
Why Does Y Combinator Require a Video in Your Application? - CM30
Because every time I&#x27;ve applied, this has drastically slowed down my application. I mean, I&#x27;m just not great with a camera or microphone, and arguably don&#x27;t have good stage presence in general.<p>As a result, I always struggle when it gets to this point:<p>&gt; Please enter the url of a 1 minute unlisted (not private) YouTube video introducing the founders<p>Since well, I just don&#x27;t think I can make a good video.<p>So why is needed? Why does YCombinator need a founder video in the application?<p>Because it seems like it&#x27;s becoming a trend with startup accelerators and jobs now. Every single one seems to asks for a video of the applicant, their product or both.<p>And I suspect it&#x27;s hurting people from poorer backgrounds (who simply can&#x27;t afford the equipment for a good video presentation) or who are naturally not extroverts (and hence break down in front of a camera).<p>What&#x27;s the reasoning here?
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miiiiiike
The sad truth is if you don't have presence or aren't perceived as "likable"
it's impossibly hard to get people to work with you.

The video is a way of testing for presence.

Personally, I've never care at all if people knew me or my name. Still don't.
I didn't work on building a following for a blog, comment in places like HN,
speak at conferences, or practice being on mic/in front of a camera. It's
hobbled me.

I've watched people who with a "following" attract a good sized group of
volunteers to build their projects for them while I've struggled to ship code
by myself. In terms of effort we're talking about having to work 4-6 hours/day
vs having to wokr 12-16 hours/day.

People don't scale but their "public personas" can.

If you have presence people will see you in a video or hear you on a podcast
and come running to you. Crowdfunders, investors, partners, potential
employees. Your life gets easier. Potential investors aren't your friends or a
charity, they're trying to protect themselves from bad investments. If things
are easier for you because you've practiced and can demonstrate presence,
you're an easier sell to an investor.

I'm an introvert who grew up poor, so I get where you're coming from.

You options are:

1) Find people to handle messaging for you.. Which is dangerous because if
you're unable to project an image of yourself or your company you may lose
control over the way it and you are perceived.

2) Practice. You can do a lot with the camera/mic on an iPhone 5+ given the
right lighting.

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sulam
First of all, don't use introversion as a crutch. It may be net-negative
energy for you to perform in situations that extroverts find energizing, but
this doesn't keep you from doing them. You just need to recharge afterwards.

I think the reasoning is that as a founder you are, like it or not, constantly
having to sell your idea, company, and personal involvement. You have to sell
to investors, to potential employees and of course to customers. You even have
to sell to vendors, since you want to use their services as cheaply as
possible.

If you can't do that, you need to find a co-founder who can. Otherwise you can
go and do a startup by pure bootstrapping, but don't expect to get sympathy
because you can't sell when investors need selling just like anyone else. I
can't play basketball because I don't have the physical attributes necessary
for the sport, oh well. Life doesn't owe me that opportunity and you're not
owed an investment.

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PaulHoule
Some people who act or otherwise perform are basically introverted but do o.k.
on stage or in front of the camera.

A one minute video is not very long. A good formula could be to have somebody
interview you or have an informal (scripted or not) conversation with somebody
about your company.

If you need a good camera at a low price, try

[https://www.amazon.com/Sony-PlayStation-Camera-Bulk-
Packagin...](https://www.amazon.com/Sony-PlayStation-Camera-Bulk-Packaging-
Pc/dp/B0072I2240)

The PS3 Eye plugs into a regular computer, you might need to pay another $5
for drivers. It has a built in microphone and overall the quality is close to
an $80 Logitech camera.

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davelnewton
To get more data.

