YC Startup School 2018: a free, 10-week, online course

Was that actually useful? I can't imagine them understanding (or remembering) anything about your company in that little time.

I think it says that the $10k will be awarded to 100 companies that complete the course so I assume at the end

We're really eager to apply, but we're just curious what it means to "complete" the course - would we need to be in Mountain View during those 10 weeks to attend the lectures in-person?

I’m extremely interested in founding and launching a startup, but don’t necessarily have one established yet. Is there any way to audit the online course’s content?

1. Can I still apply if I have a fulltime job in addition to working on my startup?

2. Must the company be established before the program starts, or can it be established a few weeks later?

3. Do you expect the product to be launched during the program, or can it be launched later this year?

Thanks

I have a doubt about the target audience for this initiative.

Is it the same target of YC, i.e., companies/teams with the potential to become a company worth hundreds of millions of dollars or more?

Or there is a chance for companies of more humble ambitions, a "indiehackers/bootstrapping/microconf style" company to be accepted?

Thanks!

A question — how does setting up the group office hours timeslot work? Is there a selection or a way to mark preferred times? If it's standardized, roughly what time ranges are the hours held? (My cofounder and I will be in Asia during the program.)

Thank you!

Sorry to ask a rather trivial question but I can't seem to reset my password from last year's account; when I type a new password (on the form one gets to, from the reset email), the system says "Please review the problems below:" but the problems aren't shown...

Is it important to keep the same account as last year or should I create a new account?

Do you need to already have a cofounder to be accepted into the online startup school?

Thanks

Can you explain if every startup is accepted or not? In the link it states "Last year, over 13,000 companies applied to participate in Startup School, and 95 YC alumni volunteered their time to advise over 2,800 of those companies participating across 141 countries." How many companies will be accepted this year? Or do all applications get accepted?

Thank you!

1) Content - learn a lot from lectures

2) Accountability - office hours will hold you to your goals and keep you making progress

3) Mentorship - Experienced founders and office hours mates will help you make sure that you are working on the right problems in the most efficient way.

4) Community - it's inspiring and energizing to be around founders in a similar position as you. Plus, it can give you early users and customers. (Our first customers were through Startup School).

> what have you achieved after taking this course?

My co-founder and I make enough profit to live on our business while traveling full-time.

> did it help you build/finish your startup?

Yes. And, I want to participate again this year. Our 2017 problems were building the right product. Our 2018 problems are navigating product/market fit and growth.

* We got accepted into YC after being in Startup School.

* Yes, I believe that the lessons in the course have been important for us.

You get placed in a cohort representing a wide range of business plans and industries. Some were moonshots requiring a lot of capital-raising and dealmaking, and others (including ours) were smaller SaaS products targeting particular business niches. There were participants at each stage of the startup pipeline, some without a product (or even a concrete idea), some just starting to sell to customers, and some mature companies with employees and interns and such.

We were making a lot of mistakes common to first-time founders, building things without first asking our customers about them, not experimenting with our message, etc. Meeting with our mentor helped us combat those issues and probably was the difference between having a functional company and not.

We'll probably try to do it again this year. Our challenges are different; last year we were trying to get our product built and get acceptance for our first few customers, whereas now we're trying to figure out how to scale our sales pipeline. I'd recommend it to anyone working on a startup, regardless of where they are in the process.

I guess it depends on what mentor you get. I've heard of people having excellent mentors, and others that didn't even show up half the time.

But it probably also depends on your experience level as an entrepreneur. If you are just starting out with your first venture, then it can definitely be helpful if your mentor doesn't suck. If you are experienced or your mentor sucks, it's a waste of time.

Perhaps more importantly you make connections. Just yesterday I was speaking to someone from my startup school group, and I did startup school over a year ago. They provided feedback and I provide them feedback, we also found synergies and can introduce one another to other teams, sales, etc.

I'd argue startup school isn't going to help you "finish" your startup. Only you can do that... You're motivation is the real premise behind the whole thing. However, they can give you the tools and connections to make it easier. It's always a cost benefit analysis - "is this worth doing?" Is something startup school helps answer, and also tips the balance (slightly) towards being a bit easier.

For reference, I'm still working on my project a year out (with some revenue):

https://metacortex.me

Startup school helped me get free AWS credits (which helped significantly), helped make connections, and perhaps more importantly - helped with introspection. I should note, I didn't even launch a prototype until the last few days of startup school... It would have been more helpful had I had something at least half way through.

I ended up wrapping up the idea I was working on. I've gone back to consultancy, still toying with other ideas looking for something else to try.

Did it help? Not really. My sticking point seemed to be that I was selling (or not as was more the issue) b2b software mostly geared to massive companies. As my mentor succinctly pointed out it's a hard game to get into because other businesses start by looking for the cloud of logos of other companies who use your software. That was the start, middle and end of his advice for me - and a fair summary of the impass I'd reached.

I've been left thinking b2b procurement is probably an area that could do with shaking up but I don't have any answers there - not surprising given I couldn't crack it at all.

Much of the course advice felt irrelevant to the actual problem I had with getting things going. But if you're targeting consumers or smaller companies, have some traction, are generally spinning a lot more plates with your business, want to move to the US and get into YC proper, it's probably far more relevant.

Advisors use most of their time on this doing group office hours sessions. Last year each advisor had around 25-30 companies each, so we only needed 100 or so. They're all YC alum who love to pay it forward.

Anyone can audit the course. If you'd like to participate fully, it is an application process.

I'm guessing that people who apply to Startup School tend to be very early in the founding process, which gives them an a priori lower chance of getting accepted (even though YC is open to super early stage), and then SS raises it.

Also, the kind of people applying to Startup School are probably not the kind of experienced founders whose application looks more promising at the very early stage.

Think of it as a crash course in starting a company. Just because you can't make it to the Bay Area doesn't mean you shouldn't have access to advice and community! We just want to help startups be better startups.

Last week I talked with a competitor. I detailed my plans for the next 6 months. It commits me to follow them, and may incite discussion.

There is almost 0 risk they can match the features or my timeline. I am quite productive, and there is no secret sauce. Just complexity, and interdependance. Can't have a baby in 1 month with 9 mothers. And should they do, I will be happy to copy the unique features they add.

The disclosure opened some talks however. I am ready to sell consulting or some specific parts they need to do their product, and that have not much of an impact in mine.

As for location/geography, as long as you have a device with internet access you can be wherever works best for you. We'll do our best to align timezones so scheduling is easier for you and your group during the course.

The program itself only has two requirements: that you are working on a startup (PT or FT) and that you're able to commit ~3 hours a week of to watch the lectures and attend office hours.

On balance, if you have a great idea, you'll be better off growing it with good mentorship compared to the small risk that it gets stolen by a mentor.

The reason to do the course is that it's actually a program. You'll work directly with a mentor who is a current YC founder and get to know other companies in your group.