Pretty accurate assessment. I almost certainly would have not gotten in had I not had a chance to talk to a few YC alums. Side Note: Jason was absolutely the r

Pretty accurate assessment. I almost certainly would have not gotten in had I not had a chance to talk to a few YC alums. Side Note: Jason was absolutely the reason I got in. YC should do whatever it takes to get him to become at the very least a part-time partner. They and all future YC companies will be better off with him involved. From my own experience, the OP is absolutely right about the no BS part. Just explain what you're doing. You don't need to sell it or exaggerate (doing so will actually hurt your chances). I think the most important thing to explain is why people/companies want what you're making. The next most important thing you can do is teach them something. If they are able to learn something new about a market from you, you're chances of acceptance go up. The in-person interview day is pretty exciting. It's sort of like the first day at the dorms (which for me was in 1995). It's perfectly acceptable to walk up to someone, say hi and and just start talking. If you're thinking about applying, you should.