They traveled back and forth from New York City to the Bay Area to attend. One good trick for describing a project concisely is to explain it as a variant of something the audience already knows. We advise startups presenting at Demo Day to do the same. As concerns grew over the spread of COVID-19, Y Combinator shifted the event format away from the … (Statistically we're much more likely to interview people who submit a video.) My initial goal is to figure out what kind of group I'm dealing with. As we prepare for YC Demo Day, I wanted to reflect on how far… That is not an insight. Unless you have a plan for cracking it, it won't make any difference if yours is better. And you can submit after the deadline - though keep in mind that if you apply late, we can’t guarantee the exact date of when you’ll hear back from us with a decision. Twice a year we invest a small amount of money ($125k) in a large number of startups. It was a great experience yet painful. But we want to see that you're aware of the obstacles, and have at least a theory about how to overcome them. I have no more than vague ideas about that. Despite their misgivings, Graham and Livingston plowed ahead, creating a Silicon Valley icon in the process. YC doesn't really end after 3 months; only the talks do. The most important question for deciding that is. The ability to channel information quickly and efficiently to those who need it is critical to a company's success. We don't mind if you're doing something that will face serious obstacles. What's going to be distinctive about your solution? The problem is, the less constraining your description, the less you're saying. We know that sounds impossible, but we think we can get a toehold initially by... Wouldn't you be interested at this point? If we think of a problem you don't mention, we'll assume it's because you haven't thought of it. We're looking for people who like to beat the system. Overall, the experience was quite pleasant and the process of preparing & doing the interview really helps you to think deeply on your business. That could be a good idea or a bad idea. So you have to be more specific. Advice; Video; Dec 27, 2019. If you go around saying you're going to start the next Google, most people's initial reaction will be skepticism. Whereas if we can see obstacles to your idea that you don't seem to have considered, that's a bad sign. For those who don’t know, Y Combinator (also known as YC) is considered the world’s most successful startup accelerator. We will be inviting teams to talk to us on a rolling basis. Once I know what type of group I have, I try to figure out how good an instance of that type it is. We continue to give Most people you meet in everyday life don't. Please tell us in one or two sentences about something impressive that each founder has built or achieved. Big companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, and many other big startups have come out of their ecosystem. If there's a simple one-sentence description of what you're doing that only conveys half your potential, that's actually pretty good. The best answers are the most matter of fact. The existing company will then become a subsidiary of the new United States, Canada, Singapore or Cayman parent company. Y Combinator CEO and Partner Michael Seibel shares a process for building product as a small startup. You probably shouldn't list the startup itself as your most impressive achievement. Y Combinator’s incubator classes have gotten huge. These group office hours are a chance to get to know companies in your batch that are going through similar things and to help each other. They don't default to skepticism, because they like risky bets. That means a YC partner who reads your application will on average have already read 50 that day and have 50 more to go. Probably the biggest thing people don’t understand about the process is the importance of expressing yourself clearly. During and after the 3 months we introduce startups individually to people who could help them. So if the answer to this question is good enough, it will make me go back and take a second look at an application that otherwise seemed unpromising. So it's better to err on the side of matter-of-factness. If the founders seem promising but the idea doesn't, I check the question near the end that asks what other ideas the founders had. This is true of investors generally. When we applied, we didn’t have any experience with a startup or writing incubator applications. Generally, the advice I'd give to applicants is: help us out. We've worked hard to ensure we can provide the same networking, advice, and fundraising help that YC always provides. And we’re back! But a really good idea will also get our attention—-not because of the idea per se, but because it's evidence the founders are smart. So here’s what happened. It's a common mistake to say the distinctive thing about your solution will be that it's well-designed and easy to use. It’s been an exciting few months for the team at Genecis. What matters is how you're going to hold your own against eBay. Connect with the right people. "But it's so much more than a database with a wiki UI!" In fact, I think there are people we've invited to interviews mainly on the strength of their answer to this question. Michelle Hitchcock. Y Combinator (aka, YC) is the world’s preeminent startup accelerator. It's not the type of achievement that matters so much as the magnitude. I'll check out the demo. The founders of other YC-funded companies tend to be especially helpful. I'll take a look at the video, if there is one. Today was part two of Y Combinator’s absolutely massive Demo Day(s) event for its Summer 2020 class. It's quite common for us to fund groups to work on ideas they listed as alternates. International founders, please note: if your company is already incorporated somewhere other than the United States, Canada, Singapore or the Cayman Islands, in order to participate in YC you will need to create a parent company that is in one of those jurisdictions. It's a mistake to use marketing-speak to make your idea sound more exciting. Thanks