
Matt Maroon: Advice for Y Combinator Interviewees - immad
http://mattmaroon.com/?p=283
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DanielBMarkham
I liked the advice, but I couldn't help feeling a little peeved by the
continuing "yc news readers are a cult" thread.

I mean, come on, there are obviously a lot of people who have big dreams and
look at YC as an easier way of getting to them, and yes, deadlines and tests
bring out the neurosis and suck-ups in people, but this talk of cult-dom ALSO
has a strange narcissistic quality about it which is just as bad.

If I thought the board was too cultish I wouldn't participate. Geesh -- on one
side we get the hype of how great YC is, how it's all milk and goodness. On
the other side there's a significant sour grapes contingent. For those who
have already made it through or have an interview, congrats! For those who
have not, it's not the end of the world! If this site wants to be useful to
the hacker community, the board has to be, well, useful. I understand it got a
little freaky over the past couple of days, but having people tell me I'm part
of a cult is not a way to keep me around. I'm here for the other hackers -- YC
is just the facilitator for that.

~~~
michelson
Here's another piece of advice (self-serving, I'll be the first to admit) --
work at a YC startup. you can meet all the YC people, including Paul. There
are a lot of YC parties and events that you'll be able to go to. Make a good
impression and get good recommendations from people already in YC, and you'll
be in a great position to get into YC a little while later.

Now the shameless plug -- Scribd is looking for more people. Here's our jobs
page:

<http://www.scribd.com/static/jobs>

Check it out.

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damon
Great advice. What exciting times for the hackers accepted to interview with
YC! Best of luck to all. Now listen to Matt and get working on your demo!

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cellis
Maybe this is a retarded question, but what is Matt Maroon's startup? A quick
search on google turned up nothing.

~~~
rms
Not public but you can probably hunt it down if you read the archives of his
poker blog which is definitely worth reading if you like poker. The startup
has a business model and a very viable one at that.

~~~
bootload
_"... >I got asked whether I was worried about the mafia. Seriously. ..."_

Gambling related?

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blader
That is excellent, excellent advice. I wish I could have read that last
interview round.

~~~
rms
make it two rounds ago for me

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rms
>I got asked whether I was worried about the mafia. Seriously.

Seriously, the US Government is much worse. Unless you believe, like I do,
that a lot of organized crime in the USA is controlled by the CIA, in which
case it is the same thing.

~~~
rms
You guys didn't see the CIA plane The Web 2.0 caught smuggling drugs about a
week ago? Remember that Bin Laden was on our side at one point.

~~~
anamax
Govt and states have persistent interests. They do not have persistent allies.

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ajkates
That's all certainly good advice. Thanks for taking the time share it with us.

Speaking of advice though, a little padding on the left margin of your page
wouldn't hurt...

