Applications for YC W19 Are Open | Hacker News Reader

Applications for YC W19 Are Open

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109 pointshkhanna50 comments

I've been applying to YC since 2013 (so this is going to be around our 10th time), although with different companies and cofounders. I've never gotten accepted, though we've made it to the interviews twice but never made it to the finish line to actually get in. Here's what I learned that could mean something:

1: Every time we got an interview we asked for recommendations. Last time we got a straight up email rejection when we decided it was probably a bad idea to ask again our network for a recommendation for the third time. If anything our startup was doing better than the last time we applied so I'm not sure how their process works.

2: We recycled our 1 min video and we got an interview. So if you're too lazy to make a new one, I guess it's fine

3: We'll apply for the 10th time sometime this weekend, and probably for the 11th.. fuck it.

Love the persistence. Happy to help edit your app or do a mock interview. Random idea for your product you've probably heard before - wedding website providers might be a good channel.

I'll def reach out once our application is done, we never considered getting it reviewed before, so that'll be a first..thx evan!

And yeah, as you may have guessed wedding platforms like Joy, Knot, etc. are def in our target channel

Yes, definitely try to get a recommendation from a YC alum or partner. It's easier than you think, just hound them (be nice and polite thought) on Twitter and try to meet them for coffee (ideal) or over Skype to ask for advice. Think of it as a pre-interview, they'll ask you a bunch of good questions and will help you to come up with the answers. If you are personable and passionate enough, you'll very likely get a recommendation without even asking.

Also, practice for your interview with someone else (there are some good resources out there with sample questions), that practice will help you feel calm and confident for the real interview.

Last, but very crucial for your startup nonetheless, focus on showing your ability to grow/gain traction. Even great ideas are not that valuable by themselves. And having 10 clients with a shitty product is way more impressive than a great product with 0 clients.

At some point... gotta just move on.

^ how not to be successful

Applying 10 times at a single venture company is kind of brutal. 10 years is a LONG time.

It’s more like 5. Each year there are two rounds (summer and winter)

5 years is way way too long. I applied once at conception stage and once we had traction. I thought my two years was ridiculously long.

If a startup is not making serious money after 2 years, it's probably dead in the water.

People usually confuse their personal projects with startups.

If a startup is not making serious money after 2 years, it's probably dead in the water.

I don't think the time spent on a startup is a good measure of whether to give up or not. There are plenty of examples of companies that took longer than 2 years to get to significant revenue (and plenty more that have never turned a profit).

Is true about companies taking longer than 2 years to get significant revenue? I am in 20th month and barely hitting $5k per month with a burn rate higher than that.

Good to know other companies taking longer to get revenues; I don't feel like that much of a loser now ;)

"Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively."

Only you know if you are in observance or transgression. Obviously, anyone who is not you (e.g. VCs) will justifiably assume you are in transgression.

I too have been applying for some time 8th application (2014 at least)...

I've been interviewed twice, had recommendations, helped a few YC companies and worked with a few YC companies.

The fact is, it appears YC's goal is to put fuel on the fire. You have to have something people want, or you have to be onto something they think people want. In addition, you are their product, so you have to be something people want as well.

They didn't accept you and your startup failed (different founders, companies, etc.) means they were probably right - likely not far enough along. I too have had my set of failures and each time they were right to reject me. Each time it's improved my business and although I haven't shifted businesses completely (and I'm sticking to my long-term 2-year plan). I believe I'm on the right track now and will apply again. Because as you said, "fuck it." The real trick is not really needing YC in the first place to succeed and that's when you'll be accepted.

One thing that's different for me now, is although I'm a solo founder, I have experience, a team of seasoned entrepreneurs advising me, some income.

I always tap my network, and I'll buy them all lunch, dinner, coffee or beer if I can. I also return the favor where I can. I intro startups to other founders or companies I know wherever possible. I assume, that we'll all pay each other back eventually, and I know I've brought in large contracts from my introductions - so I assume they've been happy to review my application.

