As a side note, I've seen early design hires hold back the company in later stages as they tend to wield too much power over the product (often playing a pseudo product management role). It's easy enough to outsource a logo and some paint. Think about your use cases and make sure the service caters to them but good product is often "designed" at the functional level.
- rantfoil 18y ago
  A good designer is a good designer. If someone holds back the company later, that's not good design. Design is way way more than logo and paint. Interaction design is just plain being able to make stuff that works well for people -- that's the kind of design I'm talking about. Should have made that more clear.
  - malvosenior 18y ago
    It looks like you are the "designer" on your team. It also looks like you have an amazing background in software development, program management and entrepreneurship. That's the kind of designer you want as a cofounder ;) As you say, design is a lot more than some paint and a logo. Interaction design, information architecture... are all VERY important at the early stages. I do think the early devs should have this as a skillset though (much as you do) opposed to cofounding with a straight up interaction designer (no matter how good they are). Given the amount of equity a cofounder gets it I would tend to look for people who could be 100% utilized (working all the time to get the company up and running). It can be hard to keep a full time designer busy unless you have a team of devs pumping stuff out for them to craft.

74 points by rantfoil 18y ago

This useful article comes from Garry Tan, cofounder @ Posterous.

Thanks to garry for posting this, always nice to hear a bit of advice distilled down. Even nicer when you're able to check off most of the points :D

delano 18y ago

That's a thoughtful post. But why do I literally need to get out onto a life raft in the ocean with my co-founders? Are there customers out there?

rantfoil 18y ago
It's a metaphor for the fact that all you have is your cofounders, so choose wisely.
- whughes 18y ago
  I assume he's playing off of the usage of 'literally' regarding a metaphor.
  - carlosrr 18y ago
    This is a very interesting article about how "literally" is used to mean "figuratively." http://www.slate.com/id/2129105/ http://www.slate.com/id/2129105/
- profgubler 18y ago
  I don't think it is so much a matter of all you have is your cofounders, but more that if this goes down you all go down together. That is why you must use each other to get to shore. But still use all other avaiable resources as needed.
- mrtron 18y ago
  Perhaps I should stop calling my cofounder my 'wife', and call him my 'raft-mate'?

david927 18y ago

Paul, can we have a feature that when we save an application there's also a 'feedback' button, which sends the application to select YC alumni and others who have time to give feedback?

mrtron 18y ago
Nobody is going to hold your hand when you are starting up. It would be unwise to have a feature that gives you that false impression.
- david927 18y ago
  What are you talking about? The whole YC program is explicitly about getting your hand held. Anyone can get a credit card or family/friend loan for 5,000 for a three month project. YC is not about the money; it's about the advice. YC is about nurturing seeds to see what comes up, rather than testing them for the Winter. There's a reason seeds sprout in Spring -- to give them as good as possible running start before Winter comes. They'll get tested soon enough.
unalone 18y ago
No. I like how uncluttered the application is. It made me feel like we were applying for something professional, unlike some of the other applications I've seen, which either look decades-old or really sloppy and amateur.
mishmax 18y ago
Just save the webpage as html, and send the html file. (I find safari does the best job here)

ThanksBudRJ 18y ago

Great post Gary! My favorite is #5 "A little help from friends." It took me a long time to realize the value of letting everyone know what you're doing and what you need. I use to try to keep everything secret until launch. Now I realize that if you tell people what you're doing and what you, they're much more likely to HELP you.

jlees 18y ago
Even if they can't help you, they get excited about you and tell other people who can help you. I'm amazed at the amount of support, help, advice and ideas I've been getting from people even in entirely unrelated fields. Of course, dealing with it all and not following every last piece of fishwives' wisdom is another story... ;)
domdelimar 18y ago
I should probably listen to this advice myself. And thank Gary and other people who're trying to open my eyes. All in all great advices for someone like me who's only just getting started.

utnick 18y ago

Is posting your application here for feedback in the form of an ASK YC post frowned upon? Surprised I haven't seen anyone do that.

