[HN Gopher] YC is doing a first ever Fall batch - applications d...
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YC is doing a first ever Fall batch - applications due by 8/27
Author : Astroboy007
Score : 99 points
Date : 2024-08-06 19:21 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.ycombinator.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.ycombinator.com)
| pxeger1 wrote:
| If you start a spring batch, what letter will you use to
| disambiguate it from summer batches? (S24)
| zulban wrote:
| They'll use daylight savings time, so S25 is spring 2024, until
| next year where it falls back to S25 being summer 2025.
| bradgessler wrote:
| On brand for "do things that don't scale"
| dang wrote:
| That was the first question that came up when Dalton announced
| this at YC yesterday :)
|
| I vote for P because it's the second letter of Spring and it
| goes well with _printemps_ and _primavera_.
| j45 wrote:
| I'm not sure I understand the relevance. More startups can try
| to happen? Maybe it can be more continuous supports being 4
| seasons instead of 2?
| wlesieutre wrote:
| They mean how people write "S23" for summer 2023 batch or
| "W23" for winter, since there are two seasons that start with
| S it would have to be abbreviated P25 or R25 or SP25 etc.
| instead
| ks2048 wrote:
| Easier to just name batches using seconds-since-the-epoch, so
| you don't have worry about such collisions.
| airstrike wrote:
| yeah, but what about leap seconds?
| hardwaregeek wrote:
| SG24 (SprinG) and SR24 (SummeR)?
| mattigames wrote:
| Embrace modern glyphs, use the summer emoji and the autumn
| emoji (I tried to add them here but unfortunately HN removes
| them from comments)
| user90131313 wrote:
| it comes with free commercial drugs with exclusive credits? Great
| one
| raverbashing wrote:
| Openai API key with some $k of credits most likely
| aidenn0 wrote:
| I certainly would be surprised if it were their second Fall _24_
| batch...
| incognito124 wrote:
| Congratulations on making a total stranger laugh their heart
| out!
| sevg wrote:
| Yeah, have to say it can be annoying when titles get
| editorialized, and even more annoying when the editorialized
| title is badly written!
|
| Note to the submitter, HN FAQ says:
|
| > Otherwise please use the original title, unless it is
| misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize.
| HaZeust wrote:
| LOL, this comment got me pretty good because I thought
| something very similar when I read the title but couldn't put
| my finger on it.
| dang wrote:
| (This joke made sense when the title was "YC is doing a first
| ever Fall 24 batch". I've since changed it. Sorry!)
| rbanffy wrote:
| I was going to mention that if someone misses it, the next
| one will be in 2124, but, then, you were faster.
| skeledrew wrote:
| Was about to make a comment similar to this, then saw that the
| title'd been changed :disappointed:
| hardwaregeek wrote:
| Obviously they're referring to the 1924 batch which had MGM and
| Universal Studios. They even got Henry Ford to come to Demo
| Days!
| phone8675309 wrote:
| It would be surprising if you had a prior Fall 24 batch....
|
| Wait....
|
| All I can glean from this is that joining a YC Batch gives you
| access to a time machine.
| rbanffy wrote:
| Time is subjective. They had a couple, in fact. On the last
| fall 24 batch (don't remember the century), one group
| ("startup" doesn't make much sense in a post-scarcity post-
| human society) came up with a viable (for a Kardashev type 2)
| way to do time travel and this one was done on a dare.
| xyst wrote:
| How to get accepted in this batch: make sure you mention "AI",
| "generative pre-trained transformer", "llm" at least once in app
| ;)
| ganyu wrote:
| Can I get a guarantee to be accepted in this batch if I mention
| all 3? :P
| baxtr wrote:
| Are you sure though?
|
| AI thing is almost over for now. Need to hop on the next thing.
| Unfortunately, I have no clue what it could be.
| tamimio wrote:
| I always wondered, is YC worth the try? Are there any hidden
| details that are usually not mentioned? I hope to get answers
| from individuals who went through the process.
| n2d4 wrote:
| Going through it for my second time now, it's definitely worth
| it. There's an excess of smart people and it's transformational
| for any startup, but especially if you build in devtools like
| us. The network is strong and supportive and there's a strong
| connection even among people who never met; for example, lots
| of unicorn+ founders have their personal phone numbers on their
| profiles.
|
| The strongest argument for YC is how few alums speak out
| against it. Almost all of the negative comments come from
| people who haven't done the program.
