
Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding - pg
http://ycombinator.com/s2009.html
======
pg
A couple new things this cycle:

It's going to be in Silicon Valley, not Boston, in case anyone still hasn't
heard about that (<http://ycombinator.com/ycca.html>). Fortunately the
Mountain View office is much bigger. We were pretty much at the limit in
Cambridge.

Also, we're asking applicants to submit videos introducing themselves this
time. Thanks for Posterous for saving me from having to write code to deal
with submitted videos!

~~~
cperciva
_we're asking applicants to submit videos introducing themselves_

I'm glad I'm not applying this time.

Never mind the irritation of figuring out how to create a video (I'm sure it's
easy, but why spend time figuring that out when I could be hacking?) -- I
simply don't video well, especially in artificial-seeming situations. And I
don't think a video would tell you anything useful about me anyway; my most
natural voice is the written voice, so that's what you should listen to if you
want to learn anything about me.

I can see a couple of potential advantages to requiring an introductory video
-- first, it allows you to detect some fraudulent applications; and second, it
raises the bar for entry, thus removing some of the less serious applications
-- but my impression from everything I've read here is that neither of those
are particularly problematic even without videos. I'll admit that some people
speak better in video than in writing -- although I think this applies more
often to business people than to hackers -- but surely the right solution to
deal with such people is to make an introductory video _optional_ , not to
make it _mandatory_. I know there's a lot you can see when you engage a
candidate in conversation which you can't see on a written page; but a
unilateral video doesn't tell you how well someone can carry on a bilateral or
multilateral conversation either.

I'm sure you guys have some reason for this... but I certainly can't see it.
Why?

~~~
pg
We've found that someone talking live is a _much_ higher bandwidth form of
communication than words typed into a form. As well as words you get gestures,
intonation, the vibe between a group of cofounders, etc.

But people shouldn't worry that they "video badly." We're not (I hope) so dumb
that we'd be taken in by people who are merely smooth presenters. We come from
the world of people who video badly ourselves. If we'd been applying for
Viaweb, I'd have had to negotiate with Rtm how many words he'd say, and I'd be
lucky if I got it as high as 10.

~~~
cperciva
I absolutely agree that a video of someone talking is a much _higher
bandwidth_ form of communication. Similarly, usenet was higher bandwidth in
1995 than it was in 1985 -- but that doesn't mean that it was _more useful_ ,
only that there was far more noise.

Maybe this will work out fine, but I worry that with a video you'll pick up
things like "this guy seems uncomfortable" but not be able to identify the
reasons why (is he uncomfortable with the rest of his group? Or just
uncomfortable being in front of a camera?) -- or worse, get a subjective sense
that a video isn't very inspiring without even identifying what you're
noticing, never mind figuring out whether what you're noticing is signal or
noise.

There's a reason why most professional symphony orchestras use blind
auditions: While nobody disputes the fact that being able to see a musician
play is valuable, experience has shown that the noise it introduces is more
significant than the signal. Simply put, eliminating the high bandwidth
distraction of being able to see someone allows orchestras to pick better
people.

~~~
pg
We could do blind auditions if a startup had already launched, in the sense
that we could just look at stats like their traffic growth. But at the stage
we're trying to pick startups, we almost never have such data. So our
situation is more analogous to trying to pick people who could become good
musicians, before they'd taken any lessons. At our stage, you're judging the
people-- so it's useful to see the people.

------
martythemaniak
It'd be interesting to see how many applications YC gets compared to this time
last year (as a % change).

On one hand, people might be pretty worried about taking a risk like this now
that the economic turmoil has really started to hit the labour market and not
apply as much. OTOH, recently laid-off people might flood YC with
applications, even if they would not consider it before.

~~~
palish
It seems like there will be a sharp decline in the number of applications
because of the effort required to produce a video introducing the founders,
even if it's a simple video. That is a Good Thing though because it will
probably filter out most of the low-quality apps (a 13-year old single-founder
applicant probably wouldn't take the time to make the video, for example).

On the other hand, if you ever wanted to Goatse PG, here's your chance.

~~~
menloparkbum
?! Outside of setting world records for texting, pretty much the only thing 13
year olds do these days is post videos of themselves to the internet. The
effort required to make a sub-minute intro video has almost reached zero.

~~~
palish
I should've selected the example more carefully. If the first few seconds of
the video is of a 13 year old, then the app can probably safely be discarded,
so it's still a decent low-quality filter.

Also, if you put "almost zero" effort into your intro video, then it's going
to suck. I don't know what YC is looking for in the video, but it seems like
you'll have a higher chance of them funding you if they see that you have at
least one naturally-charismatic founder, in addition to a very skilled
technical one. The video can show your charisma, just like the application can
show your technical skill.

It still seems like the total number of fully-completed applications will
decrease because of the video. But again, that's a good thing.

