
Open Application for YC Growth Program - cbcowans
http://blog.ycombinator.com/open-application-for-yc-growth-program/
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dm8
How does total number of employees is a good proxy for success of the company?

In my opinion, total number of employees is a bad proxy as it fundamentally
masquerades the unit economics and profit margins once they have revenue in
several multiples of millions (which is what founders should have on their
mind all the time if growth is healthy). Also, naturally logistics related
startups will have more full time employees vs. pure SaaS company. Venture
business is run by outliers. And 2 of the outliers of last 5-6 years were
Instagram and WhatsApp - both of which had less than 50 employees at the time
of sale.

Would love to hear thoughts of YC on this.

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2arrs2ells
When I went through YC, one of the things the partners beat into our heads was
"more employees ≠ success." I don't think that's changed.

I see the headcount guidelines for YC Growth not as a belief that "headcount =
success," but instead an attempt to create a batch of companies facing similar
challenges - the people challenges that come as a company grows from 50->150.

If you can avoid the 50->150 problems by scaling your company's impact without
having to scale headcount, that's incredible! You might not need YC Growth.

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Lordarminius
I wonder at the design of this program and what incentive the is to join:

 _...The Growth Program is designed for companies with between 50 – 150
employees that are scaling rapidly. Ideal candidates are companies that expect
to double employees, revenue, customers, etc in the next year of
operation...._

Why would I spend 3 months of my time (time I could apply to running my
company), if I already had this level of success ? Plus, no promise of a
funding round.

What am I missing​ ?

~~~
tzar
One doesn't just coast after entering that phase of growth, there is a
completely new and very real set of problems and challenges to face. If I were
running a company with 100 employees and I expected that to double in the next
year, I'd want all of the help I could get. I'd have no reason to believe that
this would be any less difficult than the earlier stage of that company.

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an4rchy
Are you guys open to companies that may conflict with current portfolio or
would that be an auto disqualify? Especially, since this is not directly tied
to funding.

~~~
freddier
For some years now the average YC batch size has been 100+ companies. With so
many companies, it's inevitable to select and support competitors. My
experience is that conflict of interest is not a thing at that stage.

If you feel like you're competing with other companies at seed/A stage, maybe
your market is too small?

In short: Yes, they'll select you.

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OoTheNigerian
Have you considered how this will impact people who are running a business
with 50+ employees 10000km and 9hours time zones away from the Bay Area?

As it is, it's definitely optimized for US companies who can afford to fly in
for the weekly dinners without allowing their companies suffer from their 3
month absence.

~~~
jacquesm
YC is US centric, and more specifically SV centric. If you are not in a
position to benefit from this that will no doubt skew the situation even
further away from a level playing field but that is how the rest of the world
feels anyway. All attempts to duplicate Silicon Valley to date have failed.

~~~
peterburkimsher
Taiwan has plenty of talented people [1] [2], but there aren't as many
accelerators like YC over here.

If any investors are disillusioned with living in the US, you're welcome to
visit Taiwan!

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16271384](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16271384)
[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16272114](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16272114)

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machinecontrol
Is there a demo day or expectation of a Series A round of funding at the
conclusion of the program?

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arowghani
No Demo Day or fundraising event currently planned.

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allenleein
Just wondering: Why Elon Musk did not go to YC when he starts SpaceX?

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mkagenius
I think he already had a (successful) startup experience by that time and also
some money.

~~~
allenleein
So it means founders who have a (successful) startup experience and money
don't need YC?

