Applications Open for Winter 2008 YC Funding

http://ycombinator.com/w2008.html

by pg • 19 years ago

60 101 19 years ago

ycombinator.com

Alex3917• 19 years ago

I will not be applying a third time. Good luck to all those who do though.

sabhishek4• 19 years ago

I m still workin on my prototype :(, best of luck to all who are applying this time.

brlewis• 19 years ago

You won't have it ready by October 11?

eposts2• 19 years ago

I predict a huge increase in the number of applications this time, thanks to all the publicity and YC success stories. Good luck to everyone!

gms4• 19 years ago

Yes, I imagine that's why the application is up early.

migpwr2• 19 years ago

How many applications do you think they receive on average?

pg21• 19 years ago

We got about 430 last time, of which we ultimately funded 20.

(1 of those 20 immediately merged with a startup from a previous round, so only 19 came to Cambridge.)

abstractbill• 19 years ago

I may be remembering all this completely wrong, but I seem to recall yc offering a couple of alternatives to the usual application process - that you could apply with no idea, or you could apply with no co-founders and yc would hook you up as an early employee of a yc-funded startup.

Am I right about those offers, and are you still making them?

pg21• 19 years ago

We'll probably still let people apply with no idea. We just don't mention this on the site yet.

As for second option, it's right in your menu bar:

http://news.ycombinator.com/jobs

blader2• 19 years ago

This is just our experience interviewing last season. We applied with two ideas, both with prototypes. The discussion was pretty much exclusively about the idea - how new it is, how easy it is, how interesting it is, whether or not it's porn/music related (either category is probably not a good idea btw).

We had a good response to both our prototypes, but ultimately we were told our idea didn't seem different enough. The impression I got from our interview was that the idea is actually pretty important.

It kind of makes sense, since you're competing against other amazing hackers with good ideas. It doesn't matter as much if you're good -they all were-, you really do need a great idea to go with your team.

sethjohn2• 19 years ago

Just because they spent the whole time asking you about your idea doesn't neccessarily mean they were mostly interested in your idea...getting someone to talk about their prototype is probably a much better way to guage who they are and how they think than asking "Who are you?, and how do you think?"

Of course I wasn't there, so I don't really know what happened.

juwo12• 19 years ago

I dont think there's any point in my applying again - am likely on PG's blacklist. :D

Tichy3• 19 years ago

why?

juwo12• 19 years ago

YC is about flipping companies for $millions. They have a formula.

They are looking for child prodigies who fit a certain mold.

People who walk, talk, think and perform a certain way.

It is more like the Iron Curtain coaches who ran schools and would look for potential gymnasts for the next Olympics.

rms• 19 years ago

Welcome to the club. :) You'd get an email if you were on the official blacklist, though.

juwo12• 19 years ago

hey rms, I didnt know you were a real live snake oil salesman! :) I thought it was just a figure of speech but apparently they do exist. heh

(Just looked at your bio: "importing and selling unique herbal substances").

sharpshoot• 19 years ago

Very nice. The time has come for that app :)

dpapathanasiou• 19 years ago

Has your position changed regarding single founders, or is it still a case of single founders need not apply?

pg21• 19 years ago

That's covered in the fourth from last paragraph.

Basically, we'll bend any rule if you're a genius, but anyone, even a genius, is more likely to succeed if they have a cofounder.

cperciva• 19 years ago

You'll bend any rule? Does that apply to the "must move to the Bay area" rule? (Yes, I am a genius.)

If it weren't for that rule, I'd seriously consider applying -- but if I wanted to move to Silicon Valley, I'd work for Google.

cglee• 19 years ago

We have a VERY distributed team. Is it ok if only 1 of us move to the Bay area?

pg21• 19 years ago

If this person is the CEO, and he/she's 1 of 2, that would be ok. If it's 1 out of 4 who's not the CEO, that's not.

elq3• 19 years ago

What about co-founders who are H1B's and would face legal consequences for quiting their company?

gms4• 19 years ago

An H1-B doesn't prevent you from switching jobs, no?

elq3• 19 years ago

it does for my potential co-founder. He's been working here for over 6 years with no GC. apparently you can't renew your H1B after X years, only stay with the same company.

pg21• 19 years ago

I honestly don't know. We wouldn't want to do anything that would get someone kicked out of the country. I know some visa problems can be fixed with varying amounts of hassle and money, whereas others are truly hard, and I don't know which category this falls into.

maxklein• 19 years ago

I don't think I'll be applying. Looking through my comments, I see at least 2 instances where pg has answered quite irritated towards me. The rest of my comments are me attacking other potential founders on their poor implementations. I'D not pick ME if I was on the team.

Anyways, let me give a few areas for potential applicants:

1. Organize bookmark tags right. Del.icio.us is nice and all, but things tend to get disorganised

2. iPhone app for public transportation

3. Firefox/IE plugin that makes financial information from bank websites accessible in a global unified format. By financial info, I mean payin/payout history.

4. Debt pay-off site - site that organises the credits of people into a manageable format and tells them what to set aside to get it done with. Include retirement fund as a side option

6. Collaborative website for writing episodes for TV-Shows. Will take fan fiction to the next level. Scriptwriters will like the feedback, and obsessive fans will pay to be part of the inner circle

7. Religious books discussion site. Mix up the religions and abstract the discussion

8. And of course, the favorite of a snappy gentleman like myself - Let people upload pictures of themselves and dress them up in latest purchasable fashion. Find alternatives to expensive designer clothes.

