
On Applying to Y Combinator - wheels
http://blog.directededge.com/2009/09/30/on-applying-to-y-combinator/
======
pg
I went back and looked at their applications for w2009 and s2009. They almost
made it to interviews in w2009. Several things combined to push them over the
threshold next time:

1\. I recognized wheels's username as someone who made thoughtful comments on
HN.

2\. Their description of what they were doing was much more specific.

3\. We added the video in s2009, and we could tell from their video that they
were good.

~~~
toisanji
Are there any publicly viewable videos from companies that made it into yc? I
want to see what constitutes a good video.

~~~
pg
Not that I know of, but you could ask Scott and maybe they'd post theirs.
(Actually it's still up, so all he'd have to do is make the page public.)

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chrischen
I think they make a great point on _not starting a startup for the sake of Y
Combinator._

To be honest I almost fell into that pitfall. But from my perspective it's
also hard to not focus on the application so much. Because I'm a college
student, I haven't had a job, I don't have much money, and I'll be forced to
balance school with the project if I don't get into something like Y
Combinator.

So putting effort into the application now can mean more time to focus on the
product later if I'm accepted. So while Y Combinator can be an accelerator, I
think it can also be a great initiator too in that it can give someone like me
the first opportunity in my life to work _full time_ on a passionate project
without _any_ other priorities.

~~~
jnovek
In my opinion, if you aren't ready to balance school/work and your startup
until your startup is self-sufficient, you aren't serious enough about your
startup.

~~~
chrischen
It's not that I'm not ready. It's the fact that I even have to balance it.

Also the startup is much more interesting. School is just an unnecessary
impedance to the startup and if I am serious about it I wouldn't even care
about school (which I don't). The problem is my parent's aren't going to pay
for me to relocate to silicon valley or fund a risky project. They'd rather
fund college.

So my options are to find a way to fund myself so I have a legitimate reason
to focus full time on the startup, or balance school and startup. The problem
is I have a hard time enforcing a balance and the startup gets more of the
attention.

So ideally I want to be in a position where I need no balance and focus solely
on the startup.

~~~
launic
You should know that a startup does not mean you do all the time only the
things you like. Besides writing code (which is the best part :) ) sometimes
you need to do customer support, boring paper-work, leave the best party to
restart your servers, even clean your office by yourself. And may other things
I can not remember right know...

~~~
chrischen
This isn't the first project I've done. I did a project while I was learning
the language and honestly I just wanted to go to sleep every night at 3am. It
wasn't the fun that even got me through coding the damn thing. Fun isn't
necessarily the reason I push myself through the work. So I more than know
there are tough challenges and unpleasent experiences to come. It's really the
satisfaction everytime I overcome a challenge and the results that lure me to
the end.

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tlb
_The single most important thing that you can do to increase your chances of
getting into Y-Combinator is to do what you should be doing anyway: going
full-speed ahead on your startup_

Exactly. We're impressed by teams that get things done, and unimpressed by
teams haven't even started to build something. I've often found myself
thinking, "If you think this is so great an idea, why haven't you spent some
weekends building a version 0 prototype?"

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yosho
It seems from the post that the primary reason you got into YC the second time
around was because Paul recognized your username. Obviously there were other
reasons involved, which PG has stated above. However, the overall feel is that
getting into YC has a lot to do with PG's initial impression of who you are
and how active you are on hacker news than the actual idea itself, considering
that you said the idea remained unchanged, it was just the pitch that was
different.

Basically, I feel like I have to contribute something worthy on this site now
in order to be considered for YC. While I feel that being an active community
member is important, I don't think it should be given the weight that it seems
to carry for YC applications.

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
Do not do this. I tried this route and still got rejected. All it resulted in
was me wasting time trying to find articles to submit and/or comment on.
Better to just work on your idea and assume you'll get rejected either way.

Absolutely do not waste time in order to support your YC application. Work on
your startup instead.

~~~
TrevorJ
I think in a microcosm, 'username' is just shorthand for how active and aware
you are in the startup community as a whole. It's the same as everything else,
if other people in the industry remember you, whether from a mixer you
attended, or an article you published or what have you, you are much more
likely to have an 'in' with them. Is it a means to an end? No, but it _is_ a
useful and helpful artifact of being interested and active in the field you
want to go into.

------
jlgosse
Excellent post. As someone who is going to apply to YC this coming winter,
this article contains some extremely valuable information.

What I get from it mostly though, is that getting accepted is less about the
application, and more about getting out there and getting things done.

Essentially, I can see a number of common points between both wheels' post and
pg's comment:

1\. It's a great idea to have something started. Once you have something
started, pitching your idea and refining your pitch will surely help you out
when explaining what problem you're trying to solve.

2\. Contributing to HN often will help build your reputation. Nothing can help
grow your reputation online like writing does. I've been told time and time
again that I am an excellent writer, and that people respect me for it. If you
can write well, contribute to HN.

3\. Sharing your product with other people on HN is a great way to get
feedback. The more feedback you receive, the greater ability you have to
improve your product and eventually succeed.

4\. The new(er) feature that allows you to post a video of you and your co-
founders may actually be invaluable to getting accepted into the program. I
would agree with this in that it's hard to judge a person's qualities from
their writing alone. A video will give you a deeper look at their personality,
and maybe a glimpse of whether or not they could handle a program such as YC.

With point four in mind, I was wondering if anyone has any advice on a little
problem I am having. The problem is derived from the fact that my single co-
founder is currently in NYC for the next few months. What would be the best
way to create a video for our application, if we are both in different
countries?

Thanks,

jlgosse

