7 ms·

YC Hacks – August 2-3

177 points by katm 12y ago

4twsdfesfdz 12y ago
Nice :)
minimaxir 12y ago
> If you're out of school, where do you work, and at what? I'm surprised that YC is making the assumption that the applicant has a permanent job.
- sama 12y ago
  "i'm hacking on X, Y, and Z" is a perfectly acceptable response, at least as good as "i work at facebook".
  - minimaxir 12y ago
    Gotcha, that wasn't immediately clear from the language.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
lowglow 12y ago
This is great news! We had YC companies come out and sponsor Hackendo: IoT Hackathon a few months back. https://hackendo.techendo.com/ https://hackendo.techendo.com/ I'm glad YC is taking a more active role in developing their offline community. [edit] Also, I run the SFHN meetup. Join us! https://www.facebook.com/groups/gosfhn/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/gosfhn/
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
dmabram 12y ago
Is it possible to apply as a team, or only as an individual?
- katm 12y ago
  Please apply individually. We just added a field where you can list any people you'd particularly like to work with.
  - marcog1 12y ago
    What's the recommended team size?
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
anateus 12y ago
While some sort of tokens provided to some exceptional teams might be fun I'm sad to see the Hackathon-As-Competition idea promulgated. The origins of the term are about a collaborative event where the marathon-style combined creates a sense of cohesion or at the very least fun that encourages some sort of shared problem solving. Not everyone has to be working towards a single unified goal, but the usefulness of this style of event is for certain classes of collaborative work where the fever pitch allows the combination of innovative ideas with laying down a lot of code. As soon as you turn it competitive, you lose the benefits of this type of event, beyond those you'd get from just a con with a "best in show". While ostensibly you create what you present at the hackathon, teams with greater pre-made components get a significant advantage. To counter that you then have to lay down rules and that just brings the tone of the event down. My criticism is specifically about the usefulness of competition in hackathons, rather than about competing teams in other kinds of events. It doesn't seem like the competition aspect is as emphasized here as in many other hackathons, which is great. I hope the prizes remain an ancillary bonus rather than the focus.
- gailees 12y ago
  Why do you lose the benefits as soon as it becomes competitive? Sports are competitive but people still play sports because they love them. I imagine most attendees will be there for the same reason though the prizes are a great plus.
  - andrewfong 12y ago
    Inter-team collaboration drops in a competitive environment. One of the nice things about hackathons is that you can get feedback and ideas from other teams in those environments. If you're actively competing (and for something as scarce as a YC interview spot), then the incentive to help someone else out decreases.
    - cdonaghy 12y ago
      I totally agree with this, competitive environments increase stress and decrease collaboration.
gailees 12y ago
Does YC actually expect a hack built in a weekend to be on par with some of the startups they take for interviews?
- Dragonai 12y ago
  I was wondering the same thing! But I'm pretty sure YC knows what to expect from even the best hackers at hackathons - 24 hours of hacking is not the same as months/years of customer discovery and polish. (Not saying hackathon hacks can't be viable or polished, I've seen many that are absolutely both.)
- zmitri 12y ago
  They very well could be. But more likely, the people that would meet there could go on to do great things together and perhaps YC would be a part of that. I met my cofounder at the TC Disrupt Hackathon in 2011, were selected as one of the winners, and have worked together ever since. We even did YC last batch.
  - nwenzel 12y ago
    "the people that would meet there could go on to do great things together" +1 I don't think you have to look much further than comments by sama and pg about building YC into an institution that lasts 100 years. It's the network that creates sustaining value. I have no insider knowledge, but this event seems like a great way to expand and grow that network. Love to see it. Love to see YC continuing to do and try new things.
- HistoryInAction 12y ago
  Are people interviewing with more than frameworks these days? A bunch of cycles back, I had one friend—who was accepted—interview with a weekend hack that he put together, launched, and saw it just take off, after being invited to interview for a startup that just wasn't gaining traction.
kingGreed 12y ago
Just checking out the submission form and was wondering what do they mean by "What tools do you like?" Languages used ? IDE used or text editor ? Frameworks ?
- anthony_franco 12y ago
  They purposely leave it vague. Developers might list their favorite language, PMs might list their favorite diagraming tool, salespeople might list a CRM, etc.
  - kingGreed 12y ago
    Ok thanks !
RaphiePS 12y ago
I'm scared this will mean rampant cheating. What's to prevent an early-stage startup from masquerading as a hack and getting a "fast-tracked" interview? I know this is a problem for most hackathons, but the stakes seem significantly higher here.
- samstave 12y ago
  Isn't that kind of what is being encouraged here, exactly?
ankey1 12y ago
Will there be a chance to meet people and form teams before the hackathon or should we apply with a team already in mind?
- xur17 12y ago
  I'm curious about this too - I don't have a team in mind; can I still apply? (never been to one of these before)
habosa 12y ago
I like that YC under sama is trying new things. Taking in Quora, more open HN meta-discussion, and now this hackathon. I'm someone who may never even apply to be in YC so I like that they are making an effort to have YC reach the community as a whole, not just the participating founders.
jcr 12y ago
katm and sama, Is this only for those with YC aspirations? I'm neither founder nor employee material, and I'm certainly not an "idea person," but hacking for fun on whatever is needed sure does sound like a good time.
- radikalus 12y ago
  Yeah -- I'm pretty much the same. I'm in SFO that week anyways and would love to play-with/help-build something outside my normal repertoire.
consta 12y ago
I would so much love to participate, but the flights from Europe to SFO are too pricy. What about an YC Hacks hosted in Europe?
HistoryInAction 12y ago
If anyone is coming in from another country and interested, I'm happy to sit down and go through your visa options as a potential founder. It's basic stuff, but you don't need to reinvent the wheel in collecting this information. E.g. http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/06/11/7-us-startup-visa-options-international-founders/ http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/06/11/7-us-startup-v... Let me know craig (at) politihacks (dot) com
- cmadan 12y ago
  Thanks, I might take you up on that soon! Meanwhile, I've subscribed to the poltihacks mailing list.
  - HistoryInAction 12y ago
    Oh, ha! I should update my bio, cause I don't push out the PolitiHacks digest anymore, just curating the Startup Digest Gov Reading List. I had too many "VP of Public Policy" scrounging it for value; founders, investors who were my target audience didn't care.
trekky1700 12y ago
Any travel reimbursements available?

