

Applications for YC W15 are open - lalwanivikas
http://blog.ycombinator.com/applications-for-yc-w15-are-open

======
soneca
Paul Graham used to say it is good to apply early, as the partners would
review your application with less hurry.

But I never got a good answer to a doubt: I submitted my application just now,
just because. But I am in a particular good period for user grownth (first
customer two weeks ago, and now things are happening). I will have
considerably more traction in October (including a reliable growth rate, as it
would be at least passed 2 months).

The question: if I update my application on October 14 with the updated
traction numbers, will it make a difference? Will someone actually see it or
my application will already be judged and decided and that's it?

~~~
katm
Yes - it does make a difference. If you experience growth between now and
October 14, you should update the traction numbers on your application.

------
mck-
> Yes decisions will include the amount we’ll invest and the percent of the
> company we’d want for it.

Since last batch, wasn't there a "New Deal" that fixed the amount to $120k for
7%? [1]

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7629630](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7629630)

~~~
kevin
Yes.

------
RRiccio
If you're asking yourself whether to apply or not, do it. Going through YC
changed my life.

I'm happy to review applications, especially from international founders.
Roberto at Glio dot com.

~~~
dfuego
That's very generous brother. Good karma for real life.

------
iandanforth
No Co-founder? Let's get organized! Post your idea (or interest but lack of
idea) and see if someone bites!

[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ycw15-seeking-co-
fou...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/ycw15-seeking-co-founder)

It's like founder-dating with a deadline.

~~~
peapod91
For this to be valuable, we need more people. Would you be willing to make a
independent post about this?

~~~
NickNam
Do you think there would be a penalty for the shotgun wedding?

~~~
peapod91
for this YC batch, it's not ideal. but, in the longer run, finding a good co-
founder is likely worth it

------
flipside
Cool that the application explicitly asks for progress updates for those of us
that have applied before (8th try is the charm?). Before I was never sure how
much my previous applications impacted things so it's nice to be able to make
my own case for things.

Really glad for the application overhaul, looking good.

~~~
orangewarp
That's great that you're still hacking away at it. Same here, I've applied
about 4 or 5 times? I lost track. I've changed a lot, so has my project, but
things have also stabilized as I learned how to push this forward. At this
point, it's almost a ritual just to apply because it helps me think about what
I've done and what I need to do next. This year I'm too busy to spend days on
the application but hopefully all the prior practice helps. Regardless, it's
ready to submit so I'll meet my quota for this year. :-) (As soon as the
submit works but maybe it's just me.)

~~~
flipside
Applying to YC has definitely been a great way to asses the current status of
Tinj. In the early days, we'd spend over a week working on the YC application
which was definitely a sign that we weren't ready. Thanks to all that work
though, I've gotten better at communicating who/what/why we are.

------
orangewarp
Anyone else having trouble submitting the application? I'm not sure if this is
some kind of weird test but I doubt it. I can save, just not submit and it
does the same thing in other browsers. Acts as if the submit/click handler
isn't working.

~~~
brett
I found a bug I think is related and fixed it, so hopefully this should work
now if you try again.

Thanks for letting us know!

~~~
orangewarp
It's working now so all is clear. :-) No offense but it's always kind of
reassuring that even really big smart groups make bugs. Done and done.

------
CSDude
> Are any of the following true? You are the only founder.

If I'm the only founder, is it considered negative?

~~~
rikacomet
There are ways to having a "Sleeping Partner".. that's why its somewhat
negative.. Not very, but just a bit.

~~~
epicureanideal
What does "sleeping partner" mean?

~~~
yarou
Well, I can infer it has two meanings. The intended meaning (I suppose) is
"hiding" the existence of another partner. The second meaning...well, I think
you can guess that one on your own.

------
rjanoch
New app asks for founder's gender. Should have much better data with this
class on the number of female founders and percentage of total. Also should
have better data on number of technical female founders.

~~~
joshmlewis
The issue is they don't ask for roles explicitly so there would be no way to
know the number of technical vs non-technical.

~~~
benologist
Why is that an issue?

~~~
rjanoch
Many female founders appear to be in non-technical roles. Need more women in
STEM fields moving into entrepreneurship roles as the technical lead.

~~~
benologist
A female CEO can hire as many women as she wants? A female founder in any role
probably influences hiring tremendously.

