6 ms·

Y Combinator applicant advice

87 points by MIT_Hacker 13y ago

physcab 13y ago
> Although, they also want to see how quickly you can execute. 2 years to build an iPhone app is too long. Why would they care about how quickly you can build something? If you took 2 years to build an iPhone app in your spare time, but that iPhone app ended up being Candy Crush, wouldn't that make that metric pretty meaningless?
- gms 13y ago
  Traction excuses everything.
- gfosco 13y ago
  Pretty sure that you don't apply to YC to build an app in your spare time...
  - hansy 13y ago
    I think you're looking at it backwards. To me it seems reasonable to apply to YC with an app you have been building in your spare time with the intention of working on it full-time provided the metrics are favorable, growth is apparent, market exists, etc.
- jemka 13y ago
  Apps like candy crush are edge cases that make general comparisons meaningless. Given most successful apps aren't anywhere near as popular as candy crush you're not comparing apples to apples. The chances of building a successful anything are low. Even lower for the first attempt. So if you take 2 years to build something...you've stacked the odds so high against yourself you might as well not even try. And if you're the one paying the bills, 2 years is a long time to wait for a failure.
  - physcab 13y ago
    But we also know overnight successes don't really happen overnight. So I imagine you also don't want to be the person creating new apps every month because you're misguided about how hard it is to achieve success. So again, it doesn't seem like a useful metric.
    - vecter 13y ago
      You're overthinking it. The faster you can build, the more of a competitive advantage you have. It's that simple. If it takes person A 1 month to build the same thing as person B in 2 months, all else being equal, person A has a better shot at succeeding.
      - bennyg 13y ago
        It's never that simple - and making the product awesome and launching at 95% can introduce way more rewards than launching at 75 or 80%. I think the concept of an MVP is regarded as the word of law around here, and sometimes an MVP looks like shit and nobody will use it afterwards, so spend the extra two weeks making it absolutely awesome. I know that's not really what you were talking about, but I think people shouldn't shy away from taking a step back and just thinking about what you're building without being stupid-productive all of the time. It's all about balance.
        philwelch 13y ago
        > sometimes an MVP looks like shit and nobody will use it afterwards Then it's not viable, which is what the V stands for. So it's not an MVP at all, it's just shit.
      - DjangoReinhardt 13y ago
        Respectfully disagree. The key phrase in your response is: "all else being equal" When it comes to marketing what you've made, you do get the first-mover advantage but that's about all you get. I've made many a useful, problem-solving prototype in my spare time (and even 'launched' a few of them among close friends and family) only to see the same thing going big a month later. Except, it is someone else who happens to have made the same thing a; they just manage to push it a lot better that I ever could. It also doesn't help that I'm really bad at the business side of things. I really need to find someone who can do that for me and my ideas/prototypes... :(
- joncalhoun 13y ago
  The metric is important in the sense that you can't iterate quickly and figure out what does and doesn't work if you spend 2 years per version. Successful companies tend to be ones that iterate on new ideas quickly and double down on the ones that stick.
  - physcab 13y ago
    If this is the true intention of the question, then why don't they just ask "Tell us about a time when you iterated quickly." I'm still not convinced code velocity is a good metric.
beambot 13y ago
Personally, I think one of the best ways to prepare is to look for common trends in other successful applications. I helped write a VentureBeat article on this very subject [1]. As part of that article, we (Lollipuff, YC W13) released our entire application [2], and of course YC provides plenty of application advice too [3]. [1] http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-combinator-application/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-c... [2] https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-experience https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-ex... [3] http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html
- austinl 13y ago
  I thoroughly enjoyed reading through some of the old applications. Here's Drew Houston's app for Dropbox back in 2007 - everything is plain and concise. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html
throwthrowthrow 13y ago
I'm so tired of the billion dollar bullshit. No one believes it. No one can predict it. But everyone seems to have to say it. Spare me. YC is investing $18k. If you build a $10 or $25 million business off that springboard, even with an angel round, that's awesome for all. As software fills out the niches of the world, that's where the real wins are going to be. So in short, saying your company will be worth a billion dollars isn't cool. It's just douchey.
TheMakeA 13y ago
Thousands of groups applied for S13. Only 255 groups were selected for interviews. Only 53 companies ended up getting funded. My advice: Stop worrying about perfecting your application or trying to game it. Stop worrying about trying to get into YC. Submit it, forget it. Go build a company. You don't need their validation, and you certainly don't need their permission. Just go freaking make something people want.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- johnjlocke 13y ago
  Best advice possible. Do not worry about pleasing YC, just make something people want.
  - outericky 13y ago
    Making something people want, would please YC immensely.
    - deleted 13y ago
      [deleted]
- ojr 13y ago
  As a 21 year old, "stopout/dropout" computer programmer that is living in Boston, competing with new grads with cs degrees and such, this advice is my exact mentality. Im not going to try to game my resume and cover letter, Im going to submit the application and make myself a better engineer day by day, I dont need a company's validation or permission to do so.
  - bennyg 13y ago
    Don't worry about a thing. I have an Art/Advertising degree, and I'm an iOS engineer right now. I got here by programming my ass off.
- 13y ago
Darmani 13y ago
> don’t say “if we capture 10% of this 100 billion dollar market, we’ll be making 10 billion dollars!” > From this, based on the volume of repairs in San Francisco...we could be operating at about $70k per day in just SF. A bottom-up story can just be a top-down one in disguise. Capturing 10% of a market doesn't sound too hard until the word "billion" appears. Instead, we can capture 114% of one region. And $20 million per year is too big, so let's give it per day. Just saying "the average dishwasher needs a $200 repair once every two years" tells me more than that entire paragraph.
chaitanyapandit 13y ago
There should be a question in there "Did you continue building your company after getting rejected by YC? Which?"
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
finkin1 13y ago
It seems like lots of YC app advice posts think it's super important to have a .com. I always thought a .com wasn't that important, especially if you have to pay money for it that you could use towards development. Am I missing something?
chegra 13y ago
//This function has a 96% accuracy public boolean yc_acceptance(String application){ return false; } Still, applying though.

