
How to get into Y Combinator - sama
http://samaltman.com/how-to-get-into-y-combinator
======
abstractbill
_We want to fund founders that are going to be successful._

I love Y Combinator, and I'm proud to be a part of it, but I've been thinking
a lot about this recently...

Many many organizations exist, whose purpose is to filter people who _want_ to
do something down to the few percent who are most likely to succeed at that
thing, and then to help those people get even _more_ likely to succeed at it.

But that seems like it's actually a kind of operating on diminishing returns.
If I take someone who is 90% likely to succeed at something, and help them to
become 95%, is that really a better use of my time than if I take someone who
is at 50%, and bump them up to 80%?

From an investment point of view of course I can see why people would do the
former. But I wonder if the world might be a better place if we could figure
out how to do the latter?

~~~
pg
It depends how hard the problem is. In an introductory writing class, you get
maximum utility by letting anyone in. Whereas a graduate math class will
usually have pretty stiff prerequisites; the median undergraduate would get
zero benefit from such a class.

Startups are more like a graduate math class. Most people aren't suited to it.

Also, I think your numbers are off. We're not funding people whose chance of
succeeding is 90%. I doubt anyone starting a startup has a 90% chance of
succeeding. We'd be delighted if our success rate was as high as 50%. Maybe
we're bumping people's chances up from 30% to 40%.

~~~
abstractbill
_Startups are more like a graduate math class. Most people aren't suited to
it._

That's a good point. It makes me think I would have to start younger (and with
more basics), if I wanted to help a lot more people figure out how to do
startups. A little bit about my background might help explain why I'm thinking
about these things the way I am:

Until I was 16 year old, my maths teachers told me and my parents that I just
wasn't suited to the subject. I agreed with them! It seemed impenetrable and
boring. Then a kind physics teacher finally explained what maths is _really_
about, and taught me a few of the things I had missed in the last few years.
Within a few months I went from nearly bottom of my year to easily top, and
eventually got a PhD in pure mathematics.

This experience often makes me suspect there are large numbers of people who
could be great in some field, if only someone would help them with the first
few steps. Of course I have nothing to back up this suspicion with, and
perhaps people have less latent talent than I like to believe. But then again,
maybe not.

 _Also, I think your numbers are off._

Definitely. I chose them more to make my point intuitive than to reflect the
reality of startups.

~~~
alanning
> Then a kind physics teacher finally explained what maths is really about,
> and taught me a few of the things I had missed in the last few years.

Sounds like you are hoping to follow in your teacher's footsteps and help
others via education.

Have you considered writing about your experience? I would love to read about
the math truths your teacher imparted.

Also maybe a program like Big Brothers Big Sisters would interest you?
<http://www.bbbs.org>

------
alexhaefner
My friend (and co-founder) and I have applied for winter 2012. Even if we
don't get in, I don't think it will change much of who we are, or what we're
driven by.

But I guess my biggest question has been this: In the event that we (any
anyone else going through this process) don't get in, how hard should we spend
thinking about that? And what I mean is, every time I've done something I
spend some amount of time evaluating how it went and what I learned from it.
In the case of YC, it's about the idea + founders, so if we didn't get in, I
would need to spend some amount of time evaluating the idea + founders and
deciding what it means.

That doesn't scare me, instead I think that's the most exciting part. To be
incredibly self-critical is the only way to make great things. As much as we
were writing our answers for those who will evaluate them, we were also
writing them for ourselves.

Great post, makes me feel more optimistic about the entire ordeal.

Edit: meant winter 2012

~~~
pg
I wish I could say it means a lot if you don't make it to the interview stage,
because that would imply we're really good judges. But unfortunately we know
we miss a lot of good applications. We have thousands of applications to read,
and not much time to do it in. It's difficult for us to distinguish between
applications that are genuinely weak, and those where the founders just don't
present themselves very well.

~~~
jonpaul
Couldn't the point be made that those founders who don't present themselves
well, might have a bit more trouble presenting their startup to customers?
i.e. They can't sell themselves well, so it could be argued that they might
have trouble selling the benefits of their startup to customers?

Thoughts?

~~~
brlewis
Good point, but there are still two ways YC could miss good applicants: (1)
they present themselves better in some other medium that customers care about,
or (2) they don't know how to sell yet, but have an aptitude for learning to
sell.

That said, I don't know how the YC application process could be changed to
catch either of those situations.

------
dgunn
How likely are edits that I make to our application to be read? I've updated
once or twice just to fix some glaring typo or to update on our progress (I
feel like we make notable strides almost weekly). If our application has
already been read, do updates get reflected in such a way that the readers
know to re-read it?

~~~
pg
Depends when. Right now few of us are more than skimming applications, so it's
unlikely anyone saw your earlier versions.

------
larrys
I think part of the issue with focusing on applying to YC is the filter. It is
much easier to get a job or get funded if you are not competing with others
and are only evaluated on your own merits. (Or to get a date for that matter.
Would you rather be in a room competing with other guys/gals or just on your
own making a pitch?)

To many people decide to line themselves up and be compared. It can make more
sense to separate from the pack and be creative and pitch other likely
sources.

It's not about getting into YC. It's about getting your idea off the ground
and getting funded. If all you have is the wherewithal or creativity to apply
to YC or Techstars etc you aren't an entrepreneur.

I got a job in tech years ago at a valley company that I was in no way
qualified for by getting in an airplane and flying to a trade show in CA to
walk the floor and meet with sales managers. I had no competition. Even though
I was only marginally qualified for any position at this company I got a job.

