

How not to Pitch To Y Combinator (2006) - DanielRibeiro
http://damienkatz.net/2006/11/how_not_to_pitc.html

======
pg
I don't remember this interview very well because it was several hundred
interviews ago, but IIRC we were already sufficiently sold on CouchDB just
based on its reputation, and the main thing we were trying to figure out was
whether Damien would be able to survive as a single founder. Which would
explain why our questions might have seemed random to someone who thought the
point of the convo was to sell us on the technology.

~~~
wave
In this type of situation, simply telling someone the concern you have and
asking to address it may lessen the misunderstanding.

~~~
pg
We probably did, though I can't remember for sure.

------
wheels
You wouldn't get to give a slick presentation even if you had one. We had a
few bullet points on a piece of paper that we wanted to hit and I think we
maybe hit one of five (and were accepted). We actually had a bunch of
supporting materials that we never used. The starting point generally seems to
be the demo and then your ability to talk about it. We did have various demo-y
things on my laptop loaded up and ready to go, so when there was a question
of, "Can you do..." I could just pull it up immediately.

But he's right that you should pitch lots of people. That gets you used to
talking about what you're doing. It's really easy when you've been too close
to an idea for a while to assume what you're saying makes sense, when it often
doesn't without the right context.

I wrote some about our interview here:

[http://blog.directededge.com/2009/11/05/the-interview-
with-y...](http://blog.directededge.com/2009/11/05/the-interview-with-y-
combinator-thats-not/)

------
raminf
Favorite line: "... This is just the first in a long string of rejections I
have planned."

This is going on my wall of inspiring quotes.

~~~
redwoods
Yup

------
gcheong
Side note. I think this speech by Damien Katz is one of the most inspiring
I've ever heard.

<http://www.infoq.com/presentations/katz-couchdb-and-me>

~~~
mahmud
I am half way through it and couldn't wait to confirm this.

Damian Katz is a fine human being, and an artist. Never knew much about him
before, but as of now, I consider him a role model.

------
rfugger
I had a YC interview in 2008, and the experience was the same. We kept trying
to give a demo, and they kept sidetracking us. I think they do it on purpose
to see how you handle the situation. I didn't handle it well. I basically
turned into an argument :)

~~~
pg
"I think they do it on purpose to see how you handle the situation."

We do so many interviews a day that we don't have the energy to be tricky. The
reason we keep asking questions is simply that we have questions.

------
edanm
I wonder how much things have changed. pg and co. now have 4 years of
experience funding hundreds and interviewing probably 10s of thousands of
startups, I assume they're much better at it.

------
il
Everything I've seen on HN leads me to believe YC would rather invest in a Woz
than a Jobs.

~~~
pg
You need both (or one person who has both characteristics).

~~~
bhousel
Just curious, how often do you interview a founder that has both
characteristics? I've met a few people like that, but it's definitely a
rarity.

~~~
pg
We often interview people who have both to some degree-- i.e. are both
formidable people and good hackers. It is of course much rarer to meet someone
who is as good as each of those two at the part they were best at.

------
startupdream
I thought y combinator were nice people, and the investors were the bad guys,
danielriberio you rule!

~~~
DanielRibeiro
I'm sorry, but this is not a YC grievance comment by any stretch. And it is
not mine. Damien Katz wrote it a long time ago, and he is not bitter.

I submitted to HN as I could not find it posted here, and wanted to know the
community had to say. I had in mind it would foster a discussion on YC
interview tips and experiences, which are sorely lacking arond the web
(specially failed interviews, and these teach more than successful ones).

NOTE: There are some public YC interviews on the web, namely: Adioso's
(<http://tomhoward.co/our-y-combinator-interview-experience>) and Directed
Edge's ([http://blog.directededge.com/2009/11/05/the-interview-
with-y...](http://blog.directededge.com/2009/11/05/the-interview-with-y-
combinator-thats-not/))

This is also an old post (2006), and YC guys probably learned a lot in the
mean time. About Damien's comment _It's a Flawed Process. Tough Shit Fella_ ,
even pg admitted it can happen when talking about competing seeds on his
recent interview to Forbes ([http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1108/best-
small-companies-...](http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/1108/best-small-
companies-10-y-combinator-paul-graham-disruptor_4.html)):

 _Graham welcomes the competition. "It's better for entrepreneurs," he says.
"If we make a mistake and don't fund somebody great, they still have a
chance."_

