4 ms·
Ask HN: How do I prepare for the interview?
Got an interview call from YC. Mood: Super Excited/Freaking Out. I'm wondering if there are any YC alumni/interview candidates around who'd have any advice before I appear for the interview?
- jtfairbank 11y agoWhat's your company?
- mhluongo 11y agoMaybe find alums to run a mock interview?
- NPMaxwell 11y agoIn addition to whatever else (like reading the company site and researching the people I'll be meeting with), I like arriving 20 minutes early and going for a walk.
- raminassemi 11y agoDecide in advance what the 3 most important facts are you want them to remember about you. Then make sure to work this into your answers, even if the question they ask you seemingly isn't related to it. I learned this from one of the co-founders of a SwipeGood (YC W11), they wrote about it in much detail here: http://blog.close.io/tough-interview-questions http://blog.close.io/tough-interview-questions (Now of course - do this mindfully, not robotically, but if you've been invited to an interview, I probably don't need to say this). And congratulations! Wishing you success :)
- sospep 11y ago> NOT an alumni or past interviewee but i'll put this out there ... 1] Paul Graham - wrote an Essay - How To prepare for the interview > http://old.ycombinator.com/howtoprepare.html http://old.ycombinator.com/howtoprepare.html 2] I created a summarized, annoted version of 'Grahams essays key points' aka my TLDR > http://sospep.com/view/article?id=4457 http://sospep.com/view/article?id=4457 I would memorize those keypoints 3] I also compiled a list of the 'interview questions' that they are known to ask? > http://sospep.com/view/steps?id=129 http://sospep.com/view/steps?id=129 you/your co founders probably want to know the answer to every 1 of those questions, as they pertain to your company, backward, forwards and sideways :) 4] and a few other resources, that may be helpful to you... - like ARTICLE(s) - our interview with ycombinator by ... (* x) - i will add the links to the Reference section the article i posted above Finally, congratulations, I suspect the bar to YC is pretty high and you've cleared the first hurdle. Now get started practicing those interview ?'s and good luck!
- petersouth 11y agohmmm...Maybe I'll build a YC interview simulator...
- Sophi13 11y agoBe sure to let me know when you do Peter!
- Hydraulix989 11y agoBest way is to focus on running your startup instead.
- ThrustVectoring 11y agoIf you aren't already a good public speaker, start attending Toastmasters or some similar organization. This kind of activity is a learn-able skill, and Toastmasters is the kind of place to learn it.
- humanarity 11y agoWell done :) as for interview simulators, there's always this: http://ipaulgraham.herokuapp.com/ http://ipaulgraham.herokuapp.com/
- dopeboy 11y agoPosting here to say congratulations. Would love to know what it's like after it's done.