87 points by MIT_Hacker 13y ago

> Although, they also want to see how quickly you can execute. 2 years to build an iPhone app is too long. Why would they care about how quickly you can build something? If you took 2 years to build an iPhone app in your spare time, but that iPhone app ended up being Candy Crush, wouldn't that make that metric pretty meaningless?

gms 13y ago
Traction excuses everything.
gfosco 13y ago
Pretty sure that you don't apply to YC to build an app in your spare time...
- hansy 13y ago
  I think you're looking at it backwards. To me it seems reasonable to apply to YC with an app you have been building in your spare time with the intention of working on it full-time provided the metrics are favorable, growth is apparent, market exists, etc.
jemka 13y ago
Apps like candy crush are edge cases that make general comparisons meaningless. Given most successful apps aren't anywhere near as popular as candy crush you're not comparing apples to apples. The chances of building a successful anything are low. Even lower for the first attempt. So if you take 2 years to build something...you've stacked the odds so high against yourself you might as well not even try. And if you're the one paying the bills, 2 years is a long time to wait for a failure.
- physcab 13y ago
  But we also know overnight successes don't really happen overnight. So I imagine you also don't want to be the person creating new apps every month because you're misguided about how hard it is to achieve success. So again, it doesn't seem like a useful metric.
  - vecter 13y ago
    You're overthinking it. The faster you can build, the more of a competitive advantage you have. It's that simple. If it takes person A 1 month to build the same thing as person B in 2 months, all else being equal, person A has a better shot at succeeding.
    - bennyg 13y ago
      It's never that simple - and making the product awesome and launching at 95% can introduce way more rewards than launching at 75 or 80%. I think the concept of an MVP is regarded as the word of law around here, and sometimes an MVP looks like shit and nobody will use it afterwards, so spend the extra two weeks making it absolutely awesome. I know that's not really what you were talking about, but I think people shouldn't shy away from taking a step back and just thinking about what you're building without being stupid-productive all of the time. It's all about balance.
      - philwelch 13y ago
        > sometimes an MVP looks like shit and nobody will use it afterwards Then it's not viable, which is what the V stands for. So it's not an MVP at all, it's just shit.
    - DjangoReinhardt 13y ago
      Respectfully disagree. The key phrase in your response is: "all else being equal" When it comes to marketing what you've made, you do get the first-mover advantage but that's about all you get. I've made many a useful, problem-solving prototype in my spare time (and even 'launched' a few of them among close friends and family) only to see the same thing going big a month later. Except, it is someone else who happens to have made the same thing a; they just manage to push it a lot better that I ever could. It also doesn't help that I'm really bad at the business side of things. I really need to find someone who can do that for me and my ideas/prototypes... :(
joncalhoun 13y ago
The metric is important in the sense that you can't iterate quickly and figure out what does and doesn't work if you spend 2 years per version. Successful companies tend to be ones that iterate on new ideas quickly and double down on the ones that stick.
- physcab 13y ago
  If this is the true intention of the question, then why don't they just ask "Tell us about a time when you iterated quickly." I'm still not convinced code velocity is a good metric.

