

Ask HN: How Do I Get into YC with Just an Idea? - personjerry

It seems to me that most people go into YC with a startup, the more users the better, and have documented growth already, which warrants the accelerator&#x27;s investment.<p>But some people suggest that with a good idea and the right abilities you can get into YC. My question is, what in particular are these &quot;requirements&quot; that would compensate for the fact that I only have an idea?
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byoung2
[http://www.ycombinator.com/apply/#whowefund](http://www.ycombinator.com/apply/#whowefund)

 _How do we choose who to fund? The people in your group are what matter most
to us. We look for brains, motivation, and a sense of design. Experience is
helpful but not critical.

Your idea is important too, but mainly as evidence that you can have good
ideas. Most successful startups change their idea substantially._

After reading through PG's essays and watching all of the Startup School
videos, you'll find the same thing repeated there. YC looks for smart people
with a history of building cool stuff. You probably have a better chance if
your team has known each other and worked together on projects outside of
school or work. If you can show examples where you can see and implement
creative solutions to problems (hacking a non-computer system...), you have
most of what it takes to be successful at YC, regardless of the startup idea
you put on your application. It was possible at one point to apply with no
idea at all, so that is some indication of the importance of everything else
on the application.

PG said in a fireside chat once that the reason there was a 3 week gap between
invitation and interview was twofold: to allow people enough time to get cheap
airfare, and to see what progress they make on the idea. 3 weeks, he said, is
enough time to build a rough prototype (software, at least) and start getting
traction of some kind.

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valarauca1
They likely wouldn't. Your asking people to bet a lot of money on the fact
that somebody you'll be running a successful business they can profit off of.

Selling dreams is significantly harder then selling snake oil. And you don't
even have snake oil yet.