Reach out and I'll be happy to review your application. Perhaps one day, you can return the favor as well :)

Demo day is the point of YC because it flips the tables and makes VCs compete for startups, as i understand it. YC is a good fit if you are positioning for a seed round. The best advice I ever got is that YC is just another VC underneath a bunch of hacker branding. You're either raising or building, you can't do both at once, so if you're not ready to raise, why talk to YC?

Why not spend your effort growing your business? Must you get into YC? If you wish to raise, why not raise without YC? I can understand if you're out of the country and don't have a VC in your area.

We have raised, around 700k, with a core team of 15. And every month has been our best month for the past 8 months. As we gear up for our A round (or US seed round) we'll try our best to maximize our chances to get in front as much investors as we can and YC will def be a great bonus for this part

You are telling me you are gearing up for Series A and still can't get into YC?

Why are you still chasing YC when you could be talking to customers, growing business, adding features?

Honestly, if I had the time to apply for YC I would but I would either spend the time relaxing in my hobby or growing my business. Investor talk is good if both you and VC are learning something from the meet. With YC it's just throwing hat in the ring with nothing to learn if you fail

Exposure. YC is great because of the opportunities.

But I do understand your point. I would definitely be focusing more on just making my product if I had any funding.

I think I applied 4 times for https://micro.mu in some form or another. The first time was just an idea. The next an open source project. The next sponsored by a large corporate. The next used by dozens of large reputable companies. I don't bother applying anymore but it's interesting to see the progress in all that time.

I know I'll succeed. I don't need YC for that. But I'm sure things would be different if I did have their help.

you have 4.6k stars on github! Well done.

Is your service something that turns a normal application into API exposed services? I have been looking for something like that for a long time to expose some of my internal java applications as external API

Sorry if this is a silly question

The toolkit includes an API gateway which would allow you to serve public facing http and direct requests to internal services that may speak a different protocol such as RPC. It's highly flexible and pluggable.

Awesome. This is kind of what I was looking for. I will give it a shot!

I’m a YC founder from the S15 batch and worked as an early employee at another company from W12.

Happy to review your application or answer any questions from a founder perspective.

Email is in profile.

Hi, glad to e-meet you. By the way of introduction, we are a startup based of India building a scalable zero code platform for app and web development. Being in a different geography it has become difficult to reach out to 1st connections to YC. It would be very helpful if you could spare some of your time to help us understand the process. I'm on saketh.g@erslabs.com and +919920211439 (whatsapp). Really appreciate your post and intentions behind.

Hey there, I am another startup founder for this deployment application for php and other tech stack like python, java. No scripting required. Just signup and start using.

Also others can give feedback of the app too. http://grandappstudio.com/roll-out?utm_source=news_yc

I am giving completely free for the first project for first 100 signups. Please make the best use of this opportunity too.

The misconceptions page is interesting i.e. almost all companies were incorporated, half had revenue, almost half had recommendations from alumni and almost half were responding to an RFS.

By itself they are true. But they most likely look at the trailing years for revenue. We had zero revenue at conception and got interviewed but 2 years later our revenues was around $5k per month and we didn't even make the initial cut.

I heard YC made / considered to make moving to SV full time optional. Coming for 1-2 days per week could be acceptable. Is this true or did I make it up?

Founders should be where their customers are, so if your customers aren't in SV, then you probably should be elsewhere. We work with with each team to figure out what the ideal arrangement should be.

I am going to apply, but currently looking for a cofounder[1] after my previous cofounder left. Is it advisable to wait until I've recruited a new cofounder to submit the application?

[1] - https://angel.co/imersme/jobs/386205-co-founder details about co-founder position (sf bay area) if anyone is interested. Reach me at "me" at my website (in profile) or reply here.

I'd probably wait until the application deadline, but if you don't have a new cofounder by then, I'd just submit with what you have.

It's true we're a little less likely to accept single founders, but it's only one of many factors and the probability delta not that large. Particularly if you are a technical founder, which I see you are.

