[HN Gopher] Guide to applying to YC - from a founder who was acc...
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Guide to applying to YC - from a founder who was accepted on the
third try
For the last year, I checked more than 100 YC applications of other
founders and many of them have the same repetitive issues. So I
prepared a simple guide with examples that will help founders build
successful applications and avoid common pitfalls. I've personally
applied for YC three times, and was accepted only on the third time
with Fluently. This guide is based on my personal experience and
was reviewed by other YC alumni. However, I would be glad if you
could share your thoughts on that too.
Author : rebryk
Score : 43 points
Date : 2024-10-29 18:00 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (getfluently.notion.site)
(TXT) w3m dump (getfluently.notion.site)
| preommr wrote:
| This is missing the most important requirement: Be an AI company.
| skyfaller wrote:
| I thought you were just being snarky, but I went and looked,
| and wow, it really is all "AI":
| https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=F24
|
| Without looking carefully, I can't tell which ones are
| generative AI / boiling the oceans to bullshit you; it's
| possible that some of these are legit uses of machine learning,
| which existed before ChatGPT and will hopefully continue to
| exist in the future. But I bet it's all ethically questionable
| bullshit.
|
| Forerunner AI jumps out as a likely ethical black hole, based
| on its one line description "Copilot for aerospace engineers
| making rockets, munitions, satellites." On top of code theft,
| water use, emissions, and the many other horrors of Copilot and
| its ilk, we can also add war profiteering.
|
| EDIT: Prediction: YC's next batch will include a startup trying
| to replicate whatever the fuck this is:
| https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
| burcs wrote:
| Honestly this is the same level of snarkiness of saying, "Be a
| web company." in the early 2000s
|
| YCombinator is a tech investor, of course they are investing in
| the future. It just so happens that in this current tech cycle
| AI is the future.
| tivert wrote:
| > YCombinator is a tech investor, of course they are
| investing in the future. It just so happens that in this
| current tech cycle AI is the future.
|
| I think the term you're looking isn't "future," it's "hype."
| burcs wrote:
| I am sure wheelwright's felt the same way...
|
| I just saw a realtime generative minecraft demo, your head
| is in the sand if you think this is hype.
| bhaney wrote:
| > I just saw a realtime generative minecraft demo
|
| Wait, that demo wasn't a joke?
| comrh wrote:
| I feel like that is a great example _of_ hype. Some that
| looks impressive but once you watch for a bit you realize
| it 's a shallow copy that required a million hours of
| footage to generate.
| senko wrote:
| One of the most impressive companies in my batch (W24) had
| nothing to do with AI, or indeed software:
| https://www.astromecha.co/
|
| So no, not a requirement. OTOH if you do come with an AI idea,
| they won't reject you just because they already accepted a few
| hundred others :)
| ldjkfkdsjnv wrote:
| Go to ivy league school + ai
|
| raising pre-seed venture capital is more similar to getting hired
| at an investment bank (as an entry level/post mba banker) than it
| is to starting a company
| burcs wrote:
| This mindset is tiresome, especially seeing it on Hacker
| News...
|
| I literally went to the cheapest state school in rural
| Pennsylvania and still was accepted into YC. My co-founder
| didn't even finish college, at some point I think people just
| want to make excuses.
|
| Also -- I don't understand your second point. It's an
| accelerator. Capital is part and parcel when it comes to
| accelerating.
| ldjkfkdsjnv wrote:
| I live in NYC and know a ton of founders. its just the facts.
| people certainly get funded outside the normal background,
| but probably 70% of early stage funding goes to the same
| types of people
| pfannkuchen wrote:
| Fancy schools are just a way to get pre-vetted candidates.
|
| If you aren't pre-vetted, it doesn't mean you're worse, it
| just means vetting you is more work and has more risk.
| neilv wrote:
| Fancy schools might indeed, coincidentally, vet founders
| for the same things these particular investors are looking
| for.
|
| For example, wealthy family safety net for extended risk-
| taking, connections for finding customers and partners and
| investors, confidence of founders in asserting will over
| hires, and appealing to class-based beliefs of other
| investors.
|
| But since most of us aren't investors, this isn't to say
| that fancy schools vet for, say, hires. I've learned not to
| pay much attention to what schools someone attended.
| calmbonsai wrote:
| What year was your class?
|
| Just because it's tiresome doesn't make it untrue in this
| "era".
|
| This is not a bag on YC, but yesteryear's "web store", begot
| "social", begot "blockchain", begot "ai" and today's private
| markets are more conservative for Seed and A rounds.
| dgfitz wrote:
| I guess I don't get it, and I'd like to. Y-Combinator enables
| connections and mentorship along with a stipend. This allows a
| team to work full time for a few months, having quit or taken a
| hiatus from their day job.
|
| So the risk is $dayjob unless you're a serial founder, the reward
| is the connections and money to float for a few months, while
| selling I think 10% of your company? The odds of your idea
| working out, even under the umbrella, aren't great. Is that
| accurate?
| senko wrote:
| My feeling is that if you think quitting the day job is risky,
| you probably won't fit the profile YC and VCs look for.
|
| YC is an enormous brand in the VC and startup industry, and as
| a YC startup doors open to you that would be harder to pry open
| otherwise. The connections, and willingness of people to "pay
| it forward" are a huge (probably biggest) asset.
|
| The odds of your idea working are not great, that's correct. YC
| does encourage you to experiment and fail fast so you have time
| to adapt the idea or try another one. If all fails, having had
| a YC startup means it'll be easy to get into _other_ startups
| (if you like the lifestyle - and you really have to like it!).
|
| That sad, YC is what you make of it. You get encouragement and
| support but nobody's going to force you to take advantage of
| all the things they have to offer.
|
| Watch a few episodes of
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5Nd98Sc9I-k...
| If you get a feeling "omg I want to work with those guys", then
| you might be a fit. If you get a feeling of "dude, no", then
| you're probably not a fit.
| carlgreene wrote:
| Any other founders feel like YC has lost its luster? Not only are
| the number of AI companies in the portfolio ridiculous, but the
| large class sizes seem so much less personal.
|
| Not to bag on anyone who's in YC right now, but it seems to be
| going the way of many ivy leagues - still meaningful, but very
| much not the same proxy for extraordinary it once was.
| atleastoptimal wrote:
| Great advice, but the fact that you're a former FAANG employee
| pitching an AI company did ~70% of the work
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