

If we reveal our idea in our YC app and don't accept, would YC possibly recommend it to other, participating teams? - limeade


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dfranke
From the application form:

"We don't make any formal promise about secrecy, but we don't plan to let
anyone outside Y Combinator see these applications, including other startups
we fund."

~~~
staunch
That addresses the question partially. It says they're not going to do
anything short-sighted and evil like others might.

I think it's wise to trust the YC partners not to do anything intentionally
nefarious, but to assume the worst of their unconscious minds.

When smart people read hundreds of ideas its got to cause a huge swarm in
their heads. Most of the ideas get immediately buried in the unconscious.
There's a definite chance a YC applicant's idea could eventually emerge and
find its way in into a YC-funded company, in some form.

I definitely don't think this is a reason to not submit your application
though. Everyone is going to know your idea after you launch anyway. If
secrecy is your biggest asset you're in so much trouble this is a trivial
concern.

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palish
They're going to give your ideas to your closest competitors. Haven't you
heard of Competitor Day?

/old

But seriously, ideas are totally worthless. I thought my totally awesome idea
for a productivity site was worth a billion dollars too. And I built it and
released it, and you know what? Nobody cared, and rightly so, because it was
poorly executed. Now I'm playing catch-up with the design by making things
cleaner, streamlined, and simple. _That_ is what matters, not whatever your
idea is. Though it's not until you've been steamrolled by brett and his
clickable calendar that one can really understand that, maybe. :)

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zaidf
To play devil's advocate, what if YC folks have already thought of the idea
you had(and obviously did not pick you for reasons other than your idea)? See,
it goes both ways.

Bottomline: it is very difficult in this environment with start-ups launching
left and right to claim ownership of a certain idea, even between two parties.

~~~
rms
I got the impression that the YCs had discussed the idea my team applied with
before we had applied. This only helped us land the interview, because they
knew we were trying to tackle a big, important unsolved problem.

They certainly haven't launched a company doing what we wanted to do and no
other YC company has, so you really don't need to worry about them
stealing/sharing your idea. It's just not worth it for them.

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andreyf
PG has answered this - no.

------
herdrick
No.