177 points by katm 12y ago

Nice :)

> If you're out of school, where do you work, and at what? I'm surprised that YC is making the assumption that the applicant has a permanent job.

sama 12y ago
"i'm hacking on X, Y, and Z" is a perfectly acceptable response, at least as good as "i work at facebook".
- minimaxir 12y ago
  Gotcha, that wasn't immediately clear from the language.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

lowglow 12y ago

This is great news! We had YC companies come out and sponsor Hackendo: IoT Hackathon a few months back. https://hackendo.techendo.com/ https://hackendo.techendo.com/ I'm glad YC is taking a more active role in developing their offline community. [edit] Also, I run the SFHN meetup. Join us! https://www.facebook.com/groups/gosfhn/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/gosfhn/

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

dmabram 12y ago

Is it possible to apply as a team, or only as an individual?

katm 12y ago
Please apply individually. We just added a field where you can list any people you'd particularly like to work with.
- marcog1 12y ago
  What's the recommended team size?

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

anateus 12y ago

While some sort of tokens provided to some exceptional teams might be fun I'm sad to see the Hackathon-As-Competition idea promulgated. The origins of the term are about a collaborative event where the marathon-style combined creates a sense of cohesion or at the very least fun that encourages some sort of shared problem solving. Not everyone has to be working towards a single unified goal, but the usefulness of this style of event is for certain classes of collaborative work where the fever pitch allows the combination of innovative ideas with laying down a lot of code. As soon as you turn it competitive, you lose the benefits of this type of event, beyond those you'd get from just a con with a "best in show". While ostensibly you create what you present at the hackathon, teams with greater pre-made components get a significant advantage. To counter that you then have to lay down rules and that just brings the tone of the event down. My criticism is specifically about the usefulness of competition in hackathons, rather than about competing teams in other kinds of events. It doesn't seem like the competition aspect is as emphasized here as in many other hackathons, which is great. I hope the prizes remain an ancillary bonus rather than the focus.

gailees 12y ago
Why do you lose the benefits as soon as it becomes competitive? Sports are competitive but people still play sports because they love them. I imagine most attendees will be there for the same reason though the prizes are a great plus.
- andrewfong 12y ago
  Inter-team collaboration drops in a competitive environment. One of the nice things about hackathons is that you can get feedback and ideas from other teams in those environments. If you're actively competing (and for something as scarce as a YC interview spot), then the incentive to help someone else out decreases.
  - cdonaghy 12y ago
    I totally agree with this, competitive environments increase stress and decrease collaboration.

gailees 12y ago

Does YC actually expect a hack built in a weekend to be on par with some of the startups they take for interviews?

