

I’m a Female Y Combinator Founder and You Can Be Too - inmygarage
http://amandapeyton.com/blog/2010/09/im-a-female-y-combinator-founder-and-you-can-be-too/

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patio11
_DO NOT ask for anything in return from anyone._

I'm very much onboard with much of the other advice, and would have agreed
with this bit for something like 25 or 26 years of my life. My goodness, I
sure wasted a lot of people's time.

Create more value than you capture, but don't be afraid to _sell_. It gets
easier with practice, and it is a core competence in a startup founder. You've
got to be able to sell to customers, sell to investors, sell to the press,
sell to your employees, etc etc. The most direct path to what you want is a)
describing why it is in X's interest to give it to you and then b) asking for
it. It works. _Astoundingly_ well.

Relatedly, "quality content will win out" is _not_ a marketing strategy. Much
closer to the truth is this old chestnut: if your ideas are any good, you'll
have to shove them down people's throats.

P.S. You're not a nobody. You're someone who has something X should want, but
does not yet have a personal introduction, means of social proof, or whatever
it is that the supposed "somebodies" have. You can fix that, and you should
fix it, ASAP. The ROI on fixing it will be _spectacularly_ better than more
cold emails.

~~~
zackattack
>If your ideas are any good, you'll have to shove them down people's throats

Is this true? It makes me think of Helicobacter pylori and the guy who gave
himself an ulcer to prove that he discovered a cure. But maybe that "chestnut"
only applies to schema violators?

~~~
msencenb
I think it is fairly true... the world seems to (generally) be resistant to
change even if an idea is fantastic/revolutionary.

~~~
Mz
_the world seems to (generally) be resistant to change even if an idea is
fantastic/revolutionary._

I would change that to " _especially_ if an idea is fantastic/revolutionary".

------
todayiamme
It's funny that I have been doing something like this for a while on my own,
but to be honest I still think that I am not YC material. What's really
surprising is that I just realized that I want to keep it that way.

Sure, I have a bunch of ideas and I have refined them. Yeah, I can write
comments and get karma. I have gotten projects funded for nothing, but I would
never write a bet on myself. I've just never thought myself as someone good
enough for anything, but I simply try.

I know that this isn't something healthy, but it has, ironically, helped me
out. I've taken risks that no sane person would take, because I always thought
that I was going to lose anyway. Can you imagine a 17 y/o trying to make a
dynamic haptic UI? (what the hell was I thinking?)

Sure, I have failed a lot. I have tried to run before I could crawl, but in
the process I've learnt and gained far more than those who played it safe. So,
maybe hopelessness in the right dose might actually be a good thing. After all
what's there to lose, if you think that you have nothing to lose?

~~~
StavrosK
I don't understand why people have opinions of themselves, let alone why they
have negative ones. If I'm not good enough for YC, I'll apply and let the YC
people tell me. Why would you reject yourself?

~~~
jackowayed
> _I don't understand why people have opinions of themselves, let alone why
> they have negative ones_

Wow, I never really thought of the idea of having no opinion of myself
whatsoever. It's an interesting idea--one that might make me a lot happier.

~~~
StavrosK
Well, yes! Having an opinion as a way of self-appraisal is maybe
understandable, but I'd never let it get in the way of anything I wanted to
do. I'd just try and fail. I can't see a reason why I wouldn't attempt
something I wanted.

------
jl
It's funny, I wrote an essay (that I haven't published yet) over the weekend
about being a female founder. It has some of the same sentiments as Amanda's
post.

It was surprising how little of my advice seemed very specific to being a
female.

~~~
jlees
Love how Amanda's advice was all generic, also. It shouldn't make a difference
what gender or species you are for YC, and it doesn't.

~~~
bkudria
Pretty sure PG funds only _Homo sapiens_

~~~
izaidi
_(rips up plans for echolocation-based social gaming startup)_

~~~
Agent101
Not so fast! Pivot and make it for blind kids

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBv79LKfMt4>

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100k
I can't be a female YC founder but this is great advice for anyone who wants
to apply to YC or simply found a startup.

Definite +1 on talking to alumni. That helped us a lot, and everyone we talked
to was happy to give advice. While most alumni are in Silicon Valley, they are
spread out all over the place.

Most of the alumni I reached out to I had met at conferences, so that is
another good way to build your network. Chat up people - you never know who
you're sitting next to.

------
pgbovine
_Here’s a freebie: the HN audience is uber-highbrow and likes longer articles
on weekends._

would y'all describe HN as highbrow? seems pretty populist to me. e.g., every
time there's mention of elite universities or anything prestigious in 'the
establishment', it gets ripped to shreds and denigrated as being for elitists.

~~~
orangecat
Anti-establishment but intellectual.

~~~
sprout
"Every revolutionary is a closet aristocrat." \- Frank Herbert

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jbail
I don't know what being a female has to do with your post. Good tips for a
founder of any gender though.

~~~
inmygarage
Yep, that's sort of the point - the advice is the same no matter your gender.
I put that in the title because my theory about why more women don't apply is
because they feel like they won't get in, and in general I have found (gross
gender generalization coming) that women take rejection worse than men.

