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Applications open for the summer 2014 YC batch
- SandersAK 13y agoThere's a longer blog post about this coming, but @zmitri and I applied to YC a total of six times before we got in. Along the way we learned a lot about why YC is important, what it does for you (and what it doesn't) and why the application process is one of the best ways to think through creating your startup. We've been really lucky to have great alumni help advise us and give us feedback on our applications (yes, all of six of them, thanks Jason Freedman!). So hit me up if you want me to look over anything, it's the least I can do: hello@sandersak.com EDIT - I may be slow on the reply until after demo day ;)
- ggreenbe 13y agoNice! That reminds me of... "Tis a lesson you should heed, If at first you don't succeed, Try, try again;" - W. E. Hickson
- zmitri 13y agoOur 14% acceptance rate makes the most appropriate title "How not to get into Y Combinator." But yeah, if you get an interview (you're already doing pretty well!), the 42Floors founders practice interview is the best training you can get for it.
- jaf12duke 13y agoGood! We'll be doing it again. To anyone that gets an interview invitation, contact me at @jasonfreedman and we'll be happy to do a mock-interview. Several alumni did mocks for us when we were applying and we found it massively helpful.
- nwenzel 13y agoI can say without any doubt in my mind, without Jason's advice and the mock interview he took me through, I would not have been accepted into YC. Nothing else will be as helpful as a mock interview. Jason's advice is on point, direct, and helpful. He's probably as close as you get to the real thing.
- jw2013 13y agoSanders, that is quite an inspiring story. I wonder if all your six tries are for the same startup, or do you actually changed your ideas during these six times.
- SandersAK 13y ago3 Good Karma - democratizing corporate philanthropy 2 Backspac.es - mobile photo storytelling 1 Beacon - fund a writer, read everything on the platform
- akbar501 13y agoGreat persistence.
- khc 13y agowhen you reapplied with the same startup, how much did you tweak the idea or was it mostly just a change of interview strategy? In other words, why did you reapply thinking that you will have have a better chance to get in than last time?
- zmitri 13y agoGood Karma was evolving from idea to actual product with people involved. We still had full time jobs while working on this and never got an interview. Backspaces went from 1,000 users (first application) to 60,000 users in the 6 months since we'd first applied. We worked on this full time and we got an interview the second time. We re-applied along the way because we had progressed and gotten better at everything each time. We never even got an interview until 5th or 6th time. Note: If you somehow get face time with one of the partners and you impress them, you will likely get an interview. We made that happen and then got an interview.
- tonyrice 13y agoSometimes the best thing you can do is inspire people to do great things and with people like this in our community it's hard not to be inspired. Although I haven't made it into YC yet I would definitely love to help anyone out even if it just means sharing my thoughts about your idea/startup :) Shoot me an email @ tony@tonyrice.me or tony@automate.ly
- derwiki 13y agoI reached out to Adrian right after he posted and he's already helped me with CameraLends.com. I'd recommend the rest of you reach out to him!
- pearjuice 13y agoSix times? Really? At some point it becomes pathetic, you know. Though portrayed as, yc isn't some sort of holy grail you have to touch before death. But six times, man, that must have been three years at least? Props for not giving up. Still pathetic though.
- SandersAK 13y agoHah, I guess it could be construed as pathetic. But we never looked at YC as the gatekeeper to whether we worked on our projects. The best thing about startups is you don't need YC to make it happen. You need to work on something you and others find valuable that you're willing to work your ass off for. Maybe others get in on their first try, and are clearly more able, capable, or validated than me, but that's not really how I gauge why I do things. Neither is getting rejected. I'm the first to admit that I'm not nearly the smartest person to ever apply to YC. Hell I'm probably one of the dumbest. But there's no reason not to apply. The only downside is getting the rejection letter (and the free mixpanel credits). The upside, at least so far in my experience, has been well worth it.
- zmitri 13y agoPathetic is the perfect way to describe me. Especially when you factor in that as an immigrant I had to leave America 3 times, once because I was diagnosed with cancer, and haven't legally been able to take salary from my own company in 2 years.
- kartman 13y agozmitri, i upvoted but sometimes words are needed - keep up the good work!
- sskates 13y agoWil Chung holds the record at 7 last I checked. I actually have a huge amount of respect for him for being so persistent. If I were an investor that'd be the thing I look for first.
- wellboy 13y agoWtf is pathetic about that. Try out 1000 of things, do a pivot, pitch investors here and there, apply YC every now and then. Nothing pathetic about that.
- beambot 13y agoWe (Lollipuff, W13) released our entire application along with the short video [1]. I personally think that looking at a few sample applications is/was super helpful. I also share SandersAK's opinion: just writing a YC application will force you to think about the "right things" for your business. It's a worthy exercise in its own right. [1] https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-experience https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-ex... EDIT: Awww! I just saw our old MVP screenshots on that blog post. Lollipuff has come a long way since then...
- jaf12duke 13y agoSo stoked for you guys. I watched you guys apply and get rejected each time. And then emerge more determined. It felt obvious to me not only that you would get in, but that you would be one of the startups most likely to succeed. And now you're proving me right. Which rocks.