| neilv wrote:
| > _The strongest argument for YC is how few alums speak out
| against it. Almost all of the negative comments come from
| people who haven 't done the program._
|
| I think YC has merit, but I'm just going to push back on this
| particular logic:
|
| 1. The set of people who've done X is already selected for
| people who were willing to do X in the first place.
|
| 2. In business, burning bridges with an influential network
| in which you have an in... forfeits some advantage, and
| probably invites a lot of downside.
|
| (On #2, an occasional person might decide it's a matter of
| principle, or, less-principled, do the math and decide they
| can get more individual brand mileage out of saying something
| provocatively negative. But that seems unlikely and rare.
| Related dynamics we've seen might help our intuition: how
| Hollywood almost universally shielded abusers for so long,
| and how it's very rare for a student wronged by a prestigious
| alma mater university to go public about it.)
|
| So I think there are stronger arguments for YC.
| tptacek wrote:
| If you're planning to do a business for the first time that
| will raise money, it's probably a no-brainer.
| ppqqrr wrote:
| I applied for summer 24, and got a less-than-thoughtful response
| bordering on personally insulting ("TL;DR - why don't you go back
| to your day job?"). I won't be applying anymore.
|
| Funny thing is, I didn't even want to hear back - I just like to
| fill out the application as a writing exercise, to help me get a
| snapshot of my own thinking around what I'm building.
|
| I guess it's stressful reading all those applications, but why
| respond if all you have to say is "I don't believe you"? Silence
| will do just fine; I'm aware that people don't believe me - it's
| called a startup, right?
|
| (Anyways, nbd, apologies for the tangential rant, love the
| website)
| carlosdp wrote:
| > got a less-than-thoughtful response bordering on personally
| insulting > I didn't even want to hear back - I just like to
| fill out the application as a writing exercise
|
| You admittedly wasted their time with an unserious application
| "as a writing exercise," and you're upset because they actually
| took it seriously and took the time to properly respond to it
| with honesty instead of giving you a cookie-cutter rejection?
| bartekpacia wrote:
| > You admittedly wasted their time with an unserious
| application "as a writing exercise
|
| That's not what he said.
| ppqqrr wrote:
| Just because I had little expectation of hearing back doesn't
| mean my application was unserious. It was a full length
| application, written over multiple days, about the future
| direction of my business, which already has revenue.
|
| The response was about 2 sentences long.
| iJohnDoe wrote:
| > about the future direction of my business, which already
| has revenue.
|
| Then maybe their response was spot on. You're already
| making revenue. Get back to it.
|
| Maybe you're making it loud and clear you're not a good fit
| for the program.
| mjamil wrote:
| I appreciate your perspective, but I thoroughly disagree.
| Silence is always the worst response: it signals that you
| aren't even worth the courtesy to be responded to. I'll take a
| borderline-personally-insulting response over silence any day
| of the week. That gives me the ability to analyze the
| responder's thinking (after I'm over the hit to my ego) and see
| whether I believe the responder has a point or not.
| reducesuffering wrote:
| I agree. I've only heard silence applying twice. Yet all the
| YC messaging is "apply again!" I'm curious if they ever
| consider the people who have heard nothing from them for a
| decade, when they talk about why you should apply.
| neilv wrote:
| A few questions, intended constructively:
|
| > _I didn't even want to hear back - I just like to fill out
| the application as a writing exercise, to help me get a
| snapshot of my own thinking around what I'm building._
|
| When someone submits an application to YC, asking to be
| considered, do you think it's reasonable for YC to expect that
| submission to be in _good faith_ -- that the person would like
| to pursue next steps if YC is interested?
|
| Do you think they sensed that your application wasn't a genuine
| application, and that affected their response?
|
| > _got a less-than-thoughtful response bordering on personally
| insulting ("TL;DR - why don't you go back to your day job?")_
|
| Is that a literal quote of something someone responded to you,
| or is it an interpretation of the gist of the response?
| tptacek wrote:
| A direct, blunt "no" is the second-best possible response you
| can get from an investor, and a rare one.
| thruway516 wrote:
| This. Most times its no response or a form letter. Any type
| of warm blooded response is a valuable signal, even if it's
| not one you like.
| dpifke wrote:
| I put a lot of effort into a YC application in 2019 and got
| a generic form letter rejection. If I had gotten any
| indication anyone had actually looked at it, I might
| consider applying again, but as it stands, I probably
| won't.
| sroussey wrote:
| They all get read and watched. Full stop.
|
| Maybe YC will use an llm to write nice letters to make
| people feel better. Couldn't hurt. Well, actually...
| might need proofreading!
| paxys wrote:
| So you are complaining that you filled out an application and
| they _didn 't_ ghost you? And actually offered some meaningful
| advice even though you were rejected?
