Applications Open for Winter 2008 YC Funding
ycombinator.com
ycombinator.com
Anyways, let me give a few areas for potential applicants:
1. Organize bookmark tags right. Del.icio.us is nice and all, but things tend to get disorganised
2. iPhone app for public transportation
3. Firefox/IE plugin that makes financial information from bank websites accessible in a global unified format. By financial info, I mean payin/payout history.
4. Debt pay-off site - site that organises the credits of people into a manageable format and tells them what to set aside to get it done with. Include retirement fund as a side option
6. Collaborative website for writing episodes for TV-Shows. Will take fan fiction to the next level. Scriptwriters will like the feedback, and obsessive fans will pay to be part of the inner circle
7. Religious books discussion site. Mix up the religions and abstract the discussion
8. And of course, the favorite of a snappy gentleman like myself - Let people upload pictures of themselves and dress them up in latest purchasable fashion. Find alternatives to expensive designer clothes.
As they say, ideas are cheap. Each has potential if implemented the right way.
I won't be applying, but good luck to all those who will be!
If advertisers really like the content, let them buy it whole.
they're pretty clear on this: if you make something people want (or have a demo that shows that you will), you should be fine for the app.
I wonder if this makes any sense for us to submit an application, since there are not 20, we're incorporated, we're not living in a dorm, we don't need $20k and we already have the product. The only thing we'd be interested in is well... good contacts (we're not in Bay Area) and business dev. consulting.
In a few places I've seen PG mention that it is preferred that you are not already incorporated, but never that it is a requirement that you are not. The reason for the preference being that the custom legal work costs more for a group already incorporated.
Curious where you guys are in TX... Can you pls shoot me an email off-list? (email in my profile).
It sounds like your situation is like Virtualmin's (including even being from Texas). They were in the last winter cycle. You should drop them a line; there's probably an email link at virtualmin.com.
We really enjoyed YC. I've talked about it a bit in public, here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=234583&cid=19110535
And the blowback from that on YC News:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21907
We definitely didn't care much about the $15k (in our two-founder case), though it did nicely offset the cost of my move (I sold my 350Z at a rather unfortunate price, and found myself spending more than twice as much on rent as I was paying on a mortgage in Austin). And we're not college kids (we're 32 and 33). We were already selling product when we applied.
We viewed it primarily as a really good set of introductions, a good learning experience, and the chance to bounce our product off of the folks who would in the end be the primary users. Our actual buyers are hosting providers, but they buy what their customers want, and everybody in YC is a hosting provider customer, and probably a thought leader in some area of development.
We don't begrudge the 5% stake that YC holds, at all, and I think we've already gotten our equities worth from the deal, and we continue to take advantage of their advice. If it hasn't already been made clear by the above bits and other stuff I've posted on YC News, anybody that goes through YC has a really really good chance of getting funding, if they want it. Nobody who aggressively sought funding has failed to raise it...some folks figured out during the program that what they had was not fundable and so didn't go after more money. Others (like us) are biding our time a bit, as we sign on bigger customers and get ourselves into a really solid bargaining position before seriously approaching anyone. We have lunch with them when they call us (and they do call), but we're not asking for money yet. We'd probably take angel money at this stage, but the VCs zeroed in on us as the only enterprise business in the bunch, so that's who we hear from. ;-)
If nothing else, moving to the valley was probably the best thing we could have done (Austin Ventures is great and all, and they do a lot of deals...but there's just the one of them, versus hundreds of funding sources in the valley...if there's any chance you'll need money, the odds of getting it are vastly higher here), and YC forced me to make that move (my co-founder was already in Santa Clara).
Am I right about those offers, and are you still making them?
As for second option, it's right in your menu bar:
We had a good response to both our prototypes, but ultimately we were told our idea didn't seem different enough. The impression I got from our interview was that the idea is actually pretty important.
It kind of makes sense, since you're competing against other amazing hackers with good ideas. It doesn't matter as much if you're good -they all were-, you really do need a great idea to go with your team.
Of course I wasn't there, so I don't really know what happened.
you do realize that this really just means talking about the idea, right?
I don't remember exactly how far they were along then. I think they may have had a simple app running on phones, but with simulated location info.
An investor I knew in a prior experience has expressed an interest in investing in my new endeavor. The application FAQ lists an understandable preference to avoid funding a company that has already incorporated.
The amount the investor suggested is sizable (enough to sustain operations for at least 3 years even after hiring some very much needed staff/co-founders), and since the idea is substantial the money is very appealing.
But, though the investor is an engineer, he has no affiliation with the tech industry at large, so I'm afraid that I would be missing a great deal of support by taking this money.
Thoughts?
Note that this assumes that you're not indebted to the guy in any way-- that he is simply a source of money.
BTW, 3 years is a lot of money. It suggests to me that you're either raising too much or (more likely) underestimating your expenses.
PG: Given the deadline is still a long ways off, is there a preference for groups to apply early and update the application and demo along the way, or to wait until the end to apply when things are solid? Just curious..
One the whole it's probably better to update the application incrementally. You'll get more attention that way; we may even suggest ideas; and we're not likely to have time to do that if you apply the day before the deadline.
This statement sounds like the YC team reads unsubmitted applications. Have I misread? Anyone have hints on how to maximize the chance of getting comments back? :)
(1 of those 20 immediately merged with a startup from a previous round, so only 19 came to Cambridge.)
If they get your application, and it says "I am from India and can't leave", then by their own rules that's broken, but there's no penalty for asking stupid questions.
