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Comment by I_am_tiberius | Hacker News Reader

I always find it amazing that applicants only have 10 minutes to present themselves. If I only had 10 minutes, I'd be nervous as hell and it would not give a true representation as me as a person and my project - unless the nervousness factor is a key decision factor as well.

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> I always find it amazing that applicants only have 10 minutes to present themselves.

Consider this as a strong sign that YC is looks for companies that are an "easy sell" to VCs (the same holds for products that such companies produce). You can easily guess why they want that ...

They always say that what matters most to them is the founders. How can they learn to know people in 10 minutes?

I think VC funds operate on the basis of greater fool theory.

You don’t need a product or a capable team, you just need a shiny yuppie team, an easily marketable idea and then keep selling it to greater fools that will invest in Series B / C.

I do wonder how much money has been lost by Series B / C investors in this fundamentally broken market but then again mostly likely Series B / C investors are too rich and well connected to be effected by downturns, so it balances out itself.

> They always say that what matters most to them is the founders. How can they learn to know people in 10 minutes?

This is not (necessarily) a contradiction: they are interested in founders who can easily be marketed. ;-)

What they tell you and what the reality truly is, are very different things. Venture capital is a hustle, and once you learn how to dance the hustle you can find a partner.

These kind of comments irritate me so much.

They would invest in mass produced bottled Himalayan air if they thought it would turn a quick buck.

> If I only had 10 minutes, I'd be nervous as hell and it would not give a true representation as me as a person and my project

How do you sell your product to customers if you aren't able to pitch it in ten minutes?

Customers usually have more time to make a decision. When it comes to spending our own money, we ask around, we do some research by googling for independent reviews etc. before we buy an innovative product.

So yes, I think a 10 minute presentation of any more or less novel/disruptive product is going to be largely a lie. Disruption is a complex process with a ton of important details.

It is why as an entrepreneur you learn to use cacthphrases, all the current buzzwords that can please the investors' ears more than you actually talk about what you are building.

Many decisions are made in seconds based on an impression from an ad, or walking by a product in a store. Sure some purchasing decisions may linger for days, months or years, but even with such long times to ponder a final decision, there are likely a huge list of options that were thrown out in seconds because some aspect of the product message didn't resonate.

> Many decisions are made in seconds based on an impression from an ad

You are talking about click decisions, not purchase ones. There's no evidence ads can affect consumers' purchasing behavior, in fact quite the opposite.

Plenty of people see an ad for something and will then discount it in an instant as a possible option based on bad messaging, or design.

Do you have something to back up the idea that the ad industry doesn't affect purchasing behavior? Seems like a $837 billion industry must manage to accomplish something.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/236943/global-advertisin...

There's evidence the entire online ad industry is a scam and that Facebook and Google are aware [1]

[1] https://sparktoro.com/blog/what-if-performance-advertising-i...

Meh, my dad ran a small window cleaning business in a small midwestern state. He clearly saw a difference when his existence was known on the internet versus with paper fliers only. Advertising is letting people know you exist.

They'll take longer over deciding to say yes.

But if you're incoherent and awkward in your first ten minutes they'll probably have no issue saying no and walking away.

True, I guess I'm just not made for being a founder.

I think clearly and effectively presenting yourself and your idea is something you can get better at. Perhaps right now, being a founder is not the right thing for you, just like perhaps later, it will be. I think it can be helpful to be careful with how you internalize things. Thinking "I'm just not made for being a founder" could become self-fulfilling, whereas rephrasing it as "I don't have an interest in being a founder" or "Being a founder isn't right for me right now" might be more accurate.

If I only had 10 minutes, I'd be nervous as hell

Being a startup founder will give you harsher obstacles to overcome than that. The world is tough and unjust. Founding a company is not for everybody. You gota be a nerd and a tough person at the same time.

If you can’t sell to YC, then that is an indicator you couldn’t sell to clients, nor potential employees, nor to VCs.

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