mwseibel

11 ms·

61.
by mwseibel 9y ago
We have a number of companies who apply to YC with an MVP before incorporation. While I agree getting this done is a good idea - its not an absolute requirement for YC.
62.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Clearly the idea (or the solution) is important - my argument is that knowing the right solution day one isn't very important. Airbnb and Twitch are great examples of this.
63.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Just apply man :)
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by mwseibel 9y ago
That was so much fun :)
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Get the MVP in the hands of users early and try to learn from them how to make something that they want. Be open to the idea that while you might have figured out a good problem to work on - your solution is just a hypothesis to be tested
66.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Hello - I've been invited to some universities lately to talk to students about Y Combinator and the question "how do I come up with a good startup idea?" comes up every time. In this essay, I've attempted to write a gu
67.
by mwseibel 9y ago
To be clear this advice is for small early stage startups that are pre-product market fit.
68.
by mwseibel 9y ago
I think something to consider is that working at a startup is an extremely common path to starting one yourself.
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by mwseibel 9y ago
not yet but its on the list :)
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by mwseibel 9y ago
good suggestion!
71.
by mwseibel 9y ago
I don't think you will encounter the following problem: "I wouldn't want to go through the entire interview process and realize that they can't pay me what I need to support my family." After filling out an appli
72.
by mwseibel 9y ago
I'm so excited that this is launching - great work Matt!!! - This is one of the features that I wanted YC to have way back in 2007!
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Peter Thiel doesn't work at YC - please check your facts: http://www.ycombinator.com/people/
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Here are my thoughts on the matter 1) I think the value of most universities (top universities) is the quality of the students they are able to attract. It turns out that becoming friends with smart and motivated people can be very very hel
75.
by mwseibel 9y ago
I put that in quotes to make the meta point that it’s really hard for anyone to really know the right answer. But employees who are closer to the problem/customer often have way more insight than others.
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Yes - happens a lot
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Thanks for the note - I’m going to think about this.
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Clearly most things are easier if you are wealthy but I know I lot of people from non-wealthy backgrounds who are successful founders, executives, and employees.
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Sorry you feel that way - if you take a second to look me up I think you will realize that I hold diversity as one of the most important issues in tech. This is advice that I consistently give people from all backgrounds.
80.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Let’s be clear the goal wasn’t to break new ground in fact it’s the opposite. To condense all the accumulated pieces of advice that we give in one place and provide links to dive deeper if needed.
81.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Couple items here: we don’t encourage founders to work for free (that’s literally illegal) and the average age of YC Founders is 29 (I hope this is too old to qualify for young and naive). While I don’t think Founders should pay themselves
82.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Ditto on Clerky
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Very good question - we have 13 years and about 1600 startups that we draw this from.
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by mwseibel 9y ago
It’s often not good to do this
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by mwseibel 9y ago
The reason why is those are the types of business that are able to raise money to pursue their goals.
86.
by mwseibel 9y ago
Geoff and I are happy to answer questions in the comment thread. Our goal was to condense the advice we most often give to early stage founders. (Much of this advice was also given to me when I went through YC)
87.
by mwseibel 9y ago
If you truly believe this than I am sorry. If you are interested - feel free to email me: michael@ycombinator.com
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by mwseibel 9y ago
No idea - maybe another way to think about it is im really bad when these constraints aren't in place
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by mwseibel 9y ago
I should have said I realized I could be better at the game of high school student looking to get into a good college.
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by mwseibel 9y ago
Sorry was I should have said is the vast majority (over 90%) of our employees didn't come from Ivy's.

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