
Tips for applying to YC - smilliken
http://entreposeur.com/yc-feedback-sharing
======
pg
I'd swap 2 and 3. We'd rather fund good people in a small market (since they
can change what they're doing) than bad people in a big market (since they
can't change themselves).

And since 1 is not usually something applicants can dictate, it comes down to
3.

To me the most important thing is whether the founders seem impressive. If I
find myself thinking "these guys know what they're talking about, and they get
stuff done" I give the application a good grade. So the most valuable thing
you can do in the application is to convey that.

If there's something you can tell about yourself that demonstrates you're an
effective person, tell us about it, whether it has anything to do with this
idea or not. And if you have some insight about the problem you plan to solve
that shows you understand it deeply, be sure to include it. We ask leading
questions designed to elicit both; you can probably pick them out pretty
easily.

~~~
newchimedes
so if we don't have phenomenal growth (ie "$100k in revenue in your first
month or 10k users in 24 hours") we still have a chance?

Does anyone know examples of YC companies who are in small markets? I was
under the impression they only liked larger markets (since they are more
fundable by vc's and the like).

~~~
pg
Of course you don't need phenomenal growth. Most of the best companies we've
funded didn't have it when they applied.

Looking for YC cos in small markets could be misleading. By the time you know
they're YC cos, they've been exposed to YC and so would have been encouraged
to reconsider their market if they were in a bad one. There may be some that
are still in what seem to be small markets, but if so that's probably because
they're in the Altair Basic phase.

~~~
bfe
A few like Wakemate and Octopart come to mind where they seem to serve small
markets now, but it's easy to see how they could branch out into huge adjacent
market space - not necessarily as obliquely as Microsoft starting from Altair
Basic, more like Amazon starting out as just an online bookstore.

------
ed
(Usual caveats: I'm not a YC partner and I'm just generalizing based on my
limited observation.)

The "things the partners generally look for" seems very big VC and doesn't
actually match up with what I've seen.

When YC says they prefer to back smart founders they mean it. You should
either be demonstrably smart (winning-the-putnam, twice, smart), or have
amazing traction, or both.

Since you've probably had a lot of time to prove you're smart the best advice
you can follow now is this: start hustling to build your business.

(Incidentally "gets shit done" is probably the most common trait I've noticed
across YC founders.)

If you're thinking of quitting your job to do a startup, you should probably
quit. If you don't have a cofounder, finding one should become your fulltime
job. Etc. Generally find what's going wrong and work around it.

YC alum are amazingly responsive and willing to help (keep in mind they're
really busy). You should definitely seek them out during the process.

------
tomsaffell
See also: <http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html>

I'd recommend every applicant read it twice, parse out the 'rules', then
iterate over each question in their application ensuring that each 'rule' is
applied. And remember:

PG: _I suspect for every group we invite to interviews, there are one or two
more that are just as good but that we pass over because they don't manage to
convey how good they are._

~~~
kashd2001
Thanks for pointing that out; I meant to include it at the end and completely
forgot. In there now!

------
earbitscom
I was (lord knows why) asked to do a series of brief how-to business videos
for SoCal startup DocStoc and one topic I did was Writing an Effective YC
Application. Pretty much reiterates everything from this article and PG's
comments in video format: [http://www.docstoc.com/video/96634238/writing-an-
effective-y...](http://www.docstoc.com/video/96634238/writing-an-effective-y-
combinator-application)

------
nateberkopec
I guess I'm going to have to add "entreposeur.com" to the list of domains I
wish I'd thought of first.

------
jconley
The least emphasized, and I think most important, point here is that the
application will help you better define your business and why you're doing it
with your current cofounder(s). Much like an AngelList profile, I'd say it's
worth a few hours of your time, if only for the exercise of thinking hard
about your business rather than just executing on it.

~~~
kashd2001
Absolutely, I should have emphasized that more (maybe an edit). Being forced
to confront each of the questions in the app is an amazing exercise for any
startup and will do wonders for you direction and understanding of the
business.

------
revorad
Actually YC partner Harj said at the HN London meetup last Thursday that
traction is less important than the team. I was surprised by that, as it seems
to be against "make something people want". As a single unknown founder,
traction was my only bet. If my personality matters more, then it's down to
whether they like what I say about myself.

------
capkutay
Cool article...very specific to YC which is nice. Not to sound negative, I
feel like I've heard a lot of this stuff before (like when I used to follow
Guy Kawasaki on twitter), but its relevance to YC apps is especially useful.

~~~
nicholasreed
Thank you.

Most people who are in the Bay or follow YC happenings should be familiar with
most of this, but I thought it might be helpful to new applicants or those
teams who don't know YC alumni and could benefit from a bit of inside access.

------
alain94040
Any demand for adding a panel session "tips for applying to YC" to the startup
conference (next one is in Los Angeles)?

~~~
nicholasreed
I think that is a great idea; as jconley pointed out, the YC app is first and
foremost a great way to deep-think about your startup and how you'll be
successful. Any time spent understanding the reasoning behind the questions
and how to concisely what you're building can only improve your company.

