
AMA with YC Partner Aaron Harris on Applying to YC – S17 Deadline Is Tonight - craigcannon
YC applications for the Summer 2017 batch are due tonight. Here&#x27;s the link to apply - http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ycombinator.com&#x2F;apply&#x2F;
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austenallred
This may not be something you can answer, but I'm curious as to the scoring
methodology and how teams get invited to interviews (or not) behind the
scenes.

Is there a rating system? A binary yes/no that needs to be seconded by enough
reviewers?

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akharris
There is a rating system. It works in two tiers. The first set of grades is
given by a set of alum reviewers. That puts anywhere from 3-10 votes on an
application.

The ones with enough passing votes then get reviewed by partners. We then vote
on every application between 2-5 times, and stack rank the results. We invite
the top ~450 to interviews.

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akharris
Hi! I still remember how nervous I was submitting my YC application 6 years
ago. Now that I get to read them, happy to answer any last minute questions
you have. AMA!

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evbots
For the question "What will your company make?" do you recommend that startups
focus on explaining what they've already built, or on what they will build out
in the future? Thanks!

~~~
akharris
Depends how far along you are. Feel free to describe both.

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vplpndy
What's the best stage of startup for applying to YC - when you have a product
in mind and still chalking out the plan, working on Product Market Fit (not
building it yet)? when you have a working prototype? when you already have
some traction? any of above?

~~~
akharris
This is a great question. We take companies at all different stages, from
ideas through those who are already in market with customers.

The "right stage" is more a question of how long you've been working than an
absolute state. The more you can get done in a given amount of time, the
better.

~~~
Alex3917
> The more you can get done in a given amount of time, the better.

Time meaning calendar days or person hours? E.g. if you're comparing a two
cofounder startup with a three cofounder startup, where they've each been
working full time for a year, do you care more about absolute progress after a
year or about progress normalized to the number of person hours?

Obviously after you invest the main metric that matters is progress per
calendar day, since that's what affects your IRR. But if a startup hasn't
taken external funding then there is a more interesting discussion to be had
about the relative meaningfulness of each, how their importance might be
shifting over time, etc.

~~~
akharris
We don't have an exact formula. When I look at an application, I try to figure
out how much time is being spent on the co and work off of that.

Obviously it's different for full time vs. part time and many vs. few.
However, if an idea has been sitting around in halfway space for years, I'm
going to want to know why.

~~~
ikeboy
Is running another profitable business, plus college a good reason for not
actively working on the idea?

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d--b
Hi again Aaron, can you tell us the proportion of YC-funded company that had
at least 1 referral from other founders / yc partners?

If you cannot state a number can you at least qualitatively tell us whether
having a referral is a huge boost or a slight advantage?

~~~
akharris
I wouldn't think too much about it. While I look at referrals when they exist,
they don't change my mind one way or the other. The rest of the application is
way more important.

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dre7413
Hey Aaron, If you've previous applied and got at least to a video interview.
Can it work against you if you've slightly changed your answer to 'Describe
your company...' and 'What will your company make'?

~~~
koolba
> If you've previous applied and got at least to a video interview.

Is a video interview a new thing? I thought it was just 1) Apply (with a pre-
recorded video explaining your startup) 2) In-person at the YC office. Is
there a step 1.5 now too?

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elmar
[https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/58y7py/anyone_get...](https://www.reddit.com/r/startups/comments/58y7py/anyone_get_a_yc_video_interview/)

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dankai
If there's a competing startup funded already by YC, will you make sure that
they won't get details of the application?

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ardit33
Similar to talking VC, there is no guarantee. But unless you have a truley
secret sauce going on, ideas by themselves rarely matter.

People have a tendency to overestimate ideas. They are remarkable easy to come
up with. I have been in brainstorming session, where we would come up with at
least 10-12 really good ideas within an hour. Usually it is execution that
matters at the end, as you don't know what it works or what it doesn't.

Tested ideas that move the needle a lot on the other hand are valuable: Eg. We
tried to get sign ups doing X, but we failed, but then when we did Y and Z and
added these two features we saw a huge increase in signups and retention. --
That's direct learnings from the field, and it is both expensive and somewhat
valuable.

~~~
dankai
I agree with the premise that ideas themselves are worthless.

