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Comment by soneca | Hacker News Reader

Interesting reading for someone that just applied to YC a few minutes ago.

That confirms to me that saying of PG that goes something like this "95% of the applications have no chance at all to get in and there is 5% that have really good chances", in oposition to thinking that everyone has the same, tiny chance of getting in.

That haunts me. I sure ain't not in the 5% with really good chances - solo founder, not a developer, not working on a hot startup, not sold my own startup. But I like to think I am not in the 95% either - I am smart, I make things happen, I create things, people believe in my success, I really consider myself relentlessly resourceful, even if good code is not among these resources yet. What haunts me is that maybe this later part is only wishful thinking.

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Build a version 1. If you can't do that, go convince a prospective customer to give you a check in advance. Either of these will greatly increase your odds. If you can't do either, why would anyone invest?

I built a prototype myself, as I am learning to code. But that wasn't good enough to offer to a customer, so I outsource it. Now I am working with a freelance developer on it, hoping we work well together so one day he can be my co-founder.

Before that I already sold it to two clients, but sounded strange to me "ask the check" in advance. They agreeded to pay for it, but didn't pay yet. But now that is built, I will deliver, and if they aprove, they will pay.

Not the perfect answers to your advices, but I thinks it is good enough.

>Now I am working with a freelance developer on it, hoping we work well together so one day he can be my co-founder.

Not to be all doom and gloom, but one of pg's top advice points is that each co-founder should be someone you already know (and are hopefully at least acquaintances with, preferably friends with) before the startup is put down on paper. Building a startup from scratch is hard, and you need to do it with someone you're comfortable spending a ton of time with. All the co-founders need to be on the same wavelength and need to communicate well and frequently.

I don't know your circumstances, or where you found said freelance developer, but seeking out someone just to help develop some of the ideas you have is usually not the way to go to make a company. To make one product, perhaps, but probably not a company.

Well, there is one thing I am sure. There is no one between my friends or acquaintances that could be a co-founder. Trust me, I've been looking for a long time.

So what do i do? Don't build a company? No, i hire a good frelancer, see if it works out fine. Then i offer a fulltime job, hopefully with the revenue of the startup. If this turma out fine, then he becomes a co-founder and CTO.

I'd recommend you spend your time strengthening all the areas which you identified as weaknesses right now. The YC application takes time to do right, and is in and of itself a learning exercise in really understanding what your business is and conveying it concisely. Until you cover all your bases there's much better places to spend your time.

I was able to become literate in code, but I don't think become a "10x engineer" that a proper technical co-founder should be is feasible for me. I can create a simple, but decent, front-end; and I can understand discussions of back-end code. That is sufficient to me I guess.

But working on a "hot startup" in Brazil won't happen and "sell my startup", well, I am trying to build one. I will never cover all my bases, but you are right, maybe YC isn't for me. That's not that bad either, I can do without. But I can't deny that I want it very badly.

Personally, I think the way you are approaching your situation mentally, is strong. Best of luck to you. I didn't get into YC when I applied in 2011 and it has motivated me so much to really improve myself. Now I'm in a position where my startup is almost too big for what YC offers and that is a great feeling for me.

Thanks, mikeg8! I do see YC as a mean, i hope someday i will have this great feeling of succeding, with or without YC.

Then go find a tech co-founder:) it's a good exercise in one of the many thing you'll have to be good at later on

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