I couldn't look at others' demos and ideas without viewing them as the competition. I was judging the other projects instead of actually being interested in them. Since I'm not applying this round (not because I've become disillusioned with YC or don't think it would be a good opportunity, I've just determined that I'm at the point in my life where I need to focus on taking care of more immediate needs than swinging for the fences), I'm actually enjoying seeing what everyone is bringing to the table. It makes me smile to see everyone's enthusiasm to get into YC. Good luck to everyone out there, and if you have something that you truly believe in, make it happen, YC or not.
Expect at least 1000 applications. However, with all the popular press YCombinator and PG himself have received over the last 6 months, I expect this to be by far the largest applicant pool so far.
I image that the applicant pool with be bimodal. Apparently every year the applicant pool has become much more competitive, however I also expect a lot of people that are naive about what it takes to apply because startups are the hot new thing. I'm curious to know if in the end this is both the strongest and weakest YC pool so far.
Yesterday, PG said that each partner reads about 800 applications each, so expect at least that many.
But what's up with the multiplayer example at the end...no cofounder to play with the second iPhone with you? Or are they too busy holding the cam ;) ?
Good luck, looks really promising even if you don't get into YC!
I was living in Chapel Hill/North Carolina at the time and didn't know many people there. I moved to SF on the 1st. Here to raise money and find cofounders for sure. All my good friends are up Vancouver/Canada where I'm really from.
(FYI, I'm an NCSU grad myself and spent high school and college in Raleigh)
It's not that complicated to move to another place for a while. Just get at least 10K together and go for it.
Note: Some of the mini-clips are slightly sped up to make them less boring. Which I think lends a subtle exaggerated energy to the scenes.
I'd rather spend the money on the company than putting it back into the gov. pool. I'll do that with my own money, when I earn it.