What's a Y Combinator alternative to people who cannot afford to move to the YC area? | Hacker News Reader

What's a Y Combinator alternative to people who cannot afford to move to the YC area?

7 pointsvinit24 comments

'afford' is not necessarily a monetary term. Perhaps an ailing grandmother or other responsibilities in the community make it too costly to move.

This is correct. Afford can do with things other than a bank-account.

There is the argument that "is your startup not important enough to leave everything else behind" ... but thats being a little too harsh.

You might have to hack your own alternative -- and believe it or not there is a lot of hope for you; I've had a lot of success here in Baltimore by making things, telling everyone I know about them, and also letting everyone in my network know that I want to start a company. Since starting to do that, I've heard from three really smart, really capable people who I could potentially start something with. So my advice is to do everything you can to put yourself into the path of creative people as well as rich people in your area, and not focus so much on conforming to YC's or anyone else's idea of what you need to do to succeed.

New York Angels (http://newyorkangels.com/) has a similar application (unlike YC, there's no deadline, and they'll accept an applicant at any time, but they charge a fee).

I haven't gone through the process myself, but I saw their pitch at a NYC tech panel a few months ago.

Their application is submitting a business plan and it costs $150. It just seems that they're unlikely to fund the people they charge $150. Instead, they'll fund organic referrals.

Well, if you attend enough tech events in NYC, you'll probably meet most of the angels individually, and can forego the fee (that's one of the reasons I haven't applied myself).

Investors are looking for deals, and it isn't too difficult to network into an initial meeting.

The one nice thing about the application (like YC) is that it forces you to define your project succinctly.

Also like YC, getting funded is no guarantee of success.

The alternative is to convince YC that proximity isn't the most important thing. (It is an important thing, I understand, but it's not the most important thing.)

It'll take a very compelling story.

You can't convince us of that. Anyone who's been funded by YC knows that what we do, we have to do in person.

We once tried funding a group that didn't move. When they flew in for demo day, they looked like the plant that hadn't gotten the Miracle-Gro. The upside of that rather expensive experiment was that it showed us how much YC helps people.

do you think that a virtual YC environment could be designed to provide the same rich experience that you get in person? or is it simply impossible? just a point of curiosity on my part.

CRV Quickstart is great if you're a bit further along than the idea stage.

http://www.crv.com/AboutCRV/QuickStart.html

My suggestion is to apply and then cross that bridge when you came to it. I am sure if your team is good enough YC will be willing to make some allowances.

If you got accepted into the program, why would you not be able to afford it? YC pays your moving expenses up front.

Is that true? I didn't pick up on that fact. I just assumed that is was 5K + 5Kn.

Check out #5 and #8 on this page: http://ycombinator.com/s2007.html

I think they will cover whatever you want initially (eg, moving expenses, renting a place), but my interpretation is that that comes out of the 5+5n.

Right - that's what I had assumed. From what was said in the thread above, it sounded like moving costs were above and beyond, which I didn't think they were.

"Moving costs" for anyone inside the US is sure to be less than $1000.

How can you say that with such certainty? I moved from Washington, DC to the Bay Area last fall, and my costs were significantly higher than $1000. Even if I cut all the corners, a hypothetical move to Boston would still cost me thousands of dollars.

If I was doing YC for a summer, I wouldn't need to move. I could just fly there with a couple of suitcases and a laptop, but I'd need some way to cover my existing apartment rent. That's a pretty significant expense over 3 months. And I suspect YC is not looking for companies who see the experience just "doing YC for a summer."

You're trying to do it in one step:

1. Move

It's easier to do it in three steps:

1. "Do YC for a summer" 2. Secure more funding 3. Move

My point was all you need to do YC is a plane ticket and your bags, maybe buy a bed and a desk when you get there.

Fair enough. I probably took your comment a bit too literally. $1000 is not enough to move cross-country, but it probably is enough to relocate for three months. :)

Yes, the moving expenses come out of the 5K + 5Kn. What we mean is that we write you an initial check personally for those.

perhaps 5000+5000n isn't enough to cover your actual expenses for the period.. perhaps you have a mortgage, or dependents, or debt, or a lease that can't be broken, or you need health insurance (see other thread)...

This is why YC's audience is typically college students and very recent grads, who are less likely to have additional obligations. Or, rather, originally the YC concept was geared towards this audience, and the funding amount is an artifact of that.

In theory it's supposed to be suitable for both groups. People who have cheap lives, like recent grads, can actually do everything on our funding. People with expensive lives may not be able to, but they'll also tend to have savings.

Doesn't the answer to this depend on where you can afford to move?

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