

How difficult is it for singles to get picked up by Y Combinator? - fiftyone

I know that you YC guys are looking for group of like 2 or 3 super cool college hackers who been chums for like years,Hackin away at the next Digg.com... but what about guys like me... married, kids, bills ... I know it is not as ideal as the super Kool college guys but I think my ideas are awesome is my being a lone ranger really going to effect my chances of getting picked up by YC?
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pg
Of 80 startups we've funded, about 5 had one founder at the time we funded
them. Maybe a third of applications are from single founders. So from the data
so far it looks like it's 5x harder to get accepted as a single founder.

That probably overestimates the difficulty, though. A significant fraction of
the applications are from people with perpetual motion machines, etc. Those
are invariably single founders. If you discount those, maybe it's only 2 or 3x
harder as a single founder.

I would encourage you to try and find a cofounder though-- not just because it
makes you more likely to be funded by YC, but because it makes your startup
more likely to succeed.

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cperciva
These are very interesting statistics -- is there any chance that you could
provide some more? In particular, I'd be interested in knowing the age
distribution of all applicants vs. successful applicants and the distribution
of education (high school/some college/undergraduate degree/some
graduate/graduate degree) of all applicants vs. successful applicants.

I seem to recall that you've said before that the "average" accepted YC
applicant is 25 years old and has an undergraduate degree; but more
information is always useful.

~~~
pg
We don't have much more statistics than that. Most of the things we try to
measure are not easily represented that way. What we look for is people who
seem energetic, smart, and practical, regardless of things like where they
went to school or how old they are.

~~~
cperciva
I realize that age and education do not _cause_ you to select people; but
there might still be interesting _correlations_.

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treeform
i think pg said he did not want to get into statistics war with other
companies and if there was a correlation i would trust pg to find it and use
it because its in his interest.

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DarrenStuart
I have already written off YC because of pg's postings on single founders. I
don't agree with it but I can see his point a load shared is a load halved.

I have taken my own route and if it works out then I will go out of my way to
help single founder companies. My only constraint would be they would have to
be hackers.

I am 33 and married but don't have kids yet but I am running my own business
to fund my time working on my other startup work.

I'd like to know out of the single founder applications which got funding were
they all hackers?

~~~
thaumaturgy
I think there's a practical consideration to the single-founder limitation.

Anecdotally, I'm running my own business now. Actually, it's running me, and
that's a problem. I really wish I had a partner, not just to take some of the
load off of my shoulders, but to motivate me when I get discouraged, and so
that I didn't have to be the only one coming up with all the ideas.

Also, single-founderism might indicate that a person is less sociable, or
difficult to deal with, or (as in my case) determined to do it alone. Those
are all rather dangerous things for a startup.

~~~
DarrenStuart
or single-founderism(I like that) might indicate someone who does not have
friends that are in tech or business.

I am not against starting something up with someone else and I am always open
to discussions about stuff I work on I just don't have the contacts yet.

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davidw
How are you going to meet people if you don't have any information about
yourself in your profile.

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fiftyone
That's a fantastic point! I completely forgot about that part. I put some
stuff there now to fill in the white space, later on ill write something more
clever :D

~~~
dcurtis
Haha. The longest bio I've ever seen on a News.YC profile, and yet no contact
info!

~~~
fiftyone
Updated ;)

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powerflex
So we have a few entrepreneurial individuals hacking away in their spare time,
but they need "co-founders" in order to increase their success odds?

Maybe an arrangement can be made. Why not form a company where each idea gets
equal time and run with the one(s) that sticks. Think of a cross between an
engineer board of directors and an incubator.

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muriithi
Difficult but not impossible. This is from the YC funding application page

"The ideal company would have two or three founders. We'll consider those with
four or five. We're reluctant to accept one-person companies, though we have
funded a couple."

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fiftyone
Heres an idea for ya YC guys.

How about a sub-YC website that helps singles and other people get together.
Help us, help you. I mean if we succeed you get paid and I get paid and we are
all happy :)

I admit and I agree with one of the other posters, I WANT A partner It is hard
as hell dealing with everything yourself.

( Since reading the replies here I am trying to recruit one of my old pals to
work with me. But... )

I think it would be cool to put up a "want ad's section" something like :

MWGI seeking H for RCP ASAP. ( male with great idea seeking Hacker for Really
cool Project. )

I think it's a good idea.

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dkokelley
I think this leads into the next question, how should I go about finding a co-
founder?

I'm in the same boat you are as far as co-founders go, though I'm at the
younger end of the spectrum (19) and have 2 more years of college to do
instead of a wife and kids to take care of.

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fiftyone
well there we go! I need a co-founder you need a co-founder hehe. I'm not an
old man eather im only 29. BA in Education. Married Awesome baby boy ( wife is
ok too :) Born in Ohio but living in Egypt at the moment.

51ftyon3@gmail.com if there is anyone who would like to hear my ideas. Maybe
we can work together?

~~~
dcurtis
I've heard some people here describe finding a cofounder as analogous to
finding a wife. It's not some ho-hum thing you just do; it takes time to build
a relationship that can survive a startup.

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ivan
You are not alone ... and at first think if you really need to be "picked up"
by VCs.

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edw519
Whether you're single or not, one of the nicest unmentioned benefits about yc
is that you can "act as if" you're going to apply whether you do or not.
Either way, you'll be way ahead.