~~~
thaumaturgy
Yikes. I think your best bet would be to individually shoot some video and
splice it together -- even though the app specifically discourages that sort
of thing, it would probably be better than no video at all. That is, assuming
the two of you can't somehow get together for a day or two.

~~~
rdouble
_individually shoot some video and splice it together_

I did this because my co-founder was on tour in the Cayman Islands when we
decided to apply for funding. I do not like being on camera, so we were not
going to submit a video at all. Pg emailed us and suggested we complete the
video. We got an interview, but were not accepted, for reasons which have
proven to be painfully prescient.

------
lbrandy
> Paul later told me that the big difference was that he recognized me from
> Hacker News and that I said smart things there. So if that was the critical
> difference, the question is, “Why was I saying smart things?”

Another question might be, "How would you have faired had you been a mere
lurker on HN?"

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
Beware the temptation to post on HN in order to look smart for your YC
application. Better to spend time working on your company and save your HN
comments for when you actually have something to say.

~~~
jwhitlark
Beware the temptation to do anything just to look smart for your YC
application, (or life). As beneficial as I think YC is, it's not magic pixie
dust, and you're in just as bad of shape if you get in on false pretenses.

The reason why some people succeed, even when everyone tells them they're
wrong, is they do something they _believe_ in. Everything else is secondary.

------
physcab
I feel like anyone working in a startup needs to type out the phrase "You
don't know shit" and tape it to their monitor.

Then get back to work.

~~~
yan
That's not very inspiring

~~~
physcab
What I meant is that you need to have the belief that you're never at your
goal. You are constantly critiquing yourself and producing good work.

"You don't know shit" is a constant reminder that you need to try harder--that
you haven't figured everything out. You need to live in a state of paranoia
that others are just about to release something greater.

~~~
pg
Maybe the best variant to tape to the monitor would be "You don't know users
well enough."

~~~
jeromec
That certainly would be a reminder to get something out the door and solicit
user feedback. However, I believe it helps to stay positive, so I would also
tape up something motivational like "Success seems to be connected with
action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't
quit." –Conrad Hilton

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matthodan
Great article-- When will we see a Myers-Briggs assessment on the application?

Our video will probably have the following flow:

* 5 seconds to introduce our co-founders

* 10 seconds on what we're going to create

* 10 seconds on how our product solves a major problem

* 10 seconds on why we're the right team for the job

* 10 seconds to demo our prototype

* 10 seconds on why we would be a good candidate for YC

* 5 seconds of witty banter mixed throughout just because

Thoughts?

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isamuel
It's ironic but probably inevitable that the central advice of this article
(basically: "work like crazy on your startup, stop obsesssing on the app") has
been greeted with cries to see their first app, second app, video accompanying
the app...

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joez
Hey wheels, would you mind posting up your first YC application? I ask because
I'd love to get something to contrast against dhouston's (Dropbox) amazing
application. I think it would be really interesting if you had as good of an
application and got rejected. This could be a good dose of reality for people
looking to apply (myself included).

~~~
thaumaturgy
I'd love to see their video too.

------
leif
Europe and I miss you, Scott. :-)

~~~
mahmud
I think Germany is better off with one less Texan.

:-D

------
rokhayakebe
Why YC couldn't let startups apply yearlong instead of only twice per year?

~~~
markbao
Well, the entire YC program is structured around the two three-month events of
the year. YC isn't just a "congrats, you got accepted to one of the most
prestigious seed groups ever—here's a bunch of cash at an insulting valuation"
but it's also about the mentoring and demo days, which I would argue are worth
more than the "live-on" money.

Regular seed funding groups can work that way, sure. But they're for different
purposes.

~~~
lsc
Insulting, really? so you have 3 guys, and a business plan. you get $20K for
say, 6% of the company. Are you really saying a $300K valuation on a company
that is 'just an idea' is insulting? Personally, I'd call that high.

But yeah, you are right. it's not about the money. It would probably make
economic sense for me to give 6% of my company to pg, even without getting any
cash, just for the marketing effects.

~~~
markbao
I'm sorry, you're right. $20k is not a lot of money, but I did overlook the
fact that most of the ideas are just that—ideas, versus an actual built
business which seems to be in the minority. (Hey, at least it's better than
Shark Tank.)

I stand corrected, though it wasn't the main point.

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juvenn
I will read the bits again, and again.

