
I got into YC after applying six times. Here's my advice for YC applicants - DanielRibeiro
http://iamwil.posterous.com/i-got-into-yc-after-applying-six-times-heres/
======
leoh
I'm sort of confused with the obsession some people have with applying to YC.
It seems like something a lot of people do now because it is sort of
prestigious and because a lot of the companies seem to do well afterwards.
Maybe that's good enough, but I often feel confused reading posts like "How to
get in to YC" because I'm not sure I've read one of these posts yet where the
author articulates a clear reason why getting into YC was so important.

~~~
jacques_chester
> _I'm sort of confused with the obsession some people have with applying to
> YC._

Reading HN will give you a skewed perspective. This site is literally and by
design the HQ for YC applicants, alumni and fellow travellers. A lot of those
fellow travellers worship pg.

Read the comments whenever a new essay is posted. Lots of /r/cringe material.

~~~
jacquesm
Don't blame the band for the groupies.

Being in YC definitely has its advantages, it will - all other things being
equal - give a stamp of approval to a start-up that will translate into easier
funding, more press coverage and more 'buzz'. Those are real advantages when
it comes to competition.

Right now, planetwide in my opinion there is no other single advantage as
large as YC for as little dilution. If you can spare the time for an
application when you're seriously (that's the bit that many people seem to
overlook) working on a startup then applying to YC is an absolute no-brainer.

This has 0 to do with pg worship. And being part of the YC alumni network is a
benefit all by itself.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Plus 1 on this

In fact I would say that _any_ entrepreneur / startup Network will far exceed
in returned value the costs of setting up. For example a mailing list and
regular meet at the Starbucks nearest londons silicon roundabout would mean
more to introduce new startups into the area than any government program

There may already be one

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tferris
I am slightly annoyed from the fanboyism glorifying YC between the lines. The
post is full of good advice + quotes from PG and I highly appreciate YC's
contributions to the startup ecosystem but people shouldn't think that being
part of YC is the only option. People like the OP telling us that they needed
six attempts to get in YC send the wrong signal: that YC is the one and only
way to get a real entrepreneur. PG created a great brand and yes, it must feel
amazing going through YC but it could also mislead young entrepreneurs --
instead of building a great product they focus too much on the application
process and potential credentials they might get from YC. You can get all the
knowledge, peer pressure and get in front of any investor you want without
being part of YC.

~~~
iamwil
I started applying to YC back in 2005. That's why it was six times between
2005 and 2011. I wrote it assuming you already know what the benefit of YC is
and want to get in, or that you know, but are on the fence about it.

------
iamwil
Hey all. OP here. When posterous announced the acquisition a year ago, I moved
all my posts from both blogger and posterous to wordpress.

[https://iamwilchung.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/i-got-into-
yc-a...](https://iamwilchung.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/i-got-into-yc-after-
applying-six-times-heres-my-advice-for-yc-applicants/)

Excuse the ugly template, but the story's still there.

~~~
flipside
As a 4 time YC reject I really liked this post. I'm surprised I haven't come
across this before given how much research I've done on YC.

On monday we're starting our beta, so we'll finally be able to apply with
traction data.

“Be so good they can’t ignore you” are words to live by.

------
codex
Wow--the author wasted _five years_ of his life trying to get into YC? Talk
about a huge opportunity cost. He could have founded multiple companies in
that time and learned air more by year 2013. Sometimes you just have to stop
making excuses for procrastination ("I'll do that hard stuff once I get into
YC") and just start doing.

~~~
felixchan
How do you know he wasn't working on his companies WHILE he was applying to
YC?

~~~
nostrademons
Yeah, it's not like life stops in-between YC rejections. I applied to YC 4
times between SFP2005 and SFP2008. In the meantime, I redid the backend for a
100,000 user website, wrote one of the top Haskell tutorials on the web,
launched 2 products for a financial software startup, founded a company,
pivoted said company 4 times, watched said company die, ported Arc to
JavaScript, and learned a whole lot about programming, startups, and myself. I
did eventually have a chance to be a cofounder of a YC startup (not by
applying the normal way, but because PG put me in touch with one of the
applicants in SFP08 that needed a technical cofounder and they offered me 20%
of the company), but by then I'd realized that it wasn't really what I wanted
at that point in my life. If the need arises, I'll apply again, but by now
I've realized that my drive is to innovate and I don't care whether that
happens in a big company or a startup.