How you react, as you come to realize that the question you are asking is a stupid one, probably says something relevant about a startup founder.
Basically, we'll bend any rule if you're a genius, but anyone, even a genius, is more likely to succeed if they have a cofounder.
If it weren't for that rule, I'd seriously consider applying -- but if I wanted to move to Silicon Valley, I'd work for Google.
They are looking for child prodigies who fit a certain mold.
People who walk, talk, think and perform a certain way.
It is more like the Iron Curtain coaches who ran schools and would look for potential gymnasts for the next Olympics.
I was about to say that all they have in common is that they all work really hard, but even that isn't universal. There are some slackers in each group.
I don't think this kind of entitlement-thinking will serve you very well. I recommend ditching it.
Not in the sense of owing him an explanation, but in the decent sense of giving him feedback so he can improve.
After all, the candidate took time and trouble - it is a kindness.
An application to YC is unlike an interview; with an interview you usually know what your weakness was, or what the interviewer's hangup was.
If you consider this to be "entitlement-thinking", then does not your thinking seem arrogant?
Actually, your thinking is a sign of weakness. When the candidate is stronger than you, or your decision was flippant, then you dont want to run the risk of being proven wrong or bested. So you choose the easy way out.
Your complaints sound more like you are sour about being turned down than anything else.
Even if you are rejected, you can request feedback on your proposal - and actually, no less than in a meeting.
Whenever I have given a demo or presentation to an angel investor or potential partner; even when it is a 'No', I have gotten some kind of feedback.
It gave me a better understanding of the weaknesses in juwo.
This is more than blindly emailing your executive summary to the VCs - you are not entitled to a reply.
When there is investment in time, effort and hopes, one does expect some kind of feedback.
It is not an application for an award, nor is it an application for employment. Even applying for a University, one has an idea of the cutoff marks and GRE scores.
The YC application is an evaluation of your small business team, and idea.
Big Difference.
ever applied to Harvard, MIT, etc? even kids with IQs off the charts, SAT scores through the roof, etc. get rejected.
It's simply the law of large numbers - YC can cherry pick the cream of the crop of the cream of the crop.
I'm not saying you are morally obliged to, I'm saying it's the nice thing to do. For me personally, being nice is part of being courteous, which is why I used the more general word before.
And I think being too specific could make matters worse. Think about dating. "You are a nice person, but I don't really like your nose" - helpful? I think not, and the next person might be just fine with your nose. I think the generic letter YC sent (I got one, too) is a good solution. And I could imagine that if you would ask them, they might be willing to give you more specific information.
see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32488
"And I could imagine that if you would ask them, they might be willing to give you more specific information."
Not so.
Companies don't tell you why they never called you back after you sent in a resume.
Why would you expect any more from YC?
"we could not understand your idea. please get feedback as to its feasibility from your local university, or someone with experience in the software industry"
http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the_pmarca_guid_2.html
yc's already given you something better than what you'd get out of a canned one-sentence response: a fantastic resource in which anyone can put up their site and get a lot of feedback, for free, from a lot of smart people. 100% of the "hey news.yc check out my site" posts i've seen, including yours, have gotten useful, actionable feedback and have consequently improved.
I agree :)
I did see this in juwo http://www.juwo.com/company.html
I often do not live up to it, but this is important: The good news about Jesus can transform your life. Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead. If you become his follower, you will have salvation (moksha).
For a startup looking to attract co-founders I'm don't think this is very judicious. I'm not saying don't be religious just leave out any mention of it on company sites, that's what personal blogs are for.
2. The interface is clumsy and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it. (See Also: #1)
3. I don't understand what the deal is with the examples. Why do I want to watch a BBC broadcast with a tree-like timeline? Is the purpose of Juwo to annotate videos? (See Also: #1)
4. Why/when do people want to create a tree structure and attach text/videos/sounds to the tree nodes? This is all that Juwo seems to do. The use cases you list on your website are not compelling. While the use cases listed may be actual problems to be solved, a swiss army knife tree structure isn't the solution. (See Also: #1)
I'm sorry if the above list is harsh, but my personal opinion is that Juwo does not have any clear vision behind it, or is of very limited utility (e.g. only useful for you). I don't think it's worth working on further. Try something else.
It's easy at this point to appeal to the few exceptions that made it big even though it seemed like nobody wanted them at first. But note that these guys are the exceptions, most of the time the advice that the product sucks is probably accurate. Even if you were going to say "I don't care, I want to try it and see where it goes" -- well, it looks like you already have tried it for a few years, and it isn't going anywhere.
Again, no offense, but it's in your best interest to save the time/money/effort and move on to a new project. There's a reason you aren't getting users nor investors.
(Just looked at your bio: "importing and selling unique herbal substances").
when typing the symbol ' (as in pg's) and then pressing update, a bunch of letter looking like "ÃÂ" appear in front of the symbol ' in the updated version.
(That thing that looked like ' wasn't. It was probably something you copied and pasted, e.g. from MS Word.)
1) Add accept_charset="UTF-8" to your form tag.
2) Add the hidden variable _charset_ with no value.
3) Add <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> right after the head tag in the html.
4) Make sure apache is serving the file in UTF-8 by default, which is usually by accomplished by adding AddDefaultCharset UTF-8 to the relevant virtual host configuration.
Some of this stuff is redundant, but doing the above will usually ensure the page and form view and submit in UTF-8. To be extra sure, you can double check the value of the _charset_ variable that gets passed.
If you are using postgres and/or perl, I can give more details on what to do there as well.