But what's questionable is whether YC acts in favour of the new applicants
that share their insights honestly, or whether they are more prone to protect
their investment in the already funded startup (by providing them with
details/intel).

~~~
lowglow
I agree that execution is everything, but when people say "ideas are
worthless" \-- I just have to assume they've never had a good idea.

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ParameterOne
Hi Aaron, as mentioned in the YC video tips about volume I wanted to share
with everyone that today after a friend watched my video he complained about
low volume even though it was fine on my machine. I wanted to let applicants
know that there is an adjustment in the edit section of youtube as seen here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvxTWXVMikg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvxTWXVMikg)

Which I am doing now haha. although i think it does change the link to an
unregistered video so you may have to edit your application.

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dennis_prinz
Hi Aaron, I'm about to submit our application for cosum, a mobile marketplace
that lets people use coworking spaces worldwide on demand per hour instead of
months. So basically we're changing the unit from a month to an hour (AWS >
Server > Minute) so people pay their actual usage. We lower the price for
consumers, increase their flexibility and increase the revenue of spaces by
using their resources smarter.

I introduced this model at my own coworking space and it's a huge success. The
idea to make this model available on a worldwide mobile marketplace is only 2
weeks old and I started working with 3 of my members on it. As they are all
freelancers, they can't just start with something full-time without funding.
So I created a prototype/milestone deal with them, paying a little out of my
pocket now and more when I raise money + possibility to become co-founders. No
shares etc. have been discussed yet. How would you put this in the
application? And one more question: We don't have a demo yet, shall I include
a possible link for it or is there a way of updating you guys. I'm confident
we can show progress in the next days. Thanks!

~~~
akharris
Just describe what you're doing and how your team is split as you do here. I'd
also want to know what the milestones are, and what that means in terms of pay
and equity for the team members.

~~~
dennis_prinz
Thanks! Will do. I understand we're very early, but in one week we'll be a
little bit less early and I think we can launch a closed beta before April 24.
Proof of concept on the consumer side has happened, so I wanna focus on
convincing spaces in the next days. How can I update you and the other
partners on our process?

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tmaly
Aaron, I am curious if there has been any further development on bringing back
the YC radio podcast?

I think that was a brilliant podcast and it offered a lot of valuable insight
to others embarking down that path.

~~~
akharris
Aw thanks! I had a lot of fun doing it, but I think the podcast is done. We've
started doing other cool things, though, like video office hours:
[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-
uHSnFig5PdSeZT05If...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-
uHSnFig5PdSeZT05IflVmZED_ZRcbO)

~~~
tmaly
Aaron, thanks for the link. Do you have the audio of these videos hosted
anywhere as mp3?

~~~
agrprashant
In case it's not, you can use offliberty.com. Takes seconds.

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annerajb
I am feeling a little worried of our changes while applying to YC. I remember
reading that YC looks for companies with can grow up to 10BN.

While we think we can definitely grow upwards of 1 Billion which is what VC
firms usually look up too. After 1 Billion is gonna depend a lot on being able
to lower the cost of the product enough to increase volume

How hard is this rule? What if the company cannot reach that 10 Billions in
Revenue in the future is that a weighted heavily on the application?

~~~
akharris
It's pretty much impossible to figure out if a company is a $1B or $10B
company when reading an application. We use this as more of a thought
experiment than anything else.

When I read an application, I force myself to imagine a world in which this
idea + team could create a really big company. If that's true, than I'm
interested. If not, I'm less likely to want to go further.

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wj
Having not went through YC (yet!) I'm curious as to how much the Startup
School MOOC will mirror the core process?

I imagine YC is more like going from 0.5 to 1--focusing on one or two things
such as product or marketing--rather than the 0 to 1 where everything is
covered like was done in Sam's How to Start a Startup course at Stanford?

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dustingetz
If you apply early, and then decide to rewrite everything, does anyone see the
edits or has the decision been made?

~~~
akharris
If someone on the admissions team happened to look at your earlier
application, sure, but that doesn't get considered. We just look at finished
applications when making decisions.

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d--b
Hi Aaron, I vaguely remember PG saying that while he was reviewing YC
applications he would recognize applicants from their HN contributions. People
he liked reading would get a boost.

Did I dream it? Is that still the case that if people like my HN posts, I may
get special attention to my application?

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Hydraulix989
If this is true, then I'm screwed; all I do here is troll.

~~~
agrprashant
Haha.

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leonardloo428
We just pivoted to a new idea we always wanted to work on yesterday. In one
day we did a lot. Is it a good idea to apply with a one day old idea? We have
launched and have some traction on the previous idea, but it's not something
we really want to work on.

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leonardloo428
We just realized that the switching from "Public Beta" to "Mocks / Renderings"
hid a bunch of questions that we previously filled in, but did not clear those
answers. So we ended up submitting those answers in our application without
our knowledge. We only realized this when we saw "Past submissions" but it's
too late to change now. Will this be a big issue?

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mmexia
Hey Aaron, we applied last batch and got an in person interview! Do you have
any advice on how to get back there? (we have better numbers and a better
product)

~~~
akharris
Great to hear that you've made more progress! Just describe it clearly and
talk about anything new you've learned.

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jjoe
What's keeping YC from accepting more applicants? What's weighing more in your
decision: is it the investment or the labor factor? Would your acceptance rate
increase if applicants were to forgo the ~$120k? Rephrased: Are there
applicants you could have otherwise accepted were they to decline the cash in
exchange for taking part in the program and still giving you the ~7% equity?

Thanks

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d--b
Hi Aaron, what differentiates you guys from other accelerators? Like angelpad
and techstars?

Is it the core values? Is it the networks, what would you say makes YC unique?

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dustingetz
Does 2017 YC have technical reviewers? Like PB or PG?