to Trevor Blackwell, Jessica Livingston, and Robert Morris for reading drafts of this, and to Drew Houston for posting Dropbox's application. We're not looking for the same things as HR departments. It will be much the same as every other batch. I would … All content is posted anonymously by employees working at Y Combinator. Interviews will be held either in April, May, or early June. Investors are optimists. We'll sell ourselves, if we can just understand you. A surprising number of people answer with something like: Jordan is an exceptionally dedicated person who gives 100% effort to every project he undertakes. It's eBay for jobs. Every year we get some applications that are obviously good, some that are obviously bad, and in the middle a huge number where we just can't tell. Never use vague or inflated language with experienced investors. I'm thinking what such a thing would be like. A good answer would be something like: A database with a wiki-like interface, combined with a graphical UI for controlling who can see and edit what. We each do it separately, to avoid groupthink, so I'm not sure exactly what the others do, but it's probably similar to what I do. That is, a … It could be that you did really well in school, or that you wrote a highly-regarded piece of software, or that you paid your own way through college after leaving home at 16. And they don't feel like you're trying to put yourself above them, because they hope to be drawn up with you. Our startup already made 7 digits revenue. 2. Glassdoor gives you an inside look at what it's like to work at Y Combinator, including salaries, reviews, office photos, and more. The best startup ideas are generally outliers that seem crazy to most people initially. The reason a lot of big companies' software sucks is that they have some kind of natural monopoly. A new search engine to compete with Google. To date, Y Combinator has helped launch and fund over 2,000 startups in Silicon Valley, including giants like Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Reddit, DoorDash, Coinbase, and many more. Yours has to stand out. Three friends about to graduate from college? To me this is the most important question on the application. Michelle is part of the Marketing & Communications Team at OCEAN Programs. Company Update – Y Combinator, Validation and Growth. About 11 weeks in, we organize an event called Demo Day at which the Another mistake is to begin with a sweeping introductory paragraph about how important the problem is: Information is the lifeblood of the modern organization. We accept companies twice a year in two batches. To apply for the Y Combinator program, submit an application form. Y Combinator’s Demo Day was a bit different this time around. We have a standard deal for all our investments. Succeeding in a startup is, in the most literal sense, extraordinary, so we're looking for people able to do extraordinary things. I highly recommend all startup founders to apply to Y Combinator. Probably the biggest thing people don't understand about the process is the importance of expressing yourself clearly. Better to start with an overly narrow description of your project than try to describe it in its full generality and lose the audience completely. This is the Y Combinator company profile. Only founders can come to interviews if invited or attend batch events if accepted. That’s what happened when Mountain View, California–based accelerator Y Combinator came on the scene in 2005 with a new approach to fostering new companies, trying to … Whatever you have to say, give it to us right in the first sentence, in the simplest possible terms. We get rejected for YC S15 (April 2015). How to Successfully Apply to Y Combinator. This is your idea. online by 8 pm PT on March 19. One reason founders resist giving matter-of-fact descriptions is that they seem to constrain your potential. June, 2020. A single, specific example would be much more convincing. If there's something about you that stands out, or some special insight you have into the problem you plan to work on, make sure we see it. A company that achieves an edge in the efficient use of information will, all other things being equal, have a significant edge over competitors. Tell investors you're going to start the next Google and they immediately perk up. We work intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. This batch of Y Combinator will be remote due to COVID-19. If others, who have been through the process, had not shared their experience, it’ll be even more difficult for first-time founders like us to get accepted to the program. It could be a description of any technology company. We'd be delighted to get an application that answered the question "What are you going to make?" Every week or two, you'll have group office hours, where you'll talk with 5-8 companies and your YC partners for an hour. You don't have to sell us on you. We're immune to marketing-speak; to us it's just noise. Two colleagues who work together at a big company and want to jump ship? They've heard so much of it that it no longer has any effect on them, except to confuse and annoy them. Those are the questions I get asked the most after doing Y Combinator a year ago. ↪, The "next Google" is unlikely to be a search engine, however, just as the "next Microsoft" was not a desktop software company. Database software? Amber Atherton of Zyper and Iba Masood of TARA on Raising a Series A as a Female Founder. As with all questions on the application, the best answers are the most specific. If this wasn't already clear, we're not looking for the sort of obedient, middle-of-the-road people that big companies tend to hire. The first question I look at is, "What is your company going to make?" We shouldn't be able to come up with objections you haven't thought of. Like all investors, we want to believe. You must have at least 10% equity in the startup to be considered a founder by Y Combinator. Startups that submit early have a small advantage because we have more time to read their applications. Whoever wrote the current software was presumably also trying to.