Dragonai 12y ago
I was wondering the same thing! But I'm pretty sure YC knows what to expect from even the best hackers at hackathons - 24 hours of hacking is not the same as months/years of customer discovery and polish. (Not saying hackathon hacks can't be viable or polished, I've seen many that are absolutely both.)
zmitri 12y ago
They very well could be. But more likely, the people that would meet there could go on to do great things together and perhaps YC would be a part of that. I met my cofounder at the TC Disrupt Hackathon in 2011, were selected as one of the winners, and have worked together ever since. We even did YC last batch.
- nwenzel 12y ago
  "the people that would meet there could go on to do great things together" +1 I don't think you have to look much further than comments by sama and pg about building YC into an institution that lasts 100 years. It's the network that creates sustaining value. I have no insider knowledge, but this event seems like a great way to expand and grow that network. Love to see it. Love to see YC continuing to do and try new things.
HistoryInAction 12y ago
Are people interviewing with more than frameworks these days? A bunch of cycles back, I had one friend—who was accepted—interview with a weekend hack that he put together, launched, and saw it just take off, after being invited to interview for a startup that just wasn't gaining traction.

kingGreed 12y ago

Just checking out the submission form and was wondering what do they mean by "What tools do you like?" Languages used ? IDE used or text editor ? Frameworks ?

anthony_franco 12y ago
They purposely leave it vague. Developers might list their favorite language, PMs might list their favorite diagraming tool, salespeople might list a CRM, etc.
- kingGreed 12y ago
  Ok thanks !

RaphiePS 12y ago

I'm scared this will mean rampant cheating. What's to prevent an early-stage startup from masquerading as a hack and getting a "fast-tracked" interview? I know this is a problem for most hackathons, but the stakes seem significantly higher here.

samstave 12y ago
Isn't that kind of what is being encouraged here, exactly?

ankey1 12y ago

Will there be a chance to meet people and form teams before the hackathon or should we apply with a team already in mind?

xur17 12y ago
I'm curious about this too - I don't have a team in mind; can I still apply? (never been to one of these before)

habosa 12y ago

I like that YC under sama is trying new things. Taking in Quora, more open HN meta-discussion, and now this hackathon. I'm someone who may never even apply to be in YC so I like that they are making an effort to have YC reach the community as a whole, not just the participating founders.

jcr 12y ago

katm and sama, Is this only for those with YC aspirations? I'm neither founder nor employee material, and I'm certainly not an "idea person," but hacking for fun on whatever is needed sure does sound like a good time.

radikalus 12y ago
Yeah -- I'm pretty much the same. I'm in SFO that week anyways and would love to play-with/help-build something outside my normal repertoire.

consta 12y ago

I would so much love to participate, but the flights from Europe to SFO are too pricy. What about an YC Hacks hosted in Europe?

HistoryInAction 12y ago

If anyone is coming in from another country and interested, I'm happy to sit down and go through your visa options as a potential founder. It's basic stuff, but you don't need to reinvent the wheel in collecting this information. E.g. http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/06/11/7-us-startup-visa-options-international-founders/ http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/06/11/7-us-startup-v... Let me know craig (at) politihacks (dot) com

cmadan 12y ago
Thanks, I might take you up on that soon! Meanwhile, I've subscribed to the poltihacks mailing list.
- HistoryInAction 12y ago
  Oh, ha! I should update my bio, cause I don't push out the PolitiHacks digest anymore, just curating the Startup Digest Gov Reading List. I had too many "VP of Public Policy" scrounging it for value; founders, investors who were my target audience didn't care.

trekky1700 12y ago

Any travel reimbursements available?