~~~
ljlolel
So you would've thrown out Aaron Swartz's young face? (Aaron co-founded of
Reddit)

~~~
palish
Thirteen year old: <http://www.canbymn.org/dhoyme/Zach.MVC-004S.JPG>

Seventeen year old: <http://www.iamthewitness.com/Bollyn/RogerHolyfield.jpg>

Eighteen year old Aaron Swartz in 2005: [http://graphics.boston.com/bonzai-
fba/Original_Photo/2007/09...](http://graphics.boston.com/bonzai-
fba/Original_Photo/2007/09/06/1189079344_5333.jpg)

Also, I just realized that doing a Google image search for "thirteen year old
boy" at a public coffee shop might not be such a good idea.

------
arien
Are applications from outside America accepted? How are they handled if they
were selected?

I'm somewhat new to the YC funding process, not sure if I can find this info
somewhere (a link would be appreciated if that's the case).

Thank you!

~~~
webwright
<http://ycombinator.com/faq.html>

~~~
paulsb
What if you have already registered your company in another country, i.e. a
limited company in the UK?

------
pclark
PS: Video Applications now required, interesting:
<http://ycombinator.com/video.html>

> In the video please introduce yourselves, explain what you're doing and why,
> and tell us anything else you want to about the founders or the project.

~~~
pg
We'd been meaning to do this, but it required me to add support for uploading
videos. Fortunately Posterous appeared and solved the problem way more
thoroughly than I would have.

~~~
siong1987
"If you want to apply, please submit your application online by 10 pm PST on
March 18, 2009. Groups that submit early have an advantage because we have
more time to read their applications."

Do we have the chance to update the submitted video with our latest video? For
instance, if we decide to submit the application with the video before the
deadline, then, decide to update the video later. Can we do so?

~~~
pclark
> Edit and resubmit as much as you want, but be sure to submit at least once
> before the deadline (March 18 at 10 pm PST), because you haven't applied
> till you do.

I assume they simply use the most recent application...

~~~
siong1987
I know. But, are they going to use the latest video?

~~~
pg
The last video url you put in the form field will overwrite whatever was there
before. We might see an earlier video if you submit your application early, we
look at it, and then you update and submit again before the deadline. But (a)
it would be very unlikely that all three of us would independently do that and
(b) we'd probably also check the new one after applications closed and we
started reading them in earnest.

------
lionheart
So what should I do if I want to be a part of this but don't have an idea or
any partners?

This is hypothetical right now, but I am very seriously considering applying
next summer.

~~~
alain94040
[shameless plug - read all before modding down] find another community of
people interested in starting software/online businesses. I launched
<http://fairsoftware.net> almost 6 months ago at TC50. We host a bunch of
projects, most private, but some public. Join an existing project or put a
call out there for ideas.

My motto: "Succeed Together". The team is the solution, not the problem. Once
you got your team of passionate people, apply to YC!

[before you mod me down, feel free to contribute other places on the web where
people can find partners that would qualify to start a YC-funded business. If
you have a decent list, then mod me down. If you can't come up with more
places, then accept that my plug really is informative :-) ]

------
anuraggoel
"(c) Half or more of your group can't move to the Bay Area for the winter. (d)
One or more founders will keep their current jobs during the winter."

Shouldn't this be summer?

~~~
pg
Oops, yes, will fix. Edit: fixed.

------
kbrower
Is there any place to get YC like advice and connections without the
requirement of moving to Mountain View for 3 months?

~~~
pclark
the internet

------
helveticaman
Does a weak application hurt applications in later rounds?

------
helveticaman
Will applying now affect future applications?

------
Haskell
I don't know if this already has been answered before, but how do you evaluate
if a candidate has a sense of design?

~~~
pg
By things they've made, either in the past, or the project they're applying
with.

~~~
Haskell
Thanks. Maybe it was lost in translation, but by Design do you mean appearance
(like in graphical, interface, industrial design) or architecture (like
operating system design)?

If it's the former, I hope you don't get offended by it, but I think, looking
at HN and your website, that you wouldn't be accepted. :) Nor would Sergey and
Page.

~~~
pg
Both. They're the same thing.

Good design doesn't mean fancy design. Quite the opposite.

~~~
Haskell
I also didn't mean fancy design.

But in your 'startup ideas', in the idea #16, you said Google has no sense of
design, so I suppose that the people responsible for it (Google founders
originally. Marissa Meyer with a team of designer now days, I believe)
wouldn't be accepted in YC.

And that is more of a rhetoric observation. I know they would.

But then isn't the 'sense of design' requirement unnecessary?

~~~
pg
Paradoxically, early Google both had no sense of (visual) design and yet
managed to produce results that are way above average. The reason was that
(perhaps knowing they weren't good at visual things) they just kept everything
as simple as possible. It was like the design equivalent of a low-fee index
fund, which despite not even pretending to know how to pick stocks,
consistently generates above average net returns because of the low fees.

------
minalecs
Do All founders need to submit a separate application ? couldn't find it in
the FAQ?

~~~
unalone
No. You submit one for your team. However, each member needs a Hacker News
username.

Good luck!

------
nopassrecover
Why does the "March 18" link on PaulGraham.com go to a PollEverywhere site?

~~~
pg
Oops, fixed. (Polleverywhere was in the summer 2008 cycle, and I used to have
a link to them there.)

------
maxer
my idea would be really good but flights to silicon valley from ireland arnt
cheap and im the only founder, not going to bother applying

~~~
maxer
thought i had a valid point, $600 wouldnt cover my costs

