7 ms·

Going Through Y Combinator (YC S13): Lessons Learned

154 points by zt 13y ago

johnpt 13y ago
"There is only so much you can do on Castro Street." That is so true. You only have houses and more houses, nothing to do other than work 24/7.
Xdes 13y ago
How much does YC cost to attend (like boarding, food, transportation, social events)? Would those who attends likely come from a well off background?
- zt 13y ago
  Well you get $14-20k + an $80k note, so you can easily pay two-three people minimum wage (plus rent) for summer.
- outericky 13y ago
  All those things are subjective to where you want to live, what you want to eat and what you want to do. The events YC provides are free. Depending on where you live your rent will obviously vary (you can pay $5000/month for an SF apt, or you can share a place in Mountain View for $600/month). Like Zac said... the $$ invested should more than cover your expenses for the 3 months. Of course, that money is for kicking off your company - not fine dining.
  - mbesto 13y ago
    The guys over at http://startuphouse.com/ http://startuphouse.com/ have short term stay options in the heart of SF (It's not publically stated, yet, but I think ~$35/night, so $1k/month). Might be a good option for people doing YC for a summer and want to keep things extra lean.
    - argumentum 13y ago
      It saves a lot of time and stress to stay near YC in the south bay for the duration of the program (mountain view, sunnyvale, palo alto etc). Living in SF means you waste at least 2 hours every trip down to yc (usually 3 times a week or so).
TheMakeA 13y ago
Awesome post. Thanks Zac!
ther1 13y ago
That was a great article - very insightful. A question though : Is it possible to get into YC without having an actual working product? That is with just a general idea for a product that you want to build? The impression I got by reading all the stuff in the tech press, is that almost no one will fund just an idea - even seed funding - you do need to have a working product, and traction and customers, etc. The other question is : Is it possible to get into YC if you are much older than your mid-twenties or early thirties? I know it is theoretically possible - but are there any YC founders in their forties or even fifties?
- wellboy 13y ago
  It's much different if you're a second time founder (you have sold acompany before) such as Zac's co-founder. If you're a first time founder without significant traction, I think it's very unlikely to get into YC. I can imagine less than 5% of first time founders in the past few years that got into YC didn't have decent traction. Does anyone have numbers on that?
  - zt 13y ago
    Woah woah. I've never sold a company before. Dan was the COO of Giftly, which sold.
    - wellboy 13y ago
      Yahh, I was posting the comment just when I looked it up and changed it! ;)
- zt 13y ago
  It is hard to get in to YC without something, but we didn't have a demo. You can read our whole app at: http://blog.zactownsend.com/our-yc-s13-application http://blog.zactownsend.com/our-yc-s13-application In my YC class, I would say the median age was roughly mine: 28. Any number of founders were in their late 30s and 40s.
  - rahimnathwani 13y ago
iterable 13y ago
Awesome Zac
minimax 13y ago
Kirsty Nathoo spends the second half of the day describing the basics of corporate setup. She goes over all of the associated paperwork, the YC investment, the YCVC notes, and advice on what to spend money on. It was a fast, expert primer on corporate law, corporate finance, startup financing, benefits, payroll, and more. Can anyone recommend a good book on VC finance? It's hard to find anything that goes into much depth on the web.
- mbesto 13y ago
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CDYQSM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CDYQSM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_...
- sokoloff 13y ago
  I liked Venture Deals: Be Smarter than your Lawyer and VC. Amazon affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118443616/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1118443616&linkCode=as2&tag=sokoloffcom-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118443616/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Amazon non-affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616 http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalis... (Choose whichever you prefer.)
  - minimax 13y ago
    Thanks (also thanks to mbesto)!
alain94040 13y ago
* In order to think through this, Dan and I walked around the same block in Mountain View several hundred times Don't. If your startup is trying to sell to small businesses, stop asking the business owners on Castro St. They already have more pitches than the VCs on Sand Hill road. They are bombarded with half-baked ideas on how to get more customers, make more money from existing customers, etc. Long distance calls have been free for a while now: call some other state with no startup culture and pitch to those business owners. They'll be both more receptive and more representative of the overall business population.
- dools 13y ago
  I got the impression they were just walking and talking to each other.
- zt 13y ago
  (I'm the author) Sorry for my lack of clarity here. We weren't pitching customers in Mountain View, we were just walking around a block a few hundred times -- talking and thinking with each other.