As they say, ideas are cheap. Each has potential if implemented the right way.

I won't be applying, but good luck to all those who will be!

sethjohn2• 19 years ago

UG Ad broker. Advertisers list parameters, users make ads, track each viewing via YouTube, etc. to pay the creators.

If advertisers really like the content, let them buy it whole.

dhouston2• 19 years ago

i think they only care what you build, and if you're smart. the idea of blacklists, or pg holding grudges, etc., is pretty silly.

they're pretty clear on this: if you make something people want (or have a demo that shows that you will), you should be fine for the app.

jsjenkins1682• 19 years ago

Did Winter applications start this early last year?

PG: Given the deadline is still a long ways off, is there a preference for groups to apply early and update the application and demo along the way, or to wait until the end to apply when things are solid? Just curious..

pg21• 19 years ago

Lately we've had a lot of people emailing us asking how to apply, so we got the w2008 application form up. Really there's no reason not to switch to the next cycle as soon as we pick the startups for the previous one.

One the whole it's probably better to update the application incrementally. You'll get more attention that way; we may even suggest ideas; and we're not likely to have time to do that if you apply the day before the deadline.

npk3• 19 years ago

One the whole it's probably better to update the application incrementally. You'll get more attention that way; we may even suggest ideas...

This statement sounds like the YC team reads unsubmitted applications. Have I misread? Anyone have hints on how to maximize the chance of getting comments back? :)

brett• 19 years ago

With 50+ teams now funded I wonder how much potential competition with existing YC companies will play a factor in acceptance. Especially given that it's likely many YC companies will not have launched by the app deadline.

pg21• 19 years ago

I suppose it's bound to happen eventually, but so far there haven't been any collisions. The odds are lower than you might think, because both groups would have to be working on the same thing and good.

js• 19 years ago

What are our chances ? We are catering to a business software category and not a web solution. We are developing a product that will solve business problems and is not for general public. - JS

pg21• 19 years ago

We've funded those.

npk3• 19 years ago

How advanced do prototypes have to be? For example, did loopt have a prototype? If not, how did they demonstrate their ability in embedded systems programming? If they did, did they bring in a hacked up cell phone?

pg21• 19 years ago

The more the better, obviously, but you don't have to build anything. We would have funded Loopt after nothing more than talking to Sam about his plans.

I don't remember exactly how far they were along then. I think they may have had a simple app running on phones, but with simulated location info.

npk3• 19 years ago

I assume, that YC prints out a stack of these applications and grades them on paper. Have the printouts ever looked like crap because of some weird browser thing? If so, is there any chance we could see how the application looks when it's printed?

pg21• 19 years ago

We rate them online. The application looks the same to us when we're reading it as it does to you while you're editing it.

aantix• 19 years ago

I am going to submit RunFatBoy for consideration. I have a complete working app, so hopefully that will put me in a position of advantage.

migpwr2• 19 years ago

I've never applied but I'll go ahead and suggest you find a new name for whatever it is you're building...

tx• 19 years ago

I hope my question gets answered here. In our case we're already incorporated and the product (not a prototype) is going through the final stages of beta testing. We are not very interested in money at this point (certainly not in $20k) but we are interested in good business contacts and very open to suggestions and advice from more experienced folks.

I wonder if this makes any sense for us to submit an application, since there are not 20, we're incorporated, we're not living in a dorm, we don't need $20k and we already have the product. The only thing we'd be interested in is well... good contacts (we're not in Bay Area) and business dev. consulting.

jsjenkins1682• 19 years ago

Up voted to bubble up your question.

In a few places I've seen PG mention that it is preferred that you are not already incorporated, but never that it is a requirement that you are not. The reason for the preference being that the custom legal work costs more for a group already incorporated.

Curious where you guys are in TX... Can you pls shoot me an email off-list? (email in my profile).

pg21• 19 years ago

At this point half (maybe more) of the startups we fund don't need the money. And in fact the money is a pretty small part of what YC does. It works more like financial aid at a college: it ensures that the people who do need money can at least cover their living expenses while YC is happening.

It sounds like your situation is like Virtualmin's (including even being from Texas). They were in the last winter cycle. You should drop them a line; there's probably an email link at virtualmin.com.

SwellJoe2• 19 years ago

I'll reproduce what I sent to tx via email, just in case anyone is curious (I'm with Virtualmin, the company pg mentioned):

We really enjoyed YC. I've talked about it a bit in public, here:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=234583&cid=19110535

And the blowback from that on YC News:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21907

We definitely didn't care much about the $15k (in our two-founder case), though it did nicely offset the cost of my move (I sold my 350Z at a rather unfortunate price, and found myself spending more than twice as much on rent as I was paying on a mortgage in Austin). And we're not college kids (we're 32 and 33). We were already selling product when we applied.

We viewed it primarily as a really good set of introductions, a good learning experience, and the chance to bounce our product off of the folks who would in the end be the primary users. Our actual buyers are hosting providers, but they buy what their customers want, and everybody in YC is a hosting provider customer, and probably a thought leader in some area of development.

We don't begrudge the 5% stake that YC holds, at all, and I think we've already gotten our equities worth from the deal, and we continue to take advantage of their advice. If it hasn't already been made clear by the above bits and other stuff I've posted on YC News, anybody that goes through YC has a really really good chance of getting funding, if they want it. Nobody who aggressively sought funding has failed to raise it...some folks figured out during the program that what they had was not fundable and so didn't go after more money. Others (like us) are biding our time a bit, as we sign on bigger customers and get ourselves into a