beambot 13y ago

Personally, I think one of the best ways to prepare is to look for common trends in other successful applications. I helped write a VentureBeat article on this very subject [1]. As part of that article, we (Lollipuff, YC W13) released our entire application [2], and of course YC provides plenty of application advice too [3]. [1] http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-combinator-application/ http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/20/how-to-write-a-winning-y-c... [2] https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-experience https://www.lollipuff.com/blog/102/lollipuffs-ycombinator-ex... [3] http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html

austinl 13y ago
I thoroughly enjoyed reading through some of the old applications. Here's Drew Houston's app for Dropbox back in 2007 - everything is plain and concise. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html

throwthrowthrow 13y ago

I'm so tired of the billion dollar bullshit. No one believes it. No one can predict it. But everyone seems to have to say it. Spare me. YC is investing $18k. If you build a $10 or $25 million business off that springboard, even with an angel round, that's awesome for all. As software fills out the niches of the world, that's where the real wins are going to be. So in short, saying your company will be worth a billion dollars isn't cool. It's just douchey.

TheMakeA 13y ago

Thousands of groups applied for S13. Only 255 groups were selected for interviews. Only 53 companies ended up getting funded. My advice: Stop worrying about perfecting your application or trying to game it. Stop worrying about trying to get into YC. Submit it, forget it. Go build a company. You don't need their validation, and you certainly don't need their permission. Just go freaking make something people want.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
johnjlocke 13y ago
Best advice possible. Do not worry about pleasing YC, just make something people want.
- outericky 13y ago
  Making something people want, would please YC immensely.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
ojr 13y ago
As a 21 year old, "stopout/dropout" computer programmer that is living in Boston, competing with new grads with cs degrees and such, this advice is my exact mentality. Im not going to try to game my resume and cover letter, Im going to submit the application and make myself a better engineer day by day, I dont need a company's validation or permission to do so.
- bennyg 13y ago
  Don't worry about a thing. I have an Art/Advertising degree, and I'm an iOS engineer right now. I got here by programming my ass off.
13y ago

Darmani 13y ago

> don’t say “if we capture 10% of this 100 billion dollar market, we’ll be making 10 billion dollars!” > From this, based on the volume of repairs in San Francisco...we could be operating at about $70k per day in just SF. A bottom-up story can just be a top-down one in disguise. Capturing 10% of a market doesn't sound too hard until the word "billion" appears. Instead, we can capture 114% of one region. And $20 million per year is too big, so let's give it per day. Just saying "the average dishwasher needs a $200 repair once every two years" tells me more than that entire paragraph.

chaitanyapandit 13y ago

There should be a question in there "Did you continue building your company after getting rejected by YC? Which?"

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

finkin1 13y ago

It seems like lots of YC app advice posts think it's super important to have a .com. I always thought a .com wasn't that important, especially if you have to pay money for it that you could use towards development. Am I missing something?

chegra 13y ago

//This function has a 96% accuracy public boolean yc_acceptance(String application){ return false; } Still, applying though.