sama

12 ms·

121.
by sama 10y ago
What doesn't work about our process for this?
122.
by sama 10y ago
That's ok--at least you're taking action. We'll probably have some questions about how you'll develop the in-house technical talent you'll eventually need. Top 3. Wait to apply until you have launch data if you thi
123.
by sama 10y ago
Yes.
124.
by sama 10y ago
1) This is where effectively all of our returns come from. 2) These companies are the most fun to work with. 3) It turns out that it's harder than it sounds to capture the full value of a smaller market for a bunch of reasons, and so t
125.
by sama 10y ago
The same way every other item on the RFS got there--a partner was passionate about it and chose to add it.
126.
by sama 10y ago
You can come to Demo Day and invest in YC startups there! Or did you mean invest in YC itself?
127.
by sama 10y ago
Yes I expect we will, but haven't figured out details yet.
128.
by sama 10y ago
It depends on the particular situation for each founder--people we fund apply for lots of different visas. We try to help as much as we can.
129.
by sama 10y ago
It's usually a good idea to leverage other platforms, at least as the start, as long as you're not entirely dependent on one.
130.
by sama 10y ago
Thanks! I'd guess less than 10% are pre-accelerated. A much larger percentage have raised some (usually a small amount, but not always) capital.
131.
by sama 10y ago
Predicting the future is hard. I don't have a great general answer for this, other than to look for highly engaged users. IE, when the iPhone came out, users loved it and used it all the time. Even though the market was small in abs
132.
by sama 10y ago
Slightly against--we're not sure why it is, but 5 or 6 founder companies have (with some notable exceptions) significantly underperformed our average.
133.
by sama 10y ago
No preference here.
134.
by sama 10y ago
by something...
135.
by sama 10y ago
QQ1: It does not matter. RQ: In general I think waiting is a mistake, except that you should wait long enough to have a good idea about what you're going to do.
136.
by sama 10y ago
If you want to be a farmer, why do you want to be in YC? We are the best in the world at helping people be some things, but probably not that :(
137.
by sama 10y ago
The "we have a plan to be a multi-billion dollar company if this works" stage.
138.
by sama 10y ago
Yes, mostly via referrals, but some internally.
139.
by sama 10y ago
For non-profits, we're looking for large impacts on the world. A lot of the evaluation criteria--how good the founders are, how good the idea is--are the same.
140.
by sama 10y ago
It would be surprising if they don't change, but I haven't thought enough about it to have any strong belief about where they're going.
141.
by sama 10y ago
What matters here is what _you_ deem most important--don't live someone else's life. But for fun, here is my list: •AI •Biotechnology, especially anti-ID and anti-aging. •Energy •Better governance •Education
142.
by sama 10y ago
I guess I'm not opposed, but I'm not sure we've done it before. Generally we don't like complexity though, so we'd want to be sure you're truly an independent subsidiary.
143.
by sama 10y ago
No, that's fine. If you haven't spent significant time together in person, that's a red flag for us, as we've found those teams often (usually, even) fall apart.
144.
by sama 10y ago
A recent one that is top of mind because Chad just spoke at Startup School is Rigetti Quantum Computing. He had nothing but an idea when YC funded him in Summer 2014, and now is one of the leading QC companies in the world.
145.
by sama 10y ago
They are read by some alumni and YC staff. We try hard to keep things confidential but the group of readers is large--I wouldn't put nuclear launch codes in them, just because of the risk of accidental breach.
146.
by sama 10y ago
I'm going to work on the course plan next month. It will hopefully be more 'hands-on' and like a YC batch.
147.
by sama 10y ago
At least one founder has to be 18 or older, otherwise no one can sign the legal documents. But we've funded teams with 15, 16, or 17 year olds on them before.
148.
by sama 10y ago
I think in future versions of the MOOC we will explore ways to give some funding. Though I think the answer to this is just to apply to YC. We fund lots of very, very early companies all the time.
149.
by sama 10y ago
Only if the founders wanted to eventually monetize in the future. If not, it would be more appropriate for something like YC Research, which is a non-profit.
150.
by sama 10y ago
It happens but big companies are often slow. We can usually but not always help with it.

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