~~~
alexhaefner
I definitely understand the response. If you have to ask if you're an
entrepreneur, if you have to even think about it, you're not. I get that.
However for someone like me it's not so simple. I have two years of school
left in the midwest. I have little interest in finishing school. But I came
from a blue collar town and so I have no connections, and a lot of school
debt.

So I work on my projects at night, and classes during the day. I get
internships in the bay, and continue to build and iterate on what I've made. I
have no intention of stopping at YC, or just building these projects to fluff
up a resume. I do both of these things because they are worthwhile to me. But
realistically, I can't just leave school and start a business, because my loan
debt would kill me and my business. Without some sort of connection to funding
I'm dead in the water. So I will continue to build my personal projects with
my co-founder, and use them to learn and work towards having a sustainable
business that someone wants to fund.

I'd be curious to hear your feedback.

------
Hitchhiker
I like the analogy that Paul used re a grad math class. In our masters
program, < 10 survived out of ~30. Many chose to get out at the grad-dip level
as their goal was to get a job.

In some ways, a start-up is remarkably more difficult than any structured
class. It is not a co-incidence that many of the most successful start-ups (
i.e. Google / Facebook et.al. ) started as projects.

Investors like to think about markets and path to revenue. But to build stuff
, you'd need to love the problem itself and care deeply about what you're
building. Because at many points in the ride, the financial or commercial end
will not be in sight.

Another correct question perhaps is " How to pick an addictive problem ? "

A group that some of us love :

<http://groups.google.com/group/gremlin-users>

One of the stacks Gremlin works atop is neo4j which raised an excess of 10M
recently.. again I would have to warrant that the game is to pick a difficult
problem , preferably few years ahead before it becomes " hot ".

Here's a powerful section from a beautiful film:

" He does, an assignment to refurbish the Sistine Chapel for him. But after an
attempt at some saints, he leaves Rome, and flees to his beloved Carrara.
There, surrounded by mountains, he has a vision at sunset and suddenly knows
what he must do. Obtaining Julius's reluctant permission, he sets to work
covering that modest ceiling with tremendous figures, a bearded Jehovah, a
recumbent Adam touched to life by a divine spark, the world's most famous
fresco painted from a homemade scaffolding; in spite of illness, missed meals,
filth, deprivation, cold, an injury that nearly costs him his eye and more,
including the Pope's indifference to his intense passion for his art,
Michelangelo endures. "When will you make an end?" Julius cries. "When I have
done," the artist insists. "[1]

[1] - <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058886/reviews>

------
nhangen
My partner and I are applying, but like others have said, we're not betting
the farm on it. If we get accepted, great, if not...well, we keep doing what
we're doing, which is make software.

We just want to have an opportunity to work on our idea full-time.

------
GB_001
I'm planning on applying for the Summer 2012 round as a single founder, plus a
friend who helps me with marketing (whom I had a prior agreement with). After
reading the essay on the main page, it left me a little unsure about the
chances of getting in whilst applying solo.

Although after reading this post, I feel more sure of myself about the issue.
Mainly because he didn't mention anything about the number of founders per
startup, but purely the quality.

Glad this was posted.

~~~
saygt
I believe DropBox was a single founder applicant

------
Hitchhiker
In general, the harder the filter, easier it is for those selected. You can
think of yC as prep-school for what is ahead at Sand Hill. The correct
question perhaps is " how to clear demo day and land an A round from top-tier
VC ?". An effort within striking zone of that will ensure that you don't waste
the opportunity at yC.

------
fbuilesv
" _Startups at this stage need to be building their product and talking to
their users_ "

What happens when a startup like ours is not building their product (due to
complicated legal issues) but they're talking to customers? How can we show
that we've been doing our homework in this regard?

~~~
rhizome
Sounds more legal than anything that would be called a "startup," (yet). I'd
say that showing your work in your context would involve being able to
reassure people that the complicated legal issues are not issues.

------
brackin
Thanks for writing this. Glad you've cleared up some of the questions I hear a
lot. I've seen a lot of posts which claim to have some kind of template to get
in, which doesn't make any sense in my opinion.

------
littlegiantcap
I know the average age of applicants is something like 26 or so, but my team
and I are all juniors and seniors in college. Do you have any tops on how to
make younger applicants stand out?

------
alexwolfe
Thanks for the short write up. Pretty simple and to the point. I like the part
about building a demo, I think it shows ambition, drive, and vision on many
levels. Thanks again.

------
ycapply2011
Questions about the demo:

\- When will it actually be accessed? Can we continue make updates after the
application deadline?

\- Should the demo be tailored so that anyone can use it without one of us
guiding him?

------
jpiasetz
I wish there were concrete examples of deep insights.

Would help understand how you come up with deep insights.

Plus it would be an interesting read I'm sure.

~~~
pg
<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27532820/app.html>

~~~
saygt
Just curious if he moved forward as a solo founder of if you guys arranged for
him to find a cofounder.

~~~
pg
We encouraged him to find one, but Drew found one himself.

~~~
Rayzar
Do you think in some cases it would make sense to be a single founder?

~~~
pg
Do you mean, would it ever be an advantage to? I can't think of a case where
it would.

~~~
Rayzar
Well, I might know of one...I'll tell you at the interview :)

------
veyron
How important is the video component in the application process?

~~~
pg
It's important not to skip it. It's also very important not to read from a
prepared text; we tell people over and over not to do that, and for some
reason they keep thinking they can fool us.

It's not important that the video have high production values, or that you
sell us on the idea within it.

~~~
fbuilesv
Do you think into account the fact that for non-native speakers this is
complicated? Our application sounds a lot like a sales pitch but only because
we have to train many, many times to make ourselves understood.

Even if we're fluent in english, it's not natural for us to speak it (much
less against a camera) so it ends up sounding like we're reading from a script
or something.