~~~
e1ven
For what it's worth, I'm fairly confident that it's illegal to discriminate on
sex when making hiring decisions.

~~~
prawn
A female involved in hiring might mean the process is less discriminatory.
Thus a female influencing hirings wouldn't necessarily be illegal, but
potentially more legal.

------
TheMakeA
Love the new application page. It seems a little weird that the "Are any of
the following true?" question wasn't changed to just be checkmarks though.
Also seems like "Half or more of your group can’t move to the Bay Area." and
"One or more founders will keep their current jobs." could be inferred from
the new founder bios.

One final nitpick would be to move the timeline at the bottom of
[https://apply.ycombinator.com](https://apply.ycombinator.com) to the top.

Otherwise, really cool.

~~~
jonnathanson
_" could be inferred from the new founder bios."_

Could be, but that's a lot more work to do when reading applications.
Inferring these facts from a heterogeneous and unstructured data source, like
hundreds or thousands of bios, requires a lot of effort that is better spent
elsewhere. Setting these up as simple red flags, through a series of boxes to
check or not check, solves the problem more efficiently. Right off the bat,
you can sort all applications by any of the criteria in these boxes. You can
do that before even starting to read them. If you're inferring from bios, on
the other hand, you have to read every bio before you can sort.

~~~
TheMakeA
I think we're on the same page. Each founder already has to answer "Will you
live in the Bay Area January through March 2015, if we fund you?" and "Will
you commit to working exclusively on this project for the next year?" in a
drop down in the new founder bio page.

    
    
        if numWontLiveInBayArea >= total / 2 then flag
    

and

    
    
        if numNonExclusive > 0 then flag
    

Could be totally automated.

~~~
jonnathanson
Makes sense. Perhaps the two questions are there as a redundancy. Some people
might answer "Yes" to the first question, but then "No" when asked in a
slightly different way. In the first question, they're just answering for
themselves. In the second question, they're taking a deeper mental look at
their team and assessing if anyone on it isn't up for the move or the 100%
commitment. To whatever extent there's conflict between answers to A and B,
that's a sign that some people aren't being totally honest in answering A.
(This is purely speculation, of course).

------
scobar
I thought I had read on the S14 application that teams could submit an
application, update it, and resubmit it before the deadline. I can't find
anything that states the same with the new format. Is this still true?

My cofounder and I would like to ask for some critique on our answers
including the personal questions. However it seems that the statement, "We
will send an email to each founder to fill out additional information about
themselves." implies that the application must be submitted before we see the
personal questions. I just want to confirm if the first submission should be
the final draft before we proceed.

Hopefully the questions about hacking a non-computer system and most
impressive thing we've built/achieved are included in the personal questions.
Those were some of the most fun to answer.

~~~
joshmlewis
When you add your partners email/name it automatically sends them an email to
fill out their portion of the application. It used to be a pain to gather
everyone's info individually and paste it into the one application, so this
brings collaboration to the application so your team can contribute their
share.

~~~
kevin
Bios and applications can still be updated even after submitting if it's
before the Oct 14 deadline.

------
maresca
What if you're a solo founder that has a cofounder lined up but are waiting
for the right catalyst to bring them aboard? What if you're solo but have been
contracting out the areas where you need help?

~~~
kevin
You're a solo founder then. FYI: If the catalyst is getting into an
incubator/accelerator, please note that bandwagon cofounders brought on after
being accepted into YC almost never work out.

Making it into YC isn't impossible if you are. Many startups in the current
batch are solo founder companies...Product Hunt, Filecoin, Lawn Love, Craft
Coffee, etc. We would not reject a startup based on just ONE dimension or
question. So if this is the ONLY thing you're worried about, you're in good
shape.

