

Gittip's YC application - GuiA
https://github.com/gittip/www.gittip.com/issues/1404#issuecomment-24261250

======
rdl
Comments as an alum:

probably wouldn't make the app public pre-submission; after is fine. this is a
minor point though.

video: try to boost the audio level. maybe edit it to be a little tighter (if
you can). the first part was good, point 2 didn't seem as strong (I don't
believe "not paying our employees" is a long-term sustainable thing, but you
could say the same thing as "employees believe in it so much they're working
for free right now..."). Also, on point one, be clear how exactly gittip helps
open source companies -- i.e. what it lets them do which they couldn't
otherwise do. I don't actually care about "helps maxcdn" as much as I care
about "helps maxcdn do x, y" or helps their customers ...

an amazing 1 minute video is the ideal. it is mainly to communicate about
you/your team, vs. the idea, but having one or two things which anyone who
watches the video takes away from it would be good. ("gittip lets people work
on open source projects without having to be purely after-hours or go the VC
route" would be my view of gittip)

"I helped launch an organic produce growers cooperative." \-- maybe another
sentence about what you specifically did. As it is, it could be just coming up
with a sign for it, or setting up a mailing list...

the hack was cool.

I'd downplay the wife/kids/mortgage (because they're not unique to you). It
should be "able to spend the 3 months at YC, I work on gittip full time". That
your wife might spend 3 months with you is a plus.

Live near Pittsburgh and expect to come back is good BECAUSE it helps your
business -- great developers and less competition for them. Same result, but
phrased in a more productive way.

In general I'd try to make the "big picture" more clear on how vs. why. "care
for one another, inclusion, etc" are more like goals vs. methods, I think.
Talk about how gittip will move the world toward those goals more.

~~~
whit537
Thanks rdl! :D

> probably wouldn't make the app public pre-submission; after is fine. this is
> a minor point though.

I submitted the application at the same time as I posted it to GitHub.

> video: [...]

The audio seems to have gotten muddier in transcoding, but maybe I'm making
that up. Like a dork I deleted the original (can you believe it?). :-/

As far as points two and three go, do you really think there's time in the
video to go very deep with those? The video is already twice as long as called
for. I've spoken and written a lot about these themes over the past year. The
links, especially under "What's new?" lead further down the rabbit hole.

But what you're saying is that those points need to be punchier, not longer.
I'll stew on it, maybe record another take in a few days.

> "I helped launch an organic produce growers cooperative." \-- maybe another
> sentence about what you specifically did. As it is, it could be just coming
> up with a sign for it, or setting up a mailing list...

Fair enough. I've added: "I did everything from writing bylaws to pricing and
sales to driving truck."

> I'd downplay the wife/kids/mortgage.

I took out the sentence (from the concurrent commitments question), "My wife
is open to discussing the possibility of my being in Mountain View for three
months if it makes sense for Gittip."

> Live near Pittsburgh and expect to come back is good BECAUSE it helps your
> business -- great developers and less competition for them. Same result, but
> phrased in a more productive way.

Hmmm ... I've got a lot of connections and friends in the tech scene here, but
I'm not depending on Pittsburgh for talent. Gittip today is a global
distributed team. I'm in Pittsburgh because my family and friends are here.
You think I need to explain Pittsburgh in my answer?

> In general I'd try to make the "big picture" more clear on how vs. why.
> "care for one another, inclusion, etc" are more like goals vs. methods, I
> think. Talk about how gittip will move the world toward those goals more.

In the video or in the application somewhere or in blog posts or what?

~~~
rdl
I meant I wouldn't make it public until after I heard back from YC, not just
until you submitted it.

Yes -- the video should be shorter (a minute), and punchier.

I'd add that gittip is already a global distributed team, but that you like
living in Pittsburgh (family, friends, etc.), then.

It's essentially a hard requirement that you spend 3mo in MV for YC; other
than that, flexible (although if you raise money, I'd plan on spending at
least a few days per month in sfba ongoing, and a few weeks at a time during
things like raising...)

~~~
whit537
> I meant I wouldn't make it public until after I heard back from YC, not just
> until you submitted it.

Publishing early is part of Gittip's "share as much as possible" principle. I
don't have private conversations about Gittip if I can help it. :-)

> I'd add that gittip is already a global distributed team, but that you like
> living in Pittsburgh (family, friends, etc.), then.

Done. Thanks.

> It's essentially a hard requirement that you spend 3mo in MV for YC.

Understood.

> although if you raise money

We're not going to be raising money, because we price to cost and so we don't
have any profit to offer VCs. PG suggested we fill out the non-profit
application, even though we're not a 501(c)(3), either:

[https://twitter.com/paulg/status/376129437676228608](https://twitter.com/paulg/status/376129437676228608)

~~~
rdl
Yeah, I don't think "not currently a 501(c)(3)" is a showstopper -- you
probably could become one, and even if not, gittip is clearly a legitimate
project, not "a non-profit app to throw a party for my younger sister" or
something.

Making the app concise and memorable is important for p or np just the same.

~~~
whit537
> Making the app concise and memorable is important for p or np just the same.

Agreed! Thanks for all the great feedback. :-)

------
Eduardo3rd
I think that I've heard YC partners say that the private, off the books
conversations that happen at YC between visiting entrepreneurs and the people
in the batch are some of the most valuable parts of the experience.

Aren't some of the the off the record things done at YC (speakers at weekly
dinners, some meetings with the partners, etc) kind of at odds with the Gittip
philosophy?

~~~
whit537
You might be right. It's somewhat vexing for how I want to run Gittip that any
face-to-face communication is harder to make public than communication that
happens on the Internet first. I have to record and publish later ... or wear
Google Glass, I suppose. :-(

But what I hear you saying is that there are parts of YC that I wouldn't be
welcome to publish at all. Yes?

~~~
Eduardo3rd
Yeah, that's basically what I was saying. From what I understand (and I could
be mistaken here) your company is completely transparent about everything that
pertains to the business. I'd be willing to bet that makes some things (like
getting into accelerator programs or meeting with some investors) extremely
difficult, but it is a commendable experiment nonetheless.

Best of luck with your application and business as a whole!

~~~
whit537
Thanks! Should be interesting to see how this plays out one way or another.
:-)