| Oras wrote:
| I applied for W22, got interviewed and was rejected.
|
| The rejection email was quite thoughtful and helpful. I applied
| twice after that but didn't get an interview. Fingers crossed for
| this one.
|
| Why I'm applying?
|
| 1. Been a daily reader for HN for the last 10 years. Seen
| companies going from "Launch HN" to be a hugely successful within
| years.
|
| 2. As I'm not from the US, getting accepted would mean I will
| have at least warm intros to US VCs and build a good network.
|
| 3. Being through the YC school back in 2021, then bootstrapping
| for a year and a half, then joining another startup as a CTO, I
| started realizing how good YC advice is. Some people like me had
| to go through it practically to understand the value of YC
| videos.
| sroussey wrote:
| "Joining another startup as CTO"
|
| Here is what that means to my ears:
|
| 1) I joined as cofounder. Cofounder can and do take whatever
| title they want. Great!
|
| 2) I joined at CTO because there are 500 engineers and it needs
| an office of the CTO. Let's not call it a startup, and YC has
| nothing to offer you. Great!
|
| 3) I joined a small startup and they gave me the CTO title.
| Yikes!
|
| Bad signal. Don't have much confidence in the CEO after hearing
| that and I assume the company will fold.
|
| Or if it succeeds--prepare to be fired. No room to hire above
| you. Even as a VP, a CEO could hire a CTO. But even better if
| no title inflation at all. No one like a demotion, so if you
| aren't perfect then you are gone. And you will take a lot of
| (now dead) equity with you.
|
| I guess YC would teach you these things...
| cassonmars wrote:
| Still have the requirement to stay in SF for three months?
| nkotov wrote:
| I went through YC in S20. The number one question I get from
| those who apply is, "Is it worth it?". For me personally, 100
| percent worth it. The application process alone makes you think
| through questions you probably haven't thought of before. It's
| worth it if you are building a venture scalable business. It's
| also worth it for the people that you get to meet. As someone who
| lives outside of SV, it opened a new door for me that was
| previously unavailable.
| CamelCaseName wrote:
| I feel like I've read this exact comment before on another
| "Apply to YC!" thread.
|
| So I went through and applied for the first time, and honestly,
| I felt like a lot of the questions were very obvious? Could be
| because I come from a finance / business background vs. a CS
| background, but I was shocked that people would consider these
| questions non-obvious.
|
| Hopefully this doesn't come off as arrogant. If it helps, I was
| rejected from YC, so perhaps I hadn't thought through the
| questions enough!
| thecleaner wrote:
| I love YC and how generous they are with their knowledge and
| tools. Never did it and wont be applying but just wanted to say
| that the Dalton + Michael videos make me calm somehow. Not sure
| why.
| candiddevmike wrote:
| This seems really last minute. 3 weeks to submit your
| application? Was this thing planned over the weekend?
|
| Kind of a shit time to be away from family or school. Lots of
| stuff happens between September and December.
| Eumenes wrote:
| Does YC accept founders that aren't 22-26 years old in the Bay
| area and went to MIT, Berkeley, or Caltech? I've met quite a few
| in person and they fit a very specific archetype. Perhaps thats
| whose applying, but I do wonder.
| aadhavans wrote:
| > MIT, Berkeley, or Caltech
|
| Don't forget Stanford.
| paxys wrote:
| Founder profiles are all public, so you can check for yourself
| - https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/founders
|
| Or was this just supposed to be snarky?
| tgma wrote:
| I always am curious when someone asks this question from an
| open forum why wouldn't they simply fill out the form and get a
| definitive answer?
|
| What we know for sure is they don't accept founders that don't
| fill out the form[1].
|
| [1] with a few exceptions, perhaps.
| tptacek wrote:
| Yes.
| sebastiennight wrote:
| My cofounder and I are thinking of applying again for
| www.onetake.ai (B2B AI SaaS, with growing revenue and ~3,000 paid
| users).
|
| With such a surprise short deadline, we're not on the same
| continent at the moment. Is there any stigma attached to doing
| the application video remotely on eg. Zoom?
|
| I always assumed that being together to record the video was just
| better.
| rgbrgb wrote:
| We were all remote and cut together separate videos when we did
| it in W15. 1 data point, but I know it's not a dealbreaker.
| downWidOutaFite wrote:
| I had been considering applying but got turned off by gary tan's,
| and the rest of vc-dom's, rude aggressive politics. Luckily my
| startup is starting to gain traction, hopefully that will make it
| easier to find investors that don't turn me off.
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