sama

42 ms·

541.
by sama 12y ago
Delicious. One of my favorite restaurants in SF!
542.
by sama 12y ago
I might do a sort of graduate school version--i.e. "How to scale a startup"
543.
by sama 12y ago
Both. Clearly explain what you do right now, and where you want to be in five years.
544.
by sama 12y ago
We start right after Demo Day (the 24th). It's possible we'd read an earlier version--if you're going to make big changes, hold off on submitting.
545.
by sama 12y ago
We build our own tools mostly.
546.
by sama 12y ago
We help with visas. But part of being a founder is figuring out how to overcome obstacles by yourself.
547.
by sama 12y ago
We've done it once or twice, but why not just apply for the next batch?
548.
by sama 12y ago
We fund companies from all over the world. The sacrifice of moving for 3 months pales in comparison to other sacrifices you have to make to start a successful startup.
549.
by sama 12y ago
No--but we are delighted when founders come here, learn and make connection in SV, and then go back to their home country!
550.
by sama 12y ago
It seems like a bad thing that YC has gotten to the point where people stop me on street and ask to take a selfie. I'm not sure what to do about it, though.
551.
by sama 12y ago
Yes!
552.
by sama 12y ago
People in that situation usually save up money before applying to YC. I think this is the right answer--it seems important to startup's health that they get started on little capital.
553.
by sama 12y ago
Yes, but not without an idea. We tried funding teams with no ideas at one point. It didn't work. It turns out that good founders always have ideas.
554.
by sama 12y ago
The only hard disqualifier is if no founders are 18 or older, because you can't sign contracts in that case. I generally do not think it's a good life decision to start a company when you're 16 or 17, and I'd suggest wai
555.
by sama 12y ago
Yes, we will fund hardware companies with only an idea in some cases. However, the cost and time required to make a prototype has come down so much that most applicants have something built.
556.
by sama 12y ago
Really depends on the specifics, but generally it's something we like.
557.
by sama 12y ago
We have funded lots of people with similar backgrounds. What will matter is the quality of your idea and progress so far.
558.
by sama 12y ago
I always used to make offers like this--I think it's a good way to do it.
559.
by sama 12y ago
Unclear communication. It's surprising how often we get 5 minutes into an interview without being able to really understand what a startup does.
560.
by sama 12y ago
Most startups don't work--everyone understands the odds are long. What makes it worth it is that when they work, they really, really work. So we try to give advice about how to maybe become a huge company.
561.
by sama 12y ago
Join a rocketship. (ideally one in the YC portfolio :) )
562.
by sama 12y ago
Energy, existential risks to humanity, and wealth inequality.
563.
by sama 12y ago
It at least gets seen by our alumni reviewers, and at least 3 of them. They pass about half the applications on to the YC partners.
564.
by sama 12y ago
Quality far above quantity. A large number of weak endorsements really hurts your chances.
565.
by sama 12y ago
Why do you want to spend the next 10 years of your life working on this?
566.
by sama 12y ago
Out of fairness, the partners can't really give you feedback. You can reach out to alumni, though.
567.
by sama 12y ago
Work at a YC startup!
568.
by sama 12y ago
I think it'd be good to do this, but that the startup scene is really broken in Boston for many other reasons. I'm not very optimistic this would be enough to fix it.
569.
by sama 12y ago
The only one of those (not counting caffeine) I've tried is modafinil. The side effects are weird, but man do you get a productivity boost. Personally, I'm scared to screw with my brain chemistry too much and am supersensitive to
570.
by sama 12y ago
Isn't that what ideas are?

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