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Comment by AndrewWarner | Hacker News Reader

If you have any questions, add them here. I'll check these comments about 10 minutes before we go live.

The focus is the biography of Y Combinator.

Along the way I'd like to learn how pg gives the kind of insight that past Mixergy guests said turned their businesses around.

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What's usually the biggest mental hurdle for hackers to transition into entrepreneurs? An understanding of their market? An empathy for users? How to tell a compelling story about their product?

Were past YC alumni who were more hacker-ish molded into entrepreneurs through YC, or did they already come in with such a mindset?

Coming to terms with the effort required.

How much time should be invested in an idea before approaching YC for seed funding (or more importantly the mentorship) and if rejected once does it hurt your chance at being accepted a second, third of fourth try with different ideas?

You should talk to us when you're ready to go fulltime on the startup; it doesn't matter how much time you've spent thinking about the idea.

We often fund people on the second or third try.

As a programmer with a decent design ability... what talents should be sought after in a co-founder when building a web application. My gut feeling is a UEX/Design expert would provide the most benefit.

Determination.

Is it possible to pitch to the YC team any time during the year, not just during the application seasons?

What's the reasoning behind having the twice a year rounds, as opposed to open for investing at any time?

EDIT to clarify: I understand why they have startups move to California for three months. I've simply never heard why that has to be done seasonally.

It's for economy of scale for presentations, demo day, etc. Also to make it easier for YC to keep track of what stage people are at - i.e. all 3 weeks in, etc. Having people start any time creates more administrative work.

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