5 ms·

Ask PG: we don't have an idea, should we leave the yc application mostly blank?

5 points by jotto 19y ago

how should we fill out YC application if we don't have an idea that we are really into? how can we solicit PG's ideas, and still prove we are hungry animals?

SwellJoe 19y ago
OK, I think you're missing the point of the "the idea doesn't matter much at this stage" assertion by pg. I'm not the keeper of pg's mind on this stuff, of course, but I'm pretty certain that pg and Co. would like to know that you are capable of having good ideas--even if it later proves to be unworkable, unmarketable, or otherwise wrong. Having no ideas at all is probably a danger sign. You have to be able to recognize problems in order to solve them...so if you can't think of a single problem in the world today that needs solving that the skill set of your team would be uniquely qualified to solve, then you're probably not quite ready to do a startup. You clearly haven't seen enough of the real work world, if you can't think back on a hundred and one things that you or coworkers did in inefficient ways because there was no good alternative. The note about the idea being fungible is just that--it's early, and you may end up changing your idea through the program, or YC might say, "This is stupid, but you seem pretty smart, anyway...how about we sit down and come up with something else?" YC wants you to be hungry _and_ smart. In short: If you want into YC, I'm pretty certain you should find some kind of idea.
- dfranke 19y ago
  PG announced at SS07 that they would start considering applicants with no idea. I still imagine it's better to have one, though.
  - pg 19y ago
    He's right, Joe, we did. So if people want to leave the idea parts blank, that's ok.
    - florianb 19y ago
      Interesting, so what if I have no team but a very good idea ? Should I apply so you can match teams with ideas ?
      - pg 19y ago
        We did once try introducing a group with good programmers and a bad idea to one with a good idea and no programmers in the hope they'd merge. They didn't, and in retrospect it was stupid even to try. The people are the foundation of a startup.
        florianb 19y ago
        Well ok thats seems reasonable :) ... shit ... :(
        NSX2 19y ago
        With all due respect, WTF?!? You maintain that people are the foundation. Seems like in this case the people were not up to it. Either the "idea guys" had an idea which was not compelling enough to motivate the programmers to overcome their personal conflicts, or the "programmer guys" were acting like a bunch of immature, childish, egotistical amateurs and let their personal opinions and the emotional sparks inherent in any high-pressure environment cloud their professional judgement. Honestly even if your name was David Heinemeier Hansson and you were in my startup and I found you sitting on your rear end and doing nothing because you had a personal conflict with somebody in the company ... well maybe if you were David I'd toss the other guy out. But anything short of that I'd have to have a serious pow-wow with both sides and lay the smack-down; too much money at stake these days and too much much-needed world changing to let shyness and immaturity get in the way. So it seems like the idea was not THAT great, or the programmers not too mature, or the leadership completely lacking the ability to establish a vision strong enough and roadmap clear enough to get people to redirect their focus from the obstacles to the opportunity at hand. So idea guys, programmers, lack of leadership - clearly all "people problems" .... how then do you make the leap in logic that the general idea itself was "stupid even to try." That's like saying, "Should architects get together with masons to figure out how to build houses more efficiently? Well, we tried that once and the foreman and the architect got into an arguement, so it was stupid even to try." No, it wasn't stupid to try. The outcome was stupid and that was because the trial components were stupid. Doesn't mean the experiment design was stupid. On the other hand, what is the implication of your argument, that only programmers can have ideas worth executing and that the rest of the world just sits on its collective rear end and wait until some programmer somewhere thinks up solutions to all the world's ills? I think not.
  - SwellJoe 19y ago
    Ah, yes. Now that you mention it, I remember it clearly (OK, not really clearly, but I do remember it). Of course, that makes me wonder how much can be gleaned from the application without an idea. But pg knows his business far better than I do.
  - nailer 19y ago
    If you're a smart person with a record of implementing great things, have the skills we need (see http://www.crunchboard.com/item/22635744-Banquet-needs-a-PHP-codin%27-CSS-DOM-God http://www.crunchboard.com/item/22635744-Banquet-needs-a-PHP... ) but no idea of your own, join our idea - which is less of an idea and more a product at this point. Email is mike.maccana PANTS gmail PANTS com. I'll be flying to the US on November 1-5 via LA and Boston provided we make it to the Cambridge YC meeting. Otherwise, we'll be continuing on as usual - our main coders based in California, we're looking for people who can move to SF if necessary.
    - thomasswift 19y ago
      PANTS! that made me laugh.
brianmckenzie 19y ago
You must be able to think of something. Just ask yourself "What are the major pains in the ass I deal with on a regular basis, and can any of them be solved with technology?" It's probably better to go in with a high-concept, far-fetched idea than no idea at all. Just see what you can come up with.
- cstejerean 19y ago
  Well, that's one way to come up with ideas. The other is to think "what would millions of people like to waste their time with".
  - brianmckenzie 19y ago
    Touche'. That's another good strategy.
  - deleted 19y ago
    [deleted]
- blader 19y ago
  I have this great idea for a dating site ...
  - brianmckenzie 19y ago
    Funny you should mention that, I'm building this semantic search engine...
aston 19y ago
I think last time me and my buddies applied, I left the main idea part blank, then threw like 15 into the "anything else" section. Didn't get an interview, but did get a little bit noticed.

