I would still do it. The worst that will happen is that they say "no".
I would still do it. The worst that will happen is that they say "no".
YC always said it was more about the founders than the idea, so applying is nothing like doing a business model canvas or whatever. That said, I think it is still very worthy to apply if you think you are a YC-type founder. I just do not buy that applying is an exercise worthy for itself.
> YC always said it was more about the founders than the idea
I've heard this before. I do believe it's true, but only after the initial idea. They have had some cases where the founders applied with an idea, got accepted, and then found out that their initial idea wasn't going to take off. Now they are really investing in you, the founder, over your idea. The stories of Optimizely (https://soundcloud.com/akharris/startup-school-radio-ep-3-pe...) and Codecademy come to mind.
They eventually do share the ideas; just not in the beginning. Some companies announce themselves in the beginning and some don't. Eventually we will hear about them when Demo Day comes around. This is a post listing the recent class: http://blog.ycombinator.com/congratulations-to-the-yc-summer...
This is a compiled list of all the companies that have ever attended YC and their status (though it seems it hasn't been updated yet): http://yclist.com/
They are getting a huge database to mine. You share your idea, progress and other things, but they dont even get time to provide a feedback! Not even focus on this or that type. Also dont forget stupid show us if we were wrong type sentences.
https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/39kswc/vc_rejecti...
https://medium.com/@bchesky/7-rejections-7d894cbaa084
I haven't heard any stories where YC used their database nefariously and gave away ideas to other founders. This is interesting though, I'll keep this in mind.