
YC Open Office Hours - dshankar
http://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-open-office-hours
======
staunch
Most great startups would not exist if not for the work of some critical
helper in a position to help.

Apple had Mike Markkula, Facebook had Sean Parker, Airbnb had Michael Siebel,
and Viaweb had Julian Weber. The list endless.

The ingredients are: great founders + great products + great helpers.

It's easy to say that great founders with great products will attract great
helpers, but that ignores how few great helpers there are and how inefficient
the "market" is.

YC is the _greatest_ helper of startups in the history of startups, and
expanding that help to a wider group is a great thing for the world.

~~~
JacobAldridge
And I would add, many of the best founders (tech startup or otherwise) are
those willing to ask for help and listen to advice. Those founders who fear
revealing their flaws and so avoid talking to mentors and colleagues are
always woefully underprepared to go to market (where, you know, you not only
reveal your flaws but do it in the context of asking for currency).

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mwseibel
Hey folks - Kat and I so excited to announce this new program - happy to
answer any questions

~~~
danieljoonlee
Thank you for this opportunity. I've noticed ycombinator has been trying a lot
of new things, and trying their best to reach out to as many people as
possible. You guys are great!

~~~
mwseibel
thanks!

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forrestthewoods
Can any focus be given to rural communities? For example the coal miners of
Kentucky. [https://medium.com/backchannel/canary-in-the-code-
mine-90388...](https://medium.com/backchannel/canary-in-the-code-
mine-903884eca853)

As someone who grew up in the rural South I'm saddened by how overlooked it's
communities are. Poverty is wide spread but services and activist groups are
lacking. No one cares about rednecks.

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matheweis
I put down Skype on my application because Mountain View is a 12 hour drive
from here... but now I'm wondering; does Skype vs in-person have an effect on
whether you'd be accepted?

... 'cause I'm pretty sure I'd make that drive for the chance to meet with the
YC partners if it made any difference :)

~~~
katm
Choosing Skype vs. in-person won't have any effect on whether you're accepted.

------
UshZilla
Just applied for the veteran opening and very excited about the prospect! It's
encouraging and helpful to see a few initiatives like this spring up.

TechStars has been running a sort of primer on entrepreneurship for veterans
([http://patriotbootcamp.org/](http://patriotbootcamp.org/)) for a few years
now, but that's aimed at people just trying to figure out what's going on.

The YC opportunity seems more appropriate for those of us who are all-in and
already building great companies. A nice evolution, and an important gap
filled- thanks YC!

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cperciva
_Additionally, Amazon is generously offering $5,000 in AWS credit for all
participating teams._

This seems really dangerous -- it creates a huge incentive for companies to
waste YC's time. There aren't many things early startup founders can do which
are worth more than $15000/hour. Sure, you can probably filter out many AWS-
credit-seekers via the application process, but that adds more work for the
people who read through all the applications.

Have you considered either (a) refusing the credits, or (b) taking a small
number and handing them out to the most "deserving" startups at the end of the
day?

~~~
fragsworth
At the risk of sounding too cynical, have you considered that Amazon is likely
paying YC as much or more for the opportunity to offer this credit? And that
maybe this whole deal is at least partially because Amazon wants to acquire
new customers?

~~~
x0x0
Without taking any position on whether YC would be willing to sell their
reputation like that (personally, I'd say almost certainly not), I can't
imagine amazon would be willing to pay the price they'd charge.

------
miiiiiike
Kat's great! Easily one of the most competent people I've met and she went out
of her way to sit down with me in New York.

Bonus: For some reason Twitter now sends me a notification every time she
tweets about Rick and Morty.. I'm mostly ok with it!

------
pcmaffey
This is an excellent strategic move to improve YC's pattern recognition of
alternative signals coming from "diverse" marginalized groups.

Continually impressed.

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vishalzone2002
I work in USA on a visa. Can I apply under international category?

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iMuzz
If our founding team includes an Army vet AND an international founder.. which
one should we apply for?

~~~
katm
Apply for both! Or either.

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glxc
what will YC Research address?

~~~
dang
That's a separate announcement, of course, but I'm pretty sure it's coming
soon.

