

Apply early for Y Combinator if you want to be considered - natmaster
https://ntucker.true.io/ntucker/apply-early-for-ycombinator-if-you-want-to-be-considered/

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Yadi
I don't think that was the case for the fellowship.

Applied after the 2 days with my team! Didn't get a view on anything not even
a click. Again, yeah it might be the case that it was nothing interesting to
them and just skipped it. But to be honest it's a bit disappointing to see no
indication that someone have actually looked at 2 days of work.

Because in a startup life, 2 days (48 hours) would be enough to build and ship
a feature to a customer.

I agree though with the regular YC applications, I've heard that advice more
than a few times from past alums.

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davnicwil
I also applied at the last hour.

My video got one full length view, it says from Texas. My demo wasn't signed
into, don't know about hits because it doesn't have analytics. In any case
there's nothing to see before signing in!

It was a very nice lead, and one it's been very useful in following. It
spurred me to get a demo up and forced me to explain my idea in less than one
minute of speech and very few written words. All these things have been very
valuable learning experiences and have put my project in a better state now.

6500 applications about very early stage ideas, none of which have traction.
Imagine trying to pick a few hundred (?) prospects from that pool for
interview. Statistically speaking they'd probably be more likely to pick
winners by throwing away 75% at random, and giving that much extra
consideration to the remaining pool, such is the level of noise introduced
having to try and read and consider 6500 applications in such a short amount
of time.

Who knows, maybe that's precisely what happened, maybe not so explicitly, but
perhaps they'd already picked 95% of their interviewees upon reading the first
25% of applications, so late applications were, statistically, not on the same
playing field. I agree with your conclusion there, I think they even say it
themselves, strongly implying this is the case (why wouldn't it be?).

All in all, for others in this boat, don't be disappointed or annoyed that
your application doesn't seem like it was given much consideration. It
couldn't have been in the end. This was an experiment, it was free money, the
application pool included remote teams and was therefore global. No traction
or even a demo was required, just a short application form and video. Of
course the intense competition was going to wash your idea into a sea of
noise. Who with an idea they were working on fairly seriously wouldn't apply?
Many, many, many great ideas by brilliant people will have been overlooked
because of the noise, it's nobody's fault, just a statistical inevitability.

Your project is in the same position now as it was before you heard about
this, actually probably a bit more advanced with the extra weeks, plus the
application process giving you a bit of a kick up the proverbial. You've lost
nothing but a potential opportunity, and there are plenty more out there.

Crack on!

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jstandard
It's nice that you related some of your experience to others.

The "conclusion" seems outrageously obvious though and I'm not quite sure why
you focused on it.

In almost any competitive application process it benefits you to apply earlier
if your goal is to receive a more thorough review.

Perhaps you can talk a bit more about other factors or advice on what you felt
you should have done better.

~~~
rue
A properly competitive process wouldn’t start the review until the deadline,
and would randomize the order of submission.

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rosege
I've been reading about so many startups on here that I read this as App-ly
and thought it was the name of a new app/startup