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crtlib
Hi Aaron, please tell what docs are needed at the YC office (we're
optimistic!) if there is no legal entity yet? In other words, how should I
prove the thing is really ours? Is it actually bad that we aren't
incorporated? We didn't hurry with this, because we are outside of the US and
we know about the need to convert a legal entity into a US one.

~~~
clevy
It's fine that you aren't incorporated yet, and I'm glad you waited! Many
applicants have not formed a legal entity when they apply. If you are accepted
in the S17 batch, we will help you incorporate in the US.

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dustingetz
How many seconds of reviewer attention does the average[1] application get
before they move on to the next?

[1] confusing, not very good

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mndaly
We built both iOS and web apps. Both require login currently and the iOS app
is farther along and more interactive as that is how we capture images. How do
we get you guys the login info we made you? Or would we be better off sending
a demo video showing both working in concert?

~~~
abanayev
One way to do this is to have your server respond to an obscure route like
/x92y37ruhij0d8f8h1803rf and return a cookie with an automatically saved
session for the demo account. But the deadline has passed now, anyway ;)

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madmeowz
Hey Aaron! My team applied earlier this week and we're eager to join the YC
community. Are there any traits you look for in applicants? We've read tons of
PG's essays but I'm interested in your perspective. Thank you for taking the
time to do this AMA!

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Autobotanist
On the applications is there any best practices to follow? How long should we
keep our answers?

Thank you!

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lindzjm
Were all the applications viewed yesterday? The link we included with our
wireframe was having problems yesterday and I realized that today. I replied
to the submission email earlier today. Is it too late?

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adeniyim1007
What are the chances of In college stud, whom drop off school to work on their
startup and apply to YC. And its a first experience. But totally obsessed
about the idea involved and also open to changes.

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learned_eg
Hello, we have problem on being able to move to California if we where
accepted. My wife will be carrying twins at that time. Is this a deal breaker
for YC? If not how do I relay my issue? Thanks

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suhailameen46
Does people who have been to market with their product have an edge over those
who are in development phase?

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caser
What do you look for when evaluating nonprofits?

Also, would you be open to funding a nonprofit in a similar space to one
you've already funded that's doing things in a different way?

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dankai
If you've applied early, will the (updated) application be checked again after
the deadline, or are the chances that it's been looked at already and already
evaluated?

~~~
akharris
We only read applications that have been fully submitted.

~~~
dankai
If one has submitted early (by clicking on the button by accident), could it
be that enough reviewers already looked over the application and evaluated it
already before the official deadline?

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bookbild
Would emails from prospective enterprise customers be viewed favorably (in
lieu of LOI)? We're working with these firms for concept testing - solution is
in development.

~~~
akharris
For enterprise companies, this is definitely useful, but not definitive.

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Danilka
Where is the line on "What is your most successful hack of a non-computer
system" question? What would you consider clever and what would be over the
line?

~~~
ikeboy
What if my best computer system hack is more impressive than my best non
computer one?

Can I include multiple "hacks"?

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chienomi
My prospective cofounder could not move to the US, so I applied as a solo
founder. Co-founders must be in the US for three months?

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dustingetz
Do YC reviewers watch the video first, or at the same time as the text app, or
only watch the video if they like the text app?

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mikeryan
I have no idea what the process is but in a previous application my video
(AFAICT from YouTube Analytics) was never viewed.

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dankai
What's the question you wished people would ask for?

Something that a lot of applications get wrong and kills their chances early
on.

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conanbatt
Im working on a product for the real estate market in Argentina: does that
work against me for the YC application?

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davidddavidson
YC funds companies that focus in other (non-US) countries. There are a few
that demo'd a few days ago that focused in Africa for example.

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crosscases
Do you keep to a theme for each batch bc I thought I saw something about AI-
driven corps this summer?

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ringular
If we're close to closing a seed 500k round, would you recommend we still
apply for YC?

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thehuntermykel
Is it unlikely for a startup in the mock / rendering stage to get accepted
into YC?

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akharris
Nope - we accept plenty of companies at that stage.

~~~
capocannoniere
What are some recent examples?

It would be particularly impressive for a team of ~2-3 people to:

\- build a product

\- handle legal/HR paperwork to set up a company + recruit + hire

\- launch

\- iterate based on feedback

\- Get solid traction by demo day

in just 3 months (the duration of YC).

It seems to me that in the early days of YC, most companies would finish the
YC program while still in the idea phase or barely past it, whereas most
recent YC companies already have solid traction by demo day.

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channa1989
Hi Aaron!

Does it look bad if we have 4 founders ?

Thank you, Channa

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akharris
Nope. There's no good or bad when it comes to the number of founders so long
as there's a reason for it.

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Danilka
Except 1 :-)

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bbcbasic
Or 49 :-)

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arhyner
What would you say the ratio of for-profit vs. non-profit applications is?

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strgrd
AMA is a registered trademark of Reddit, Inc. (#86944696).

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ikeboy
YC owns part of Reddit, I think. Don't anticipate any lawsuits over it.

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Yug04
how to change email address of HN?

