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Comment by pg | Hacker News Reader

Also, if anyone has any questions about applying that aren't answered on our site, feel free to ask them here.

Thanks for posting this again, it's a good reminder.

I'm not applying, but I'd love any insight into how the process of reviewing applications has changed in the last few cycles.

1) I know you have Harj on the west-coast, and Alexis on the East coast.. Has that made a difference in the way you review applications?

I know in the past, you've said that Harj was acting more as a back-end catchall, than a front-end filter. Is that still the process?

Are you having more pre-meetings on the east coast, now that Alexis is available to help screen people before their official interview?

2) Do you expect (or have you seen) any change due to the Yuri Milner announcement?

2a) Do you suspect this will encourage people to apply who might not have applied otherwise, due to needing more runway?

2b) I know(suspect?) that a lot of the core assumptions of the YC application process are based around "you have to get things done in 3 months.." This might lead you to reject projects that would take 6 months of work, even at YC-speed, to complete.

Does the Yuri Milner announcement affect this?

3) There's been a large growth in "YC-like" incubators/foundries/angel firms (TechStars being perhaps the most well known). How (if at all) have your procedures or operating assumptions changed, now that the world of funding is so different than it was in 2007?

The biggest change is in the volume of applications. We've dealt with it by getting more partners, and relying more on alumni reviewers.

BTW, Harj acts as a catch-all only for the late applications. He reads on-time applications just like the rest of us.

I don't know yet what effect the Ronco/Yuri announcement will have. It probably won't change how we rank applications.

All the other new YC-like organizations don't currently affect what we do at all, that I can think of. A while ago we complained because some of them were giving people exploding termsheets that expired before the recipients had a chance to come to their YC interview, but that practice seems to have stopped. Now everyone seems to coexist peacefully.

Do you know whether the new one month gap between YC acceptance and techstars acceptance will be a problem? E.G. Will the offers explode in a month? In not, when typically?

I don't know; which direction is the gap in?

I believe TS and Dreamit are both making decisions about a month before YC.

TechStars is running programs 5 times a year, so it's less relative anyway. According to http://www.techstars.org/schedule/ there is a batch of finalists notified one month on either side of the YC interviews.

Sproutbox is also choosing in late April.

I have only one question: how to get an invitation to the interview if you are single founder (like Dropbox)? Looks like "single founder problem" is a flaw in YC's business model, because your biggest hits (Dropbox, Greplin) all came from initially single founders.

Well, I know that the odds aren't good for single founders...But the problem here in Russia (where I'am from) is that it's virtually impossible to find an entrepreneurial-minded hacker who's ready to put efforts and passion into a such risky thing as startup. We don't have such startups culture you have in US. It's very tempting for smart ppl here to just get a day job with a nice salary and relax. Or they already have girlfriend/family and thus will not move anywhere.

But I'm pretty sure I'll find a co-founder when I'm in the Bay area. But looks like it's chicken-and-egg problem. Actually I think the problem with single founders is exaggerated a bit. If it's all about people then great ppl eventually will find a great co-founder if you give'em a chance.

Actually Greplin had 2 founders initially. And though Drew was a single founder when he applied, he had found a cofounder by the time the YC cycle started.

The trouble with the plan of finding a cofounder when you get to the Bay Area is that you'll then have a cofounder you've only just met. Empirically that doesn't work well. Cofounders should have known one another for a while.

You must have friends of friends who'd start a startup with you.

Actually I had 2 co-founders. The trouble was that we eventually run out of money and they quit. I stayed. But I was forced to start a construction company in order to make some money and I grew it from $0 to 500k in sales. But damn it! I'm a programmer! I want to write a software. I really think that if you're seeking for exceptional people than you should give a chance for exceptional single founders too under some conditions, of course.

We do accept exceptional single founders. We've funded several of them. If you're so determined that you started a successful construction company, you could be one.

Yes, it's successful and I also managed to negotiate a partnership with IKEA. A unique experience! I did all that just to be able one day to return to my startup. We've been featured on ReadWriteWeb and 400+ ppl have subscribed for our beta, but this achievement was not helpful when my co-founders decided to quit...Looking back I can say that although I learned a lot running construction business, that was a mistake. And I want to fix it now. I would be happy if YC will review my application having in mind who is the person behind it.

You ran a construction company and grew it to $500k in revenue? Dude, I hope you literally spelt that out repeatedly in your YC application. :)

Yes, I hacked supply chain and wrote several pieces of software, and now our profit margin is around 40% of total project estimate. While it's still below the market for the customers.

Me thinks I should have emphasized the exterior painting company I ran to pay my way through college, hah. Although not as relevant here since I'm not a single cofounder.

Time to go revisit the application, anyways.

email me - jpug98@gmail.com. i'm looking for a start up business partner with serious programming experience. I too started and ran a successful construction company as a means to make money in order to start another business. I also do not have a partner, because it's hard to find someone that understands starting your own business is work.

Great to see some one from Russia dude! Privet! Best regards. I hope Yuri Milner presense in YC will give more chanches for russian talents to make a big jump!

