
YC Alum: Help Me Get a YC Interview for winter 09 - voidfiles
I am currently filling out a YC application. I trust my in person skills way more then my written communications. I believe in the power of written communication, and I try to get better at it everyday, but they are still weak. If I can just get in the room...<p>So do any YC alum have suggestions on how to get an interview? Do you think certain language works better. Do they appreciate sparse descriptions? Anything would be helpfull.
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tialys
Proofread something once yourself and after that don't. Pass it along to any
new set of eyes you can get and get a new perspective on it. Your eyes will
fail you very quickly, so getting new people will make anything you write
better by a large margin each time.

Edit: Not a YC alum, but I thought I'd leave a note anyway.

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cmos
Here's a book (recommended by Clifford Stoll) that helps simplify the process
of writing: "Write to the Point" by Bill Stott.

I'm not an alum either, but enjoy this group, at least the 'ask YC' questions
and responses.

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chris_l
It's probably more about your achievements (and your founding team's - you
have a team, right?) and the understanding you show than how exactly you
communicate these.

PS: And please help me get an interview too :)

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alaskamiller
Just make something.

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voidfiles
I am making something. I am going to make it with or with out YC, but making
something with YC would give me access to a new great group of people.

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alaskamiller
I don't think that's true.

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falsestprophet
You need to get your commas under control.

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wtrk
He used two commas in his post and they demarcated a parenthetical phrase.

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falsestprophet
They did not. "And I try to get better at it everyday," is not a parenthetical
phrase. It is a parenthetical phrase and the conjunction "and."

His writing is both stylistically weak and grammatically incorrect. There is
no good excuse for overreaching.