~~~
jacoblyles
YC is approaching the acceptance rate of Berkeley PHD - due to the ever
increasing supply of applicants, mostly. The classes have actually gotten
larger. So any feelings that "I probably won't get in" are probably true for
any gendered applicant.

By all means apply! But have a backup plan. I have known people that have
looked for funding only from YC. That's just as silly as only applying to
Berkeley and then giving up on your PHD if you don't get in. As they say in
football, that's not a high percentage play.

There were plenty of women PHDs at my graduate school, and men too! So I know
people of many genders can navigate processes with lots of rejection.

~~~
blasdel
To be accepted, the 'backup plan' needs to be similar in implementation to the
'YC plan' — if you wouldn't have proceeded with your startup in some form if
you got rejected, then YC will almost definitely reject you.

------
dsantos
just to mention, Jen McCabe from <http://imoveyou.com> , Y Combinator s10, is
another female founder that is doing well.

~~~
leeskye
Don't forget Jessica Mah of InDinero.

~~~
arfrank
Just curious: Are there any others from previous sessions YC classes?

~~~
contagionhealth
Think there have been 7 female founders so far...

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annajohnson
I guess the 'female founder' thing is a hook to, um, hook us all into reading
the article (including me, since I'm female and a startup co-founder),
Actually, writing an article about Y Combinator is another obvious hook for
this crowd. But, ultimately, I wish the article didn't mention the female
thing. Lose that and suddenly this is a great article for anyone wanting to
apply to YC, as well as conveying general principles for startups in general.
Focusing on being female does not help female entrepreneurs get/maintain
credibility - it draws attention to their gender rather than their substance
as entrepreneurs.

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lsd5you
No, I'm fairly sure this is not possible for me.

Although it is not a practical consideration, I do wonder what would happen if
everybody followed the nothing ventured nothing gained advice and sent cold
the 'optimal' amount of cold solicitations. There would have to be a point of
diminishing returns eventually, in aggregate.

Is this an important property of good advice - that people do not follow it,
otherwise it ceases to be good advice?

~~~
joshuacc
No. While there is a subset of good advice which is only valuable because a
lot of people don't follow it, that's not a property of good advice in
general.

For instance, "Eat healthy food" is good advice, and doesn't become less good
even if everyone began following it.

Marketing advice, though, is probably more susceptible to "becoming bad,"
since it typically depends on making your product stand out. Thus, as more
people follow a bit of advice on how to stand out, the less this advice
actually helps them stand out.

------
presidentender
No, I really can't.

~~~
ckuehne
My thoughts exactly. But then again:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_change>.

------
jonathanjaeger
For those who haven't seen Amanda's interview on This Week in Social Media,
you might want to check it out on thisweekin.com (show link:
<http://bit.ly/9GiyPy>).

------
edanm
Some very interesting advice. I especially loved the bit about talent
sourcing; the more I talk to various startup founders, the more I realize how
desperately people are looking for good talent.

Also loved this quote: "If you ask 100 people out for coffee and even ONE
agrees to go with you, that’s one more coffee than you’d get by doing nothing.
Net win."

------
Swoopey
Thanks for sharing your thoughts Amanda, I agree the advice wasn't gender
specific but quite useful and encouraging nonetheless.

I would love to hear more from female founders like you though. It's quite
encouraging.

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askar_yu
"Or if you are a 21 year old white male hacker, you might find this useful
too." can somebody shed a light on the meaning/joke? behind this sentence?
what's there about being a 21 year old _white_ male hacker?

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KateKendall
Has anyone ever put together a list of female YC founders and their companies?
Also, is the trend for female YC founders to be solo-founders?

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khuyi
aside from #6, this is great in general career advice across sectors...not
just YC advice.

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BenSchaechter
I completely agree on the Startup School piece of advice. I flew out from
Nebraska last year and met more entrepreneurial/like-minded people than I ever
knew existed. That event was one of the main motivations for me to move out to
the Valley.

I still keep in close contact with a number of people I met from that event
last year. There are very few places where you can meet fellow hackers who are
entrepreneurial focused. Hearing what the speakers have to say is just the
icing on the cake.

------
patana
Sorry, but I can't be a female because I'm a male today.

~~~
dan_orange
Have you tried Expert Sexchange?

------
ju2tin
Maybe they would get more women founders if they called it X Combinator?

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acqq
So it's finally time for XY and XX Combinators!

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_sex-determination_system>

~~~
acqq
Well I'm afraid I have to explain the post, although I believed enough of
people would understand the hint and even develop discussion in that
direction. I certainly didn't expect the reaction I've got.

Maybe I'm being genetics-biased but the name "Y combinator" always had for me
a "macho" association -- Y being the chromosome unique for men. When I read
the title "woman ... Y combinator" it really stands out to me. And I see
nothing wrong in the idea of also having something like the "X combinator"
which would be intentionally more oriented towards women in the business.

~~~
Mz
My understanding is that the name has nothing to do with gender and, instead,
has something to do with this:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_point_combinator>

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_point_combinator#Y_combin...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_point_combinator#Y_combinator)

