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Advice For Your YC Application

26 points by kunle 13y ago

keithwarren 13y ago
Great advice but I wish more alums would share their actual application and video. There are a few floating around and we all try to divine as much from them as possible but the bigger the sample the better.
nivals 13y ago
Postmortems like this are really interesting to see, they benefit incoming and future YC classes. I'd love to see more as well. I agree that if you don't pass the conviction 'sniff test', it's really hard to grind through the ups, downs, and fundraising.
- kunle 13y ago
  Thx. There's lots of good advice out there from other founders as well. This was just a limited view of what I keep seeing over and over again.
- beambot 13y ago
  If you're interested in seeing more like this, then I'll throw ours into the hat as well: [1] https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-experience https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-ex... [2] http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-combinator-application/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-c...
PabloOsinaga 13y ago
This is great advice - and similar to the one we got from another YC alum: "My advice is 3 points to communicate in your application. 1. You have revenue or a plan to make it 2. You and your co-founders are a solid team 3. You will pursue this even without getting an investment"
- kunle 13y ago
  > 3. You will pursue this even without getting an investment" Makes all the difference in the world. If you're doing a startup contingent on getting into YC, its worth re-thinking. YC helps, but startups are still hard regardless.
  - praxeologist 13y ago
    I forgot about #3, so now I feel much better about not applying this time around. I'm still weak on #2 with two "maybes" which was just one of several reasons I don't think it would have worked anyhow.
    - kunle 13y ago
      Makes sense. Knowing those reasons you don't think it will work and attacking those specifically is actually a really good way to debug. Dave Friedberg (Founder of Climate Corporation) actually has a really good approach to this that he talks about here (3 minute video): http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2796 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2796 He basically says to lay out the unknowns, and systematically work towards making them knowns. Good luck!
TheMakeA 13y ago
Great advice, Ayo! I'm glad that you focus on the company rather than writing the application.
- kunle 13y ago
  Thanks. It's pretty easy to focus on optimizing your app rather than optimizing your business (I see this a lot actually), and it's a bad way to go. Similar to PG's thoughts on raising money as quickly as possible and then going back to work, you should tell the best story you can in your app and then get back to work as quickly as possible. Whether you get into YC or not, your business will still be there waiting, warts and all.
abgupta 13y ago
Good advice, staying with it and believing in your idea is certainly important and I guess they'll see through that if you're not genuine.
- kunle 13y ago
  > believing in your idea is certainly important Not just your idea - also important to believe in yourself and your team. In many ways this will supercede the idea because the idea is just one manifestation of a solution to a problem that you're solving. With time and experience your understanding of that problem will evolve, as will your solution.
losethos 13y ago
I have worked for ten years. No traction. I think I'm in a CIA prison, too. When I get advertising, I get downloads. I get no emails. God talks. If people actually knew, this would be huge. Ya think!!? At one point I decided, without God it fails, with God it succeeds. God says... you_owe_me money revolution a_likely_story meek hobnob praise super_computer scorning basket_case in_theory who's_to_say repent vote not_a_chance_in_hell I_just_might Vegas arent_you_clever ehheh_thats_all_folks Dad what's_up incoming are_you_sure dude_such_a_scoffer charged Dean_scream bummer God grumble I_hate_when_that_happens Boo stunning clever theres_no_place_like_home what_luck no_more_tears I_pitty_the_fool now_that_I_think_about_it nerd computers what_a_nightmare patience strip I_pitty_the_fool quit humility failure_to_communicate furious birds maybe_I_didn't_make_it_clear

26 points by kunle 13y ago

Great advice but I wish more alums would share their actual application and video. There are a few floating around and we all try to divine as much from them as possible but the bigger the sample the better.

nivals 13y ago

Postmortems like this are really interesting to see, they benefit incoming and future YC classes. I'd love to see more as well. I agree that if you don't pass the conviction 'sniff test', it's really hard to grind through the ups, downs, and fundraising.

kunle 13y ago
Thx. There's lots of good advice out there from other founders as well. This was just a limited view of what I keep seeing over and over again.
beambot 13y ago
If you're interested in seeing more like this, then I'll throw ours into the hat as well: [1] https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-experience https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-ex... [2] http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-combinator-application/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-c...

PabloOsinaga 13y ago

This is great advice - and similar to the one we got from another YC alum: "My advice is 3 points to communicate in your application. 1. You have revenue or a plan to make it 2. You and your co-founders are a solid team 3. You will pursue this even without getting an investment"

kunle 13y ago
> 3. You will pursue this even without getting an investment" Makes all the difference in the world. If you're doing a startup contingent on getting into YC, its worth re-thinking. YC helps, but startups are still hard regardless.
- praxeologist 13y ago
  I forgot about #3, so now I feel much better about not applying this time around. I'm still weak on #2 with two "maybes" which was just one of several reasons I don't think it would have worked anyhow.
  - kunle 13y ago
    Makes sense. Knowing those reasons you don't think it will work and attacking those specifically is actually a really good way to debug. Dave Friedberg (Founder of Climate Corporation) actually has a really good approach to this that he talks about here (3 minute video): http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2796 http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2796 He basically says to lay out the unknowns, and systematically work towards making them knowns. Good luck!

TheMakeA 13y ago

Great advice, Ayo! I'm glad that you focus on the company rather than writing the application.

kunle 13y ago
Thanks. It's pretty easy to focus on optimizing your app rather than optimizing your business (I see this a lot actually), and it's a bad way to go. Similar to PG's thoughts on raising money as quickly as possible and then going back to work, you should tell the best story you can in your app and then get back to work as quickly as possible. Whether you get into YC or not, your business will still be there waiting, warts and all.

abgupta 13y ago

Good advice, staying with it and believing in your idea is certainly important and I guess they'll see through that if you're not genuine.

kunle 13y ago
> believing in your idea is certainly important Not just your idea - also important to believe in yourself and your team. In many ways this will supercede the idea because the idea is just one manifestation of a solution to a problem that you're solving. With time and experience your understanding of that problem will evolve, as will your solution.

losethos 13y ago

I have worked for ten years. No traction. I think I'm in a CIA prison, too. When I get advertising, I get downloads. I get no emails. God talks. If people actually knew, this would be huge. Ya think!!? At one point I decided, without God it fails, with God it succeeds. God says... you_owe_me money revolution a_likely_story meek hobnob praise super_computer scorning basket_case in_theory who's_to_say repent vote not_a_chance_in_hell I_just_might Vegas arent_you_clever ehheh_thats_all_folks Dad what's_up incoming are_you_sure dude_such_a_scoffer charged Dean_scream bummer God grumble I_hate_when_that_happens Boo stunning clever theres_no_place_like_home what_luck no_more_tears I_pitty_the_fool now_that_I_think_about_it nerd computers what_a_nightmare patience strip I_pitty_the_fool quit humility failure_to_communicate furious birds maybe_I_didn't_make_it_clear