- SandersAK 13y agoThanks Jason, seriously we owe you so many beers. "when" not "if" is how we operate ;)
- adamzerner 13y agoThanks man, that's generous of you!
- Bootvis 13y agoExcited to almost apply again!
- benatkin 13y agoIs this the "next batch" that sama will be presiding over? Or is the batch after this one? http://blog.ycombinator.com/sam-altman-for-president http://blog.ycombinator.com/sam-altman-for-president
- TheMakeA 13y agopg, it seems like switching from non-profit to for-profit doesn't work.
- jzig 13y agoIs YC still doing 'no idea' applications?
- pg 13y agoNo, we stopped taking those several batches ago.
- gregpilling 13y agoDoes this mean that the concept proved unsuccessful?
- OoTheNigerian 13y agoHave any African countries ever applied or been accepted to YC? Will people that plan to move back home or have home (non American) markets as their primary markets be considered? It would be interesting to see how Sama's batch differs from PG's
- namenotrequired 13y agoWill people that plan to move back home or have home (non American) markets as their primary markets be considered? Many have done this, whether planned or not I don't know in all cases, but I know that Glio has Brazil as their primary market.
- pg 13y agoNo African countries have applied or been accepted, but we've accepted several people from them. IIRC none were making things for specifically African markets though. We're certainly willing to fund companies building stuff for their home country and that will return to it after YC. GoCardless is probably the most prominent.
- jey 13y agoThis raises an interesting question: should a country applying to YC use the regular application form or the nonprofit one?
- sanswork 13y agoThis will be my first time applying. Both very excited and very nervous.
- namenotrequired 13y agoGood luck!
- pshin45 13y agoIs it just me, or is the "Request for Startups"[1] page in serious need of updating? For example, are "Things Built on Twitter"[2] and "iPad Applications"[3] still a valid way to build a $XX billion company in today's world? [1] http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs.html [2] http://ycombinator.com/rfs3.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs3.html [3] http://ycombinator.com/rfs6.html http://ycombinator.com/rfs6.html
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- sskates 13y agoiPad Applications definitely are. In the non-gaming world, Plangrid, drchrono, and Paper by Fiftythree have all been really successful, and that's just off the top of my head.
- pg 13y agoWe should probably retire RFS 3.
- netcan 13y agoHave the Requests for Startups produced many good applications/startups? Any insights on identifying problems for startups to work on?
- tommydiaz 13y agoI'm applying to the summer batch, and I just noticed my company may fit into an RFS. Anybody have experience applying with RFS? Would it be better to just apply without it, and let YC make the connection?
- toeknee123 13y agoJust a few tips: http://blog.perfectaudience.com/2013/04/26/want-to-ace-your-ycombinator-interview-be-relentlessly-empathetic/ http://blog.perfectaudience.com/2013/04/26/want-to-ace-your-...
- guynamedloren 13y agoHere's my application for the last batch: https://www.penflip.com/loren/yc-application https://www.penflip.com/loren/yc-application Wasn't accepted, but it might help anyway. If anyone's curious, no, I didn't lose all hope and give up when YC rejected me. Third time being rejected, and it hurts less every time :) Still going strong on this idea, refuse to quit.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- danielrhodes 13y agoWhen I applied for YC, the application itself was very valuable because it asked focused and aspirational questions which forced me to think about what I was trying to create and why it was important to other people. I also went into the process telling myself that while it would be great to get in, it was not the end of the world if it didn't work out. Remember that the success of your product/company ultimately comes down to you and the market you are in and not necessarily the money that is invested or the often nebulous social status that might come with getting into such programs. What matters is creating something which is of service to and valuable to other people.
- fudged71 13y agoWhen we interviewed for the current cohort, we were asked to show up early for the interview, so I travelled to Mountain View each of the 6 interview days to talk to other startups. As a canuck in the valley for the first time, it was an eye-opening experience. It's really interesting to hear what everyone is working on, and it's a rare look at the YC investment thesis. Also interesting to see what these companies have gone on to achieve, YC or not. I was most inspired by the stories of everyone who had travelled from foreign countries to pitch.
- pg 13y agoWe don't recommend applicants do this. Though we don't say anything when it happens, we do notice, and it makes us slightly less likely to accept such groups.
- ggreenbe 13y agoJust wondering, do they assign the time slot or do they let you choose?
- ar7hur 13y agoYou choose on a first come first served basis.
- foobarqux 13y agoWhat is the policy on applications for businesses that compete with existing YC companies? Do you accept them? Do you have conflict of interest or confidentiality policies? Do you ever have conversations with existing YC companies along the lines of "We had an application recently for product X, you should do that."?
- pg 13y agoThe YC FAQ answers the first three: http://ycombinator.com/faq.html http://ycombinator.com/faq.html As for the fourth, of course not.