5 points by jotto 19y ago

how should we fill out YC application if we don't have an idea that we are really into? how can we solicit PG's ideas, and still prove we are hungry animals?

SwellJoe 19y ago

OK, I think you're missing the point of the "the idea doesn't matter much at this stage" assertion by pg. I'm not the keeper of pg's mind on this stuff, of course, but I'm pretty certain that pg and Co. would like to know that you are capable of having good ideas--even if it later proves to be unworkable, unmarketable, or otherwise wrong. Having no ideas at all is probably a danger sign. You have to be able to recognize problems in order to solve them...so if you can't think of a single problem in the world today that needs solving that the skill set of your team would be uniquely qualified to solve, then you're probably not quite ready to do a startup. You clearly haven't seen enough of the real work world, if you can't think back on a hundred and one things that you or coworkers did in inefficient ways because there was no good alternative. The note about the idea being fungible is just that--it's early, and you may end up changing your idea through the program, or YC might say, "This is stupid, but you seem pretty smart, anyway...how about we sit down and come up with something else?" YC wants you to be hungry _and_ smart. In short: If you want into YC, I'm pretty certain you should find some kind of idea.

dfranke 19y ago
PG announced at SS07 that they would start considering applicants with no idea. I still imagine it's better to have one, though.
- pg 19y ago
  He's right, Joe, we did. So if people want to leave the idea parts blank, that's ok.
  - florianb 19y ago
    Interesting, so what if I have no team but a very good idea ? Should I apply so you can match teams with ideas ?
    - pg 19y ago
      We did once try introducing a group with good programmers and a bad idea to one with a good idea and no programmers in the hope they'd merge. They didn't, and in retrospect it was stupid even to try. The people are the foundation of a startup.
      - florianb 19y ago
        Well ok thats seems reasonable :) ... shit ... :(
      - NSX2 19y ago
        With all due respect, WTF?!? You maintain that people are the foundation. Seems like in this case the people were not up to it. Either the "idea guys" had an idea which was not compelling enough to motivate the programmers to overcome their personal conflicts, or the "programmer guys" were acting like a bunch of immature, childish, egotistical amateurs and let their personal opinions and the emotional sparks inherent in any high-pressure environment cloud their professional judgement. Honestly even if your name was David Heinemeier Hansson and you were in my startup and I found you sitting on your rear end and doing nothing because you had a personal conflict with somebody in the company ... well maybe if you were David I'd toss the other guy out. But anything short of that I'd have to have a serious pow-wow with both sides and lay the smack-down; too much money at stake these days and too much much-needed world changing to let shyness and immaturity get in the way. So it seems like the idea was not THAT great, or the programmers not too mature, or the leadership completely lacking the ability to establish a vision strong enough and roadmap clear enough to get people to redirect their focus from the obstacles to the opportunity at hand. So idea guys, programmers, lack of leadership - clearly all "people problems" .... how then do you make the leap in logic that the general idea itself was "stupid even to try." That's like saying, "Should architects get together with masons to figure out how to build houses more efficiently? Well, we tried that once and the foreman and the architect got into an arguement, so it was stupid even to try." No, it wasn't stupid to try. The outcome was stupid and that was because the trial components were stupid. Doesn't mean the experiment design was stupid. On the other hand, what is the implication of your argument, that only programmers can have ideas worth executing and that the rest of the world just sits on its collective rear end and wait until some programmer somewhere thinks up solutions to all the world's ills? I think not.
- SwellJoe 19y ago
  Ah, yes. Now that you mention it, I remember it clearly (OK, not really clearly, but I do remember it). Of course, that makes me wonder how much can be gleaned from the application without an idea. But pg knows his business far better than I do.
- nailer 19y ago
  If you're a smart person with a record of implementing great things, have the skills we need (see http://www.crunchboard.com/item/22635744-Banquet-needs-a-PHP-codin%27-CSS-DOM-God http://www.crunchboard.com/item/22635744-Banquet-needs-a-PHP... ) but no idea of your own, join our idea - which is less of an idea and more a product at this point. Email is mike.maccana PANTS gmail PANTS com. I'll be flying to the US on November 1-5 via LA and Boston provided we make it to the Cambridge YC meeting. Otherwise, we'll be continuing on as usual - our main coders based in California, we're looking for people who can move to SF if necessary.
  - thomasswift 19y ago
    PANTS! that made me laugh.

brianmckenzie 19y ago

You must be able to think of something. Just ask yourself "What are the major pains in the ass I deal with on a regular basis, and can any of them be solved with technology?" It's probably better to go in with a high-concept, far-fetched idea than no idea at all. Just see what you can come up with.

cstejerean 19y ago
Well, that's one way to come up with ideas. The other is to think "what would millions of people like to waste their time with".
- brianmckenzie 19y ago
  Touche'. That's another good strategy.
- deleted 19y ago
  [deleted]
blader 19y ago
I have this great idea for a dating site ...
- brianmckenzie 19y ago
  Funny you should mention that, I'm building this semantic search engine...

aston 19y ago

I think last time me and my buddies applied, I left the main idea part blank, then threw like 15 into the "anything else" section. Didn't get an interview, but did get a little bit noticed.