  - tomblomfield 13y ago
    pg also seems to like doing office hours while walking in circles around the same block
    - zt 13y ago
      As do other partners. This was a different block though, one that our house was on.
lukasm 13y ago
Do founders from Europe or other places have to come back? What if company is ramen profitable or profitable?
- arg01 13y ago
  Depends on your visa. I ANAL etc, just spent a bit of time a while ago looking at the visa situation. Basically you will probably get away with a B-1 visa for your three month run very simply (electronic registration online and ~$15). It's a bit questionable as the work your doing could technically get you in hot water though deal signing and seminars are fine. After those three months you will have to leave, you can come back on the same type of visa (though it is more likely you are breaching it) but you'll likely be asked more serious questions and if a border agent doesn't like you then you could be out of luck and barred from re-entry. One of the key things to remember is the penalties for getting caught breaking any visa conditions could essentially get you barred from reentry for life. So after that first three months you'll probably want a visa that line up with the fact that you're now effectively working in the US. H-1B, which will require your startup to be up and running and look reputable and they are in short supply. O, which will require you to show your a respected top of your field type person (i.e. articles written about you, speaking engagements). E-1, your company must be non-us (which isn't ideal for YC) and a substantial volume (and over 50% of the international trade) of trade must occur in the US. E-2, 50%+ of the business must be owned by investors in your country (you and your co-founders). Possibly your best bet but you'll need a substantial amount of your wealth (cash,IP (which might effect how you work for your company to set up IP transfer which might not be agreeable with other investors)) committed to the business (100K+) in a non-revocable fashion. Also if the business fails your visa is no longer valid. Risky but probably the most achievable in terms of startups (with regards to getting back in the country doing it quickly and with a high degree of certainty). L-1 this will require you to have an office in your own country as well, you'll effectively transfer yourself between the two offices. Keep in mind that immigration aren't robots and you'll need to show your not just playing a shell game. If your canadian(mexican too I believe) TN, basically with an offer of employment from a US company you can work there for 3 years. They'll need supporting details and you'd do well to have the company at a point were you can technically get fired to be credible (i.e. board of directors/you don't own 51% of the company). Edit: Also visas have intent. i.e. Plan to immigrate or not. If you have a visa with no intent to immigrate and you look like you're planning to immigrate then you can be found to have broken your visa conditions and barred reentry/kicked out. So if you grab a work visa that does not have intent to stay then apply for a visa that only has intent to stay your current visa can be invalidated, you may have to wait until your current visa expire before applying for a more appropriate one. The go to advice is find an imigration lawyer, they'll have a better idea than you or me on how to set this up. There are also more options that may open up as your business grows but if you're at the point of considering them you are at the point were you'll have the resources and responsibility to get lawyers to do the majority of the leg work finding/explaining your options. There may be better news on the horizon: http://startupvisa.com/ http://startupvisa.com/
mikeleeorg 13y ago
I think it might be interesting to see some stats on Prototype Day. Or, at least, what factors contributed to high votes and whether or not those votes had any correlation to the Demo Day and performance of the company beyond YC. What I'm trying to get at is - YC obviously sees some kind of value in Prototype Day, so what is the value and can others replicate that value in some other way?
- karamazov 13y ago
  Prototype Day is a chance to practice your pitch in front of your peers. For most people, it's also the first chance to see what impacts an audience, especially after they've just sat through 20 presentations. (This is helpful both for pitching investors in general, and for demo day specifically.) You can replicate a lot of the value by getting a group of serious founders together and having them spend a day or half a day pitching to each other, with feedback. If you can get a mentor experienced with the process to give you feedback, even better.
  - mikeleeorg 13y ago
    That makes sense to me. What did Zachary mean when he wrote, "The partners tell you not to prepare"? I understood that to mean you don't have to have a pitch ready for Prototype Day yet.
- zaidf 13y ago
  When I went through YC ages ago, pretty sure Dropbox got the most votes. They may be the most valued YC company atm.
- outericky 13y ago
  It was also an opportunity to actually see what everyone is working on. At that point in our batch, we had yet to really meet everyone and understand what they were working on. You get to know those you socialize with early on, or those in your group office hours....

