
YC application benefits?... - cata

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cata
I'm sure most of the people applying to YC did it for the contacts/network and
not for the money or at least for some sort of valuable feedback from pg et
all.

I was really surprised to see that the rejection e-mail we've got was an
automatic "for all" message, when at least I would have expected some sort of
feedback (even something like "your app/idea sucks, do something else").

The YC team must have made some sort of comments and side remarks for every
application and if those are encoded in 0s and 1s then it would help a lot of
the applicants to find what those remarks were. I'm even interested in the
place we've got in the final rating, but I'm sure the guys on #31 would be
very upset to find that out :)

So, my question: it is possible to get something like this? At least for
future rounds...

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SwellJoe
You're over-estimating how much time they can spend on each of the written
applications. There were hundreds.

I was impressed to learn that Paul personally speaks to each group that makes
it to the interview, but is not accepted into the program. He does just what
you're asking: explains why the group wasn't chosen and what they can do to
improve the odds in the future or with other investors.

And, as another response to your post mentioned, there is no benefit to YC to
enabling groups to game the application process. Everything, everything,
everything you need to know about the process has been documented by Paul and
many of the groups who've been through it (both accepted and declined).

But I'll sum up:

Build something people want. You need to prove you're building something
people want. A "proxy for demand" is necessary if you're inventing something
new, or evidence that users want what you're building rather than your
competition if it already exists.

Be capable of building what you say you want to build. Link to a website or
product that's in progress, or at least a website or product that you've built
in the past. I get the impression from my brief exposure to the process that
one of the more frustrating things for YC is seeing a smart group with a good
idea, but without the obvious ability to execute. This is why they've
discontinued requiring an "idea" on the application. Just prove that you and
your team can build great things. If you don't have that evidence...why would
they choose you when there are dozens of groups that do have evidence of
building great things. This isn't school where each project stands alone. Show
them your track record. There's space for it on the application.

That's pretty much it for the early process. Then you've gotta pull off a demo
for the interview day, and show extreme passion for building a business. Very
few no-demo groups make it into the program, and I believe the percentage is
shrinking (and I suspect the ones that do get in without a demo have a long
and fancy track record--I bet Zenter would have been in no matter what because
they have a kick ass track record of building things people want, but they
also had a killer demo that they'd built in the weeks prior to the interview).
It can be partly mocked up, or carefully orchestrated to avoid the bugs, but
they'll see through wholly fictional demos so don't try to fool them--these
aren't your typical non-technical investors.