I'd like to think of YC as something like the SATs, APs, or patent
applications. It is a credential. It makes life easier for you in the future.
Pick it up because you're ready for it and have already learned the skills you
need for it on other more worthy projects, but don't make it your life's goal.
Once you do that, it's only a weekend's worth of work.

------
DanielRibeiro
A sad moment, as Posterous shuts down[1], we can lose some amazing history on
the web.

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5228997>

~~~
kintamanimatt
A lot of people will migrate their content, but there's hope that a lot of it
will be preserved by the Internet Archive.

You're covered at least!
[http://web.archive.org/web/20120106215046/http://iamwil.post...](http://web.archive.org/web/20120106215046/http://iamwil.posterous.com/i-got-
into-yc-after-applying-six-times-heres)

~~~
derefr
> there's hope that

Is there some way to poke the Internet Archive, saying "please get a fresh
backup of this whole thing right now before it goes down?"

~~~
kintamanimatt
I don't know. Maybe there's some way we can reach out to someone high up to
make it happen quickly.

------
jhuckestein
Will, I'm glad you wrote this. I'm sure it'll help some people who were
unnecessarily discourage by a YC rejection.

Slightly OT: This post could really benefit from some editing (re clarity,
overall length, succinctness). I like to think a lack of editing is why some
people think they "can't write". They don't realize how much editing helps,
even if they do it themselves.

Next time you write something, ask a few friends to review it, especially if
you intend to _channel PG_ ;). I'd be happy to help, too (I'm by no means an
expert, though. I'm not even a native speaker)

------
brianmcconnell
I've never been much of a joiner, and suspect that many entrepreneurs are of
that mold. The concept of incubators as a sort of real world B school makes a
lot of sense to me, sure it works for many people. For those who choose to
follow their own path, the following advice served me well.

* Position yourself as an expert on X, where X is a skill/trade/industry that is hot but not overcrowded (and where you can stand out, even if you're not the smartest person in the room)

* Get consulting gigs, which should be pretty profitable if you avoid tournament type situations with too many people chasing work (see above)

* Work on a couple side/hobby projects that could turn into a business, experiment with them, and watch results

* When something starts to roll, scale back on consulting biz

* Archive every contact you have, always be networking by sharing ideas with people (versus networking by hard selling).

Odds are any one of your ideas sucks. Eventually one of your ideas will click
with users, and you'll be in a good position to build on it. Until then,
you're building skills, network and stashing cash for future use, plus you're
not under arbitrary deadline pressure to succeed or else.

------
kt9
> If you're a single founder, It's definitely harder to get in. But that
> doesn't mean you can't be a single founder. For single founders, if you can
> demonstrate traction, it's much easier to get in. Traction solves
> everything.

I would have thought that the reason a single founder would apply to YC would
be so that the program would help gain traction (or pivot till product/market
fit).

If a single founder builds a product and demonstrates traction then IMHO the
hard work of building a company and getting customers is done and advantage of
applying to YC is less apparent (atleast to me).

In other words, if you build a product and get traction and have customers
then what is the value of applying to YC vs just pitching to VCs?

I'm sure I'm missing something here. I just don't know what it is.

~~~
napoleond
Getting traction does not necessarily mean having customers, FWIW.

------
6thSigma
I'm surprised YC doesn't do more Skype interviews, especially with teams right
along the cutoff line.

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m1chael3ma
Still relevant advice to people applying to YC today.

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Macsenour
And still single founders are frowned on...

~~~
TillE
By YC. You absolutely don't need them to be successful - see Rob Walling's
approach, for example.

~~~
Macsenour
I agree completely.

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nraynaud
> Founders are more savvy now, and no longer ask questions like, "So when we
> get money from investors, when do we have to pay them back?"

this is frightening, where are the first-timer business-clueless technical-
geniuses who did the innovation?

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BlindRubyCoder
I'm not so sure that applying for YC is different from any other VC firm. But
it is good advice here.

