

How to get accepted for a Y Combinator interview - thingsilearned
http://leavingcorporate.com/2008/03/24/how-to-get-accepted-for-a-y-combinator-interview/

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Sam_Odio
Here's one suggestion they left out which I think would help: have something
to show the partners (ideally, a working prototype)

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garbowza
Great point, I definitely endorse that point as well. We didn't have a
prototype when we applied, but we created one by the time we were interviewed.
Showing even a rough prototype will explain your idea better than anything you
say during that 5 minutes.

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notauser
I do wonder about the demo. All is well and good if it works with no glitches,
but what if a spectacular bug catches you out when you don't expect it and the
whole thing blows up in your face?

By limiting the scope (rather than the maturity) and testing heavily you can
be reasonably confident, but it will leave you with a less impressive demo to
throw up.

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pg
Don't worry about that. We've given enough demos ourselves to know they always
break.

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webwright
I also believe it helps to have an accent of some kind. PG _loves_ accents.

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sratner
You are just jealous you don't have one.

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abstractbill
When I first came to the US I was still dating and, of course my accent came
up in conversation pretty early. I remember a couple of times saying "oh
thanks, I like your accent too", only to be told "but I don't _have_ an
accent" ;-)

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webwright
"The 3 months is just the beginning. After that, you will continue to build
your product, find investment, hire employees and create an actual business.
This process will take years!"

Read that over a few times. By putting your name on that application, you're
starting a commitment to your co-founders that you should take seriously...
Life can take a turn, but for the most part, you should be prepared to set
aside a couple of years at least-- losing a co-founder early on can be pretty
deadly.

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tptacek
Union bylaws obligate me to point out that with a similar expenditure of
effort and planning, you could "raise" more than twice as much money as a YC
"round" by consulting for a month, and then simply start your company.

The market does not care whether your friends are "top quality players" who
make important contributions. You are not a unique snowflake. If your product
or service offering works, you will win.

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xirium
> you could "raise" more than twice as much money as a YC "round" by
> consulting for a month

However, you'd be one month behind in development. For a start-up, that could
be critical.

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tptacek
If the first month is critical, you're probably picking a crappy segment to
chase. Yeah, the window's closing on social networks. Go do something else.

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xirium
Its not the first month thats critical, its the last month. Any plan with an
extra month at the end has more chance of success. The problem with a startup
is that the total amount of time available is rarely known in advance.

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marvin
I assume that PG, after all his bashing of the college application process, is
_very_ careful about not giving the wrappings more weight than the applicant.
So hints like these wouldn't be worth much. All of these points are really
obvious anyway, the kind of things you would consider when writing any
important text.

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garbowza
The wrappings are what exposes how good (or bad) the applicant is. Thinking
that your natural wonderfulness will be obvious no matter how you fill out
your application sets yourself up for failure.

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tim2
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=143097>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=143451>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=96078>