- jdrobins2000 13y agoSince YC alumni are now doing the preliminary application reviews, is there a process to avoid an unintentional conflict of interest (ie, an alumnus viewing a potential competitor's application)? Perhaps prescreening by YC staff and assignment to specific alumni for review? Please forgive me if the question seems redundant. I am reluctant to even ask as YC has a reputation of integrity. However, the mantra that "ideas are worthless" causes concern that perhaps precautions might not be taken to avoid such a scenario (because by implication, it would seem this could be viewed as a non-event). My apologies if I have misunderstood the views of YC on the matter.
- pg 13y agoWe tell the alumni explicitly that they're obliged not to disclose what they see in applications, and that if they see an application that competes with them they should click on the "skip" button provided for this purpose. We can't watch over their shoulder as they do it, but we're careful about which alumni we pick as reviewers, and there has never been any problem so far.
- jdrobins2000 13y agoThat seems reasonable. Thank you for the explanation.
- wildermuthn 13y ago"How far along are you? Do you have a beta yet? If not, when will you? Are you launched? If so, how many users do you have? Do you have revenue? If so, how much? If you're launched, what is your monthly growth rate (in users or revenue or both)?" The above question popped out at me this year. I don't know a lot about the groups that YC accepts, except what I read in the occasional press-release or HN post. But I have noticed a pattern: it seems that many (and perhaps most?) of the YC companies I've read about recently had already launched and found success prior to YC, sometimes years prior. This pattern might only indicate that I'm reading about those kinds of YC startups, and that completely new companies that launched post-YC don't get as much of my attention. Nonetheless, I've found this pattern to be at odds with what I thought YC was about — pre-launch investment and mentoring of brand new companies. It makes sense to invest in people and companies that have already found success. Even if such companies pivot to something completely new, they have a track record and a user base to work from. Has YC made an informal pivot itself, to funding companies that have already launched and found traction rather than in great teams of founders that probably aren't even incorporated yet?
- pg 13y agoWe've had already launched companies applying almost since the beginning of YC. Airbnb, which was in the winter 2009 batch, had been launched for over a year. We make a conscious effort not to be influenced by early progress though, because there is no correlation between how far along a company is when they apply to YC and how well they end up doing.
- devinmontgomery 13y agoWe make a conscious effort not to be influenced by early progress though, because there is no correlation between how far along a company is when they apply to YC and how well they end up doing. Given how many reapplications YC gets, it seems that it should only invest in companies it thinks would do so well in the next 6 months that they won't apply in the next round. If YC is getting fewer misses on companies that are rejected but go on to do well, how much of that do you ascribe to the selection process and how much do you ascribe to YC's increasing ability to get multiple passes at startups?
- nl 13y agoHow many non-profits does YC hope to fund in this cycle? Is Watsi the only public example?
- kevin 13y agoZidisha and Immunity Project have both launched publicly from this current W2014 batch. There are more. Also, we don't set quotas at YC. If we think your non-profit would be a good fit for YC, we'll accept you.
- younata 13y agoCome on, hat trick of rejections!
- infoseckid 13y agoOn April 15, we'll invite the groups that seem most promising to meet us in Mountain View between April 24 and 28 ---- -- This is too less time for companies based outside of the US to arrange cheap tickets, visas etc.
- akshxy 13y agoWill YC consider an application from a team of two founders and the first employee holding stocks? The third guy is a programmer and a good friend.
- pg 13y agoSure.
- k-mcgrady 13y agoHow much does it hurt your application if you apply as a sole founder?
- danielnordh 13y agoI got an interview as a sole founder in the S13 batch so it's not impossible. Have a working product, or progress, to show you can make stuff happen despite being on your own probably helps.
- Mc_Big_G 13y agohttp://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html See #1.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- thejash 13y agoI'm in a similar position--plenty of technical experience (~15K hours of programming, founded 2 startups and built the teams, sold 1), but I'm not quite sure what I want to build next. I've been offered early positions at a lot of startups, but nothing has really grabbed me yet. If you think you have an awesome idea (eg, customer validation in a reasonably large market for something that is 4x better than existing solutions and yet not impossible to build), send me an email (joshalbrecht@gmail.com), especially if it's in an area that I have lots of experience in (finance, manufacturing, or machine learning)
- koko775 13y agoAlso, hit me up if you're in the Bay Area and need a technical cofounder on a mobile project. I was on the Paper team, but besides iOS, I am very handy when it comes to backend or system administration tasks. (email: andy+yc@atoulou.se)
- stevenspasbo 13y agoJust a heads up, but I opened the github link on your website and got a 404.
- Mc_Big_G 13y agoWeird, it works for me in Chrome/FF/Safari. What browser?
- fedor91 13y agoPractical question: Are we supposed to submit only one form per group or multiple? Because the introductory explanation talks about a group submission, but on the form itself there are fields that are explicitly personal: e.g. "Please tell us about the time you, fedor91, most successfully hacked..." Addendum: If there are any noob mistakes you want to point out, I'd very much appreciate it because it's the first time we're applying.
- thomson 13y agoEchoing other YC people: More than happy to help with reading over applications and giving feedback! thomson@cantab.net