154 points by zt 13y ago

"There is only so much you can do on Castro Street." That is so true. You only have houses and more houses, nothing to do other than work 24/7.

Xdes 13y ago

How much does YC cost to attend (like boarding, food, transportation, social events)? Would those who attends likely come from a well off background?

zt 13y ago
Well you get $14-20k + an $80k note, so you can easily pay two-three people minimum wage (plus rent) for summer.
outericky 13y ago
All those things are subjective to where you want to live, what you want to eat and what you want to do. The events YC provides are free. Depending on where you live your rent will obviously vary (you can pay $5000/month for an SF apt, or you can share a place in Mountain View for $600/month). Like Zac said... the $$ invested should more than cover your expenses for the 3 months. Of course, that money is for kicking off your company - not fine dining.
- mbesto 13y ago
  The guys over at http://startuphouse.com/ http://startuphouse.com/ have short term stay options in the heart of SF (It's not publically stated, yet, but I think ~$35/night, so $1k/month). Might be a good option for people doing YC for a summer and want to keep things extra lean.
  - argumentum 13y ago
    It saves a lot of time and stress to stay near YC in the south bay for the duration of the program (mountain view, sunnyvale, palo alto etc). Living in SF means you waste at least 2 hours every trip down to yc (usually 3 times a week or so).

TheMakeA 13y ago

Awesome post. Thanks Zac!

ther1 13y ago

That was a great article - very insightful. A question though : Is it possible to get into YC without having an actual working product? That is with just a general idea for a product that you want to build? The impression I got by reading all the stuff in the tech press, is that almost no one will fund just an idea - even seed funding - you do need to have a working product, and traction and customers, etc. The other question is : Is it possible to get into YC if you are much older than your mid-twenties or early thirties? I know it is theoretically possible - but are there any YC founders in their forties or even fifties?

wellboy 13y ago
It's much different if you're a second time founder (you have sold acompany before) such as Zac's co-founder. If you're a first time founder without significant traction, I think it's very unlikely to get into YC. I can imagine less than 5% of first time founders in the past few years that got into YC didn't have decent traction. Does anyone have numbers on that?
- zt 13y ago
  Woah woah. I've never sold a company before. Dan was the COO of Giftly, which sold.
  - wellboy 13y ago
    Yahh, I was posting the comment just when I looked it up and changed it! ;)
zt 13y ago
It is hard to get in to YC without something, but we didn't have a demo. You can read our whole app at: http://blog.zactownsend.com/our-yc-s13-application http://blog.zactownsend.com/our-yc-s13-application In my YC class, I would say the median age was roughly mine: 28. Any number of founders were in their late 30s and 40s.
- rahimnathwani 13y ago

iterable 13y ago

Awesome Zac

minimax 13y ago

Kirsty Nathoo spends the second half of the day describing the basics of corporate setup. She goes over all of the associated paperwork, the YC investment, the YCVC notes, and advice on what to spend money on. It was a fast, expert primer on corporate law, corporate finance, startup financing, benefits, payroll, and more. Can anyone recommend a good book on VC finance? It's hard to find anything that goes into much depth on the web.

mbesto 13y ago
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CDYQSM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005CDYQSM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_...
sokoloff 13y ago
I liked Venture Deals: Be Smarter than your Lawyer and VC. Amazon affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118443616/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1118443616&linkCode=as2&tag=sokoloffcom-20 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118443616/ref=as_li_ss_tl?... Amazon non-affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalist/dp/1118443616 http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Deals-Smarter-Lawyer-Capitalis... (Choose whichever you prefer.)
- minimax 13y ago
  Thanks (also thanks to mbesto)!

alain94040 13y ago

* In order to think through this, Dan and I walked around the same block in Mountain View several hundred times Don't. If your startup is trying to sell to small businesses, stop asking the business owners on Castro St. They already have more pitches than the VCs on Sand Hill road. They are bombarded with half-baked ideas on how to get more customers, make more money from existing customers, etc. Long distance calls have been free for a while now: call some other state with no startup culture and pitch to those business owners. They'll be both more receptive and more representative of the overall business population.