~~~
Macsenour
"What? Me worry?" \- Alfred E Newman (YC applicant for the 10th time)

------
MateuszMucha
I have a question about the "founder" status. I've been working on my project
for quite some time and it's taking off. It's very likely I'm going to be able
to afford inviting a friend on a part-salary/part-equity basis in the next few
weeks. I'm still going to have a vast majority of shares. Will it be OK to
count him as a co-founder?

~~~
aquilligan
Seen as the people at YC HQ will be in bed for another few hours I might as
well offer my opinion. Your description appears to me to be more like an
employee relationship than a co-founder relationship.

A co-founder is generally someone who's goals and interests are closely
aligned with yours. Someone who's in it for the long run through all of the
peaks and troughs experienced on the startup journey. If you own the majority
of the shares and your friend's main interest is the salary you're paying
him/her, then his/her goals are not closely aligned with yours.

I don't know how YC will view this but my advice is to think about building a
team of co-founders who will stick together through thick and thin and share
in the success of the company as well as the struggles. I guess that's why its
so important to get good co-founders. You don't want to give half your company
to someone who you don't believe offers a whole lot to the company's success.
I hope this helps.

------
aswath87
It'll be great to have a list of YC alumni who'd be willing to review
applications. Would improve quality of applications overall.

~~~
gwintrob
Most alums are willing to review (or introduce you to someone who's a better
fit). Feel free to email me at gordon [at] stacklead.com

------
Sir_Cmpwn
Can you guys clarify the process for non-profits? Not just the application,
but the entire YC experience. What's different?

~~~
kevin
[http://www.ycombinator.com/nonprofits/](http://www.ycombinator.com/nonprofits/)

"They did all the same things as the other startups, including present at Demo
Day (which is after all a room with lots of rich people in it)."

We do have some foundations and philanthropists invited to Demo Day that'll be
more appropriate for nonprofits and have you engage with other nonprofit yc
alumni a bit more, but not much else. There's a joke Qasar tells the other
startups on how to treat nonprofits in the batch when we first get started,
"let's not kid ourselves, you're all nonprofits at this point."

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
Thanks for the info! I appreciate it, that does give a clearer view of the
process.

------
eatitraw
Interestingly, there is no real-world hack question("Please tell us about the
time you (...) most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your
advantage"). Why is so?

The "How to Apply to Y Combinator" essay hasn't been updated to reflect this
change.

~~~
kevin
When you add founders, each founder gets a link to a separate form to fill
out. The question is there. You each get to answer it instead of one.

~~~
rl3
Does the e-mail containing this link make any reference to the recipient's HN
username?

~~~
TheMakeA
It says "Hello rl3."

~~~
rl3
Thanks.

------
ajan
Anyone knows if they prefer startups from certain regions in the world? I have
the possibility of setting up the legal structure in Europe but also in North
Africa. Don't know if it 's bad for my application if we do it in North
Africa.

~~~
clevy
We look for great founders and great ideas, regardless of geography. BUT...if
you get accepted, your company will have to convert into a US domestic
corporation (preferably Delaware). So forming your entity now in Europe or
North America may end up being a waste of time and effort.

------
corry
Nice application process! It's funny what a little bit of styling does.

Is this a small side web app you guys rolled yourself or are you using a
decision-making product (like Submittable, etc) for the back-end?

~~~
kevin
We wrote it ourselves.

------
tschellenbach
The startup event in London was great, getstream.io will definitely be
applying.

~~~
dglancy
Can I ask, what are you folks using to generate your API documentation?

------
ryandetzel
I'd love to see how many applications are started but not submitted.

------
zura
Interesting, do we have any alternative of YC in [eastern] Europe?

~~~
kevin
Is there a reason you're looking for an alternative?

There were 183 founders in the last YC batch. 74 were not born in the United
States. That's 40%. They didn't all just come from Canada and UK, they came
from 27 different countries. There were actually 17 French founders in this
batch, which is the highest concentration we've ever had in a funding cycle.

If your users/customers are in Europe (or elsewhere) and it makes sense, we're
not against you learning and raising the money that you need here and taking
it back with you to grow.

------
johnreagan
I'd love to see how the application review process works.

------
sjtgraham
Found a page I shouldn't be able to see. I emailed sama, but there is probably
someone more appropriate. Any ideas?

~~~
katm
Shoot it my way. kat at ycombinator.

~~~
sjtgraham
It's now fixed. I guess sama saw it. Thanks.

------
akshxy
Lets do it

~~~
bigdan
What exactly does "technical" mean? Does it only apply to people who write
code?

~~~
CKilpatrick
does it hurt not having a technical co-founder?

