

Ask YC: Partial/No Funding Arrangements? - NewWorldOrder

Maybe YC already does this, but has YC ever considered accepting some applicants w/o giving them funding (or some type of partial funding)?<p>These accepted applicants would still be invited to all the YC stuff, but they would just be at different funding levels.  This type of arrangement could increase the number of YC startups per round and subsequently increase the odds of finding a “home run.”<p>This, of course, assumes that the YC can handle more founders per round.
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pg
Money is not the limiting factor.

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astrec
Does this mean YC would make a no-cash investment if the right circumstances
arose?

If so, is it safe to assume that YC's target equity position would not differ
significantly given to the relatively low value of the cash component vs.
mentoring/networking?

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emmett
He means they fund every qualified startup that applies; they have plenty of
money. If 100 promising startup teams applied, they'd fund all 100 of them.

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startupcrazy
Oh please, what nonsense. Your statement doesn't even match up with what pg
writes.

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pg
Emmett's right.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=120949>

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startupcrazy
No, Emmett is not right because there is no definition of qualified. It is a
meaningless statement. The problem with the statement is that it implies that
you are not funded you are somehow not qualified. What does that mean?

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sosueme
I surely would love if YC did this. I have a design for a database/social
net/marketing product for a niche of 100,000 executives just like myself. I
will be late for this round of application submissions. I do not need the
money, but would love to have the mentoring and interaction with other
founders as I am not a software developer. I know exactly 2 programmers that
worked in good startups and while they gave good advice they have their own
life. One of them wants nothing better than to walk around in South East Asia
and the other has his own product he spends 110% of his time on. While friend
suggestions are helpful I would be delighted to get get some pointers. One of
which I need most is how to find a developer co-founder

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maxwell
Seems like it would dilute the pool of companies and create enmity between
founders. As far as I know, funding levels already vary between accepted
startups, but the whole point of investing is the hope of return -- if YC
invested nothing, what would they even get out of a "home run"?

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astrec
In my case I have money from a previous successful startup, will be moving to
the US, and put a premium on local knowledge and the right introductions - for
me and others in the same position there is little value in taking small
amounts of cash, but the value of everything else YC offers could be quite
significant. Surrendering a percentage of your company for a higher value
return is quite reasonable.

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maxwell
Good point.