dools 13y ago
I got the impression they were just walking and talking to each other.
zt 13y ago
(I'm the author) Sorry for my lack of clarity here. We weren't pitching customers in Mountain View, we were just walking around a block a few hundred times -- talking and thinking with each other.
- tomblomfield 13y ago
  pg also seems to like doing office hours while walking in circles around the same block
  - zt 13y ago
    As do other partners. This was a different block though, one that our house was on.

lukasm 13y ago

Do founders from Europe or other places have to come back? What if company is ramen profitable or profitable?

arg01 13y ago
Depends on your visa. I ANAL etc, just spent a bit of time a while ago looking at the visa situation. Basically you will probably get away with a B-1 visa for your three month run very simply (electronic registration online and ~$15). It's a bit questionable as the work your doing could technically get you in hot water though deal signing and seminars are fine. After those three months you will have to leave, you can come back on the same type of visa (though it is more likely you are breaching it) but you'll likely be asked more serious questions and if a border agent doesn't like you then you could be out of luck and barred from re-entry. One of the key things to remember is the penalties for getting caught breaking any visa conditions could essentially get you barred from reentry for life. So after that first three months you'll probably want a visa that line up with the fact that you're now effectively working in the US. H-1B, which will require your startup to be up and running and look reputable and they are in short supply. O, which will require you to show your a respected top of your field type person (i.e. articles written about you, speaking engagements). E-1, your company must be non-us (which isn't ideal for YC) and a substantial volume (and over 50% of the international trade) of trade must occur in the US. E-2, 50%+ of the business must be owned by investors in your country (you and your co-founders). Possibly your best bet but you'll need a substantial amount of your wealth (cash,IP (which might effect how you work for your company to set up IP transfer which might not be agreeable with other investors)) committed to the business (100K+) in a non-revocable fashion. Also if the business fails your visa is no longer valid. Risky but probably the most achievable in terms of startups (with regards to getting back in the country doing it quickly and with a high degree of certainty). L-1 this will require you to have an office in your own country as well, you'll effectively transfer yourself between the two offices. Keep in mind that immigration aren't robots and you'll need to show your not just playing a shell game. If your canadian(mexican too I believe) TN, basically with an offer of employment from a US company you can work there for 3 years. They'll need supporting details and you'd do well to have the company at a point were you can technically get fired to be credible (i.e. board of directors/you don't own 51% of the company). Edit: Also visas have intent. i.e. Plan to immigrate or not. If you have a visa with no intent to immigrate and you look like you're planning to immigrate then you can be found to have broken your visa conditions and barred reentry/kicked out. So if you grab a work visa that does not have intent to stay then apply for a visa that only has intent to stay your current visa can be invalidated, you may have to wait until your current visa expire before applying for a more appropriate one. The go to advice is find an imigration lawyer, they'll have a better idea than you or me on how to set this up. There are also more options that may open up as your business grows but if you're at the point of considering them you are at the point were you'll have the resources and responsibility to get lawyers to do the majority of the leg work finding/explaining your options. There may be better news on the horizon: http://startupvisa.com/ http://startupvisa.com/

mikeleeorg 13y ago

I think it might be interesting to see some stats on Prototype Day. Or, at least, what factors contributed to high votes and whether or not those votes had any correlation to the Demo Day and performance of the company beyond YC. What I'm trying to get at is - YC obviously sees some kind of value in Prototype Day, so what is the value and can others replicate that value in some other way?

karamazov 13y ago
Prototype Day is a chance to practice your pitch in front of your peers. For most people, it's also the first chance to see what impacts an audience, especially after they've just sat through 20 presentations. (This is helpful both for pitching investors in general, and for demo day specifically.) You can replicate a lot of the value by getting a group of serious founders together and having them spend a day or half a day pitching to each other, with feedback. If you can get a mentor experienced with the process to give you feedback, even better.
- mikeleeorg 13y ago
  That makes sense to me. What did Zachary mean when he wrote, "The partners tell you not to prepare"? I understood that to mean you don't have to have a pitch ready for Prototype Day yet.
zaidf 13y ago
When I went through YC ages ago, pretty sure Dropbox got the most votes. They may be the most valued YC company atm.
outericky 13y ago
It was also an opportunity to actually see what everyone is working on. At that point in our batch, we had yet to really meet everyone and understand what they were working on. You get to know those you socialize with early on, or those in your group office hours....