YC S17 application added new questions | Hacker News Reader

YC S17 application added new questions

13 pointsshafyy10 comments

Hey all, just a quick heads up.

If you didn't fill out your YC application for S17 in the last couple of days, I suggest you go check it out again.

We filled it out 2 weeks ago and today realized that they added 3 new questions in the "Progress" section:

- How much money do you spend per month?

- How much money does your company have in the bank now?

- How long is your runway?

I swear these 3 questions weren't there when we filled it out the first time, I looked through the application multiple times.

Did anyone also experience this or was it a bug for me? Also, I find it weird that they add questions and don't notify existing applicants?

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With these new details requested, I wonder if it would be possible to request that competitive companies do not see your application.

Now that YC is 1,000+ companies, I can see overlap becoming more common. A snapshot of finances may not be the end of the world for a company, but does give insights to a competitor(s).

Why do you think other companies see your application?

Unless things have changed recently, YC leverages former YC founders to do the initial application review. The founders that participate are from both currently operating companies and companies that closed or exited. So (if the review process has not changed in the last few years) there is a chance that a senior individual at a startup or an employee at a larger company that competes in the same space will see the details disclosed in the answers to the new questions about an applicant company's financials.

It says on the YC website that they do their best to keep things confidential. How does this work with former YC companies? Can you explain or give a link please?

Ok, but 1) I don't think it gives them any advantages knowing a snapshot of three financial numbers and 2) I would hope that they don't let your application be reviewed by a potential competitor company, as there would clearly be a conflict of interest. Even if you didn't disclose any financial information.

I noticed that as well as I had copied the questions to work on outside of my browser. I seem to remember they had those questions previously (at least the runway question) so maybe they were just accidentally left off at first.

Thanks. Just saw the questions and answered them

Happy to hear.

Yeah I noticed the same thing.

Good to know :-) So we should push this to make sure every applicant sees it who didn't notice it yet!

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