Are you from Russia as well? Nice too meet you! I think that the fact that Milner is now working with YC will have a little or zero effect on Russian startup ecosystem. Money love silence. What would help Russian startup ecosystem to grow is a couple of successful rockstar startups. I was shocked when I told about Milner and YC deal to a local VC and she didn't know that. They are years behind US VCs.

Novosibirsk is city of smart people. Best regards! I'm agree about Russia ecosystem. You are right! Milner is a hero for me, really! He does business in both ends: russian and western internet.

I used to try to do some projects in russian internet. 2 years ago built http://www.moivizitki.ru (social business networking), a big Moscow based web company wanted to buy it (mostly hire us), but i decided to spend my life to build own startup (you can find job any way if needed). Built several e-com affiliate projects for english speaking world. Now my friend and i apply to YC.

I wonder if any person from post Soviet Union was excepted to YC (I don't say even a team, at list person :).

I'm glad we exchanged e-mails, and good luck with your startup!

Thanks, Mike! Good luck you too!

(anon for this)

What's your view on a founder of startup that's relatively young (6-12 months) but with some traction applying to YC with an idea for a completely different startup?

Would you consider it a negative that they're quitting on their earlier startup?

No, it's not a problem. This happens to lots of startups even after we fund them.

If you can talk intelligently about why your previous project isn't working, that's actually a point in your favor.

A startup is a unique endeavor where failure is generally viewed as a positive experience.

Getting fired from a job hardly looks good on a resume, but having a failed startup under your belt is almost seen as a badge of honor.

True, but it's conditional. It's only seen as a badge of honor if you learn from your mistakes and can talk openly about what went wrong. Otherwise, you come off as defensive (and therefore insecure).

Luckily, I think a community that makes it okay to fail encourages people to not be defensive. They know they won't be labeled a "loser", that they still have a chance to make it.

I agree wholeheartedly here. I've seen that communities which shuns failure are filled with people who disguise failure and twist outcomes to make them appear as huge successes in order to achieve bragging rights and consulting gigs.

Probably premature/overconfident to ask this, but ... for founders with families willing to move if we get funded, is it hard to find a good place to rent? What areas/neighborhoods are best? (would prefer as south as possible)

We are down in San Luis Obispo, 3.5 hours south ... is working from here and commuting up for meetings out of the question?

People always find somewhere fairly close. Mountain View itself seems a good option. If you're more than an hour away you tend to miss stuff.

I'm a single founder with an idea and a very early mvp with no traction but an idea on how it could be positioned/modified to be an interesting startup in a pretty hot area. If it moved forward (through YC or elsewhere) i have a team that i could put together that i think could then really move it forward.

Have you ever said 'we like you, and we think the idea has potential... put the team together and we'll back ya'?

Think of the competition. http://gigaom.com/2010/03/23/y-combinator-matures-14-of-star...

I don't really think of everyone else applying as competition. I'm more concerned with where I am, the ideas I have, and what I want to do with them. No one should let others' success be a reason not to do something

And now that I know I might meet Ashton Kutcher, I'm definitely going for it.

I applied to TechStars with a 3 man team a few months ago. We had full time jobs but gave the above line- that we were willing to more seriously commit if we got into the program.

We didn't get in. They advised us that you can send a much stronger signal if you've already committed. The best indicator of future commitment to a startup is past commitment.

No, because the team is the most important thing to us.

If two out of four founders cannot move to the Bay Area in the summer, is that an automatic rejection? Is it still worth applying?

It's still worth applying if the two who can move are the two most important.

My cofounder and I both have mortgages and good jobs. We will be making a daring life change, but my co-founder has family commitments which prevent him from leaving town for months.

Should I apply to attend alone or really scour my list of talented acquaintances? How often do you take teams with only one member on-site?

To be clear, I'm referring to leaving the corporate environment and possibly even selling a house. I can fully control my own life situation, but I can't ask my co-founder to travel out West when his wife won't allow him to move away from the family for three months.

You can leave one of the two of you at home if you have to. Your startup will be a lot better off if he can come out to stay for chunks of time though.

Videos are now required? Were any video-less applications accepted last cycle?

I don't think so, because if we were considering a group that didn't have a video, we'd usually ask them to add one.

I've already e-mailed Harj who helped clarify my points prior to application, however I have one more if I could trouble you.

I am currently trying to get a first working prototype of my site ready in time for the 20th with the explicit aim of selling my idea via the demo, given that you guys will no doubt be flooded with applications on that date would you advise submitting my information and the concept now anyhow?. Other than a working demo no other factors are likely to change.

Here's a quote from the application form:

  We look at online demos only for the most promising 
  applications, so don't skimp on the application because 
  you're relying on a good demo.

Thanks.

I was going to apply and found out that a YC W'11 startup was working on something extremely similar. Do you consider applications on products that are similar to those of another YC company ? If yes, is there any history of YC doing this ?

See the answers to this question: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2251940

See this answer by Harj on Quora:

http://www.quora.com/Would-Y-Combinator-invest-in-a-company-...

PG: How do I know if this time is the right time to apply? Group of 4(!) founders. Heavily leaning towards waiting until Winter or next Summer.

If you're heavily leaning toward applying later, apply later.

A good application? Made over $1000000000, want to repeat.

Have you considered letting a hacker news style moderation system pick the applications for you? It seems to work well ;)

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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