unalone 18y ago
In my opinion that's a little bit tacky. I don't know if I'd like people seeing exactly how I answered every application question a week before applications were due, and I don't think that an application post would be HN-worthy. (Especially not if a bunch of different people all posted theirs at once.) I'd advise emailing a few people that you think could give you feedback. I sent Garry a rough draft of my application, and his feedback helped a lot. Either write to a few HN people (and don't get upset if some people you write to are really busy right now), or join the IRC channel and ask people there.
- mcdowall 18y ago
  Didnt know there was an IRC channel! Does anyone have the channel and the server?
  - fallentimes 18y ago
    freenode #startups

unalone 18y ago

There's always something awesome about reading a guy's blog that's hosted on the engine he himself built. Excellent post, as always.

cperciva 18y ago
There's always something awesome about reading a guy's blog that's hosted on the engine he himself built. There is? He didn't write nginx, or the C libraries it uses, or the linux kernel it's running on, or the Xen virtualization layer slicehost is using, or the C compiler which was used to compile all of the above -- but each of those is far more sophisticated than the blog engine. What's so awesome about a very thin layer at the top of a very deep stack?
- unalone 18y ago
  One memorable Thursday I got to eat dinner with a writer and a teacher of mine. He cooked an excellent meal. Part of me was thrilled that he cooked for me and my peers. He didn't plant the seeds that grew into the vegetables he used. He didn't grind out the flour he used to cook. He didn't raise the cattle, or clean the meat. He just took some finished products and he made a meal. Every step of any process requires an awesome effort. I'm just as impressed with the people who wrote those many, many laters. But in the end, design is that layer you're talking about, and Posterous is very well-designed, and when I use a web site that's all that I care about. That's the product of the Posterous team, and it's a pretty awesome one. Why bother doing anything if all you're ever doing is building a thin layer? Could it be that any product is a result of lots of people working on something, and that each contribution is integral? Nah, couldn't be. We're all insignificant and nothing is awesome. What happened to the ability of hackers to look at something cool and say "Gee golly wow"? I still do that all the time, and every time I do I get these little snide remarks. Why? What harm is there in thinking that lots of things are awesome? Lots of things are awesome! Life is so awesomely super-duper cool! Let's not ruin it by sneering.
  - cperciva 18y ago
    Allow me to clarify somewhat. This isn't the first time I've seen someone make a comment like yours; but I have never seen anyone say "wow, it's really cool that a FreeBSD developer is running FreeBSD on his server" (substitute "nginx", "Apache", "linux", "Xen", etc. for "FreeBSD" as required). It's more the opposite -- it seems that those of us who work on the lower layers only ever get attention if we don't eat our own dogfood. To turn my question around: Ok, so the blog engine and all the underlying layers are all awesome; but why don't all the underlying layers get as much attention?

malvosenior 18y ago

While good design is important, I'd think twice about having a designer/cofounder. Look at this site for instance; design easily done by a developer, yet the service itself fills a niche and built a community. As a side note, I've seen early design hires hold back the company in later stages as they tend to wield too much power over the product (often playing a pseudo product management role). It's easy enough to outsource a logo and some paint. Think about your use cases and make sure the service caters to them but good product is often "designed" at the functional level.

rantfoil 18y ago
A good designer is a good designer. If someone holds back the company later, that's not good design. Design is way way more than logo and paint. Interaction design is just plain being able to make stuff that works well for people -- that's the kind of design I'm talking about. Should have made that more clear.
- malvosenior 18y ago
  It looks like you are the "designer" on your team. It also looks like you have an amazing background in software development, program management and entrepreneurship. That's the kind of designer you want as a cofounder ;) As you say, design is a lot more than some paint and a logo. Interaction design, information architecture... are all VERY important at the early stages. I do think the early devs should have this as a skillset though (much as you do) opposed to cofounding with a straight up interaction designer (no matter how good they are). Given the amount of equity a cofounder gets it I would tend to look for people who could be 100% utilized (working all the time to get the company up and running). It can be hard to keep a full time designer busy unless you have a team of devs pumping stuff out for them to craft.