sama

21 ms·

241.
by sama 11y ago
Wait until you have an idea. We once tried funding companies with no idea. It didn't work. I'm not totally sure why. Perhaps the time pressure of YC is bad for coming up with a really good idea (the best ideas often start out s
242.
by sama 11y ago
In a way we do, in that it's one (of many) examples for someone doing something impressive in the past. We definitely look for founders who have shown some evidence of doing something impressive (and we try to adjust for whatever life
243.
by sama 11y ago
It's definitely true, but anything you to make a startup feel like an undifferentiated cog in a machine (in the extreme case, throwing everyone into a coworking space) is really bad. We just want to be super careful not to break the i
244.
by sama 11y ago
I'd try to meet good developers, and I think the best way to do this is either at school or by working at a tech company.
245.
by sama 11y ago
Honestly, we're still somewhat figuring that out.
246.
by sama 11y ago
Yes. No--he does office hours at his office.
247.
by sama 11y ago
I think SAFEs are good. I think uncapped SAFEs/convertible notes are very bad and misalign founders and investors--they punish early investors for helping the company to be worth more.
248.
by sama 11y ago
We are happy if it takes 10+ years--those are the cases where you make the most money.
249.
by sama 11y ago
:)
250.
by sama 11y ago
• Determination • Unstoppability • Ambition • Clarity of vision/communication • Intelligence
251.
by sama 11y ago
Things are almost never as risky as they seem to a recent graduate. This is one of the best times in your life to take a risk and do what you really want.
252.
by sama 11y ago
Not right now--there are many things that might be interesting for us to do that we have to say no to so that we stay focused. This is one of them.
253.
by sama 11y ago
Maybe 40-50% outright failing? Much below that and it would feel like we weren't making enough risky bets. No, it's pretty inaccurate.
254.
by sama 11y ago
The YC Fellowship funds companies anywhere! Kevin does remote office hours. And yes, I think they're well-represented.
255.
by sama 11y ago
We looked at our data here last year--we fund founders from a very wide variety of schools, and no school at all, but many of our most successful founders went to 'top schools' and thus it's easy to get the mistaken impressio
256.
by sama 11y ago
Yes! We've had great success with weird ideas.
257.
by sama 11y ago
Sure, mention it--that's fine with us.
258.
by sama 11y ago
We have multiple people review each application (except the very good/very bad ones) and we look at the cases where the assessments are very different. Some of the best companies have the most disagreement, which is why we have impleme
259.
by sama 11y ago
I never got tested but I think so. I had extreme lethargy, sore legs, and bleeding gums that got a better in a few hours after having a bunch of orange juice.
260.
by sama 11y ago
The one you know. Having a cofounder you don't know well is usually a very bad idea. It's much more important to trust someone and know they are great than to 'hire' for a specific skill.
261.
by sama 11y ago
Maybe working on AI or energy? I'm not sure.
262.
by sama 11y ago
It will still be months at least until we've made research breakthroughs, but we've had incredible success on the recruiting side. I think we're building one of the strongest teams in the field.
263.
by sama 11y ago
You can usually find some intermediate milestone to prove to investors you're more than just a talker.
264.
by sama 11y ago
Tech needs to run a candidate in the next election. I still am hopeful Trump will not win the general.
265.
by sama 11y ago
Yes, we are considering doing something along these lines later this year, though we haven't made a final decision.
266.
by sama 11y ago
I think there will be many, but yes I definitely think AI will be one of the most important.
267.
by sama 11y ago
We used to give founders $20k. Part of the reason we upped it to $120k is so that founders with higher personal expense structures could do the program. But we're an investor, not a company. It's important to us founders run the
268.
by sama 11y ago
#teamapple
269.
by sama 11y ago
There's a lot of information on the Internet about how to do this, but obviously you should talk to an immigration lawyer. It really sucks and I think it's a stupid system, but there will be far greater obstacles on your path to b
270.
by sama 11y ago
Many of us (myself included) go to a nice hideaway somewhere far from the bay area to read applications so we can concentrate. So I wouldn't pay much attention to the timestamp. That said, given the volume of applications we receive

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