Thank you, snowmaker, for the advice!

I just sent an email and I'd definitely be interested if you would want to talk further about the application/company.

I'm going to apply again. It will be my 8th time. But this will be my first time applying with a co-founder, live product and paying customers. If you are a YC alumn, would love to ping you so you can check out our application. Thank you and good luck everyone!!

Ninja Edit... We are looking for a cofounder:https://angel.co/roboamp/jobs/331401-cofounder

YC Bio Application idea: The Artificial Human Womb

Prompted by two considerations. Surrogacy centers throughout Indian and Southeast Asia are shuttering as legal regulation catches up with a grey market that often lures young unskilled women with promises of life-changing compensation. Only to deliver much less upon delivery of a newborn infant for adoption. Demand among infertile and / or non-traditional first world families for reproductive solutions creates a window of opportunity for innovation and investment. Public perception is evolving. After all, even thirty years ago so called "test tube babies" once condemned by church doctrine, are now seen as a miracle technology.

The other belongs more to the realm of sci-fi or speculation. In the event of a mass depopulation event. Either human-made or environmental. It may become essential to rapidly re-populate the earth. Or off-planet colony. Beginning an artificial womb project today, may yield the fruits necessary a generation or two down the road.

To be clear, this is an artificial womb for gestating humans. We don't wish to begin with Mus and work our way up. Funding (ask $1M) would be used primarily to attract the team and begin feasibility study and simulation toward a goal of version one prototype.

I do think this is an interesting idea.

How different is the YC non-profit application from the usual route? Do they look for an existing established product or bet on new ones like the company route?

FYI there is a typo in the application:

"Do you generate direct program revenue or does it comes from donors? If both, what's the split?"

comes -> come

Did we ever get an update on the online YC batch?

I am part of the first startup school by YC. I think it's just few of us survivors left.

My company aihello.com is doing good although AI in production environment is extremely hard. Took us more than a year to just get "good enough" results.

My company was in the Startup School also. We were accepted into YC when we applied after finishing the Startup School (applied twice before, no interview). Interestingly I know other founders from Startup School that were at the demo day as investors!

What's your startup?

Plexus, high-performance haptic gloves for AR and VR

It’s always fun to read the original Dropbox YC application. So well thought out and written.

http://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-y-combinator-applicat...

Are there any founders from recent batches than can still vouch whether YC is still worth it?

With insane SF rent prices, one has to burn a big chunk of that 120k in 3 months by just trying to stay alive.

Add that to the fact that YC batches are pretty big right now. Do you get much in return other than the YC bragging rights?

Would love to learn about the experiences of existing/past founders.

YC is located in south bay which is expensive, but not much different than many other cities in the US. If comparing to a suburb it will not be cheap, but there are no VCs in suburbs.

An extra few $k in rent is not going to make a difference in the longrun.

I think that depends on whether those extra few $k mean the difference between needing to move back home and staying out in SF

Austen from Lambda had a really succinct reply in favor of still doing YC. Context dependent but tldr: focus on important metrics.

https://mobile.twitter.com/AustenAllred/status/1011505226304...

That was a good read. The one competitor he didn't foresee was the GoogleDoc / Office360's of the world. Who needs any sync, when it all works in your browser. Obviously that wasn't fatal and for things that can't run a browser, Dropbox is important.

YC is still a great focusing mechanism and equalizer. If you haven't raised money before, it's fantastically helpful to go through YC. It helps get past all the status BS with investors and lets you worry purely about how your business is doing.

Here are several YC stories by individual, recent founders:

https://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2014/07/11/month-y-combi...

https://about.gitlab.com/2016/01/06/our-y-combinator-experie...

http://blog.yesgraph.com/changed-y-combinator-7-years/

https://80000hours.org/2015/08/why-is-80000-hours-in-y-combi...

https://medium.com/@mattangriffel/the-value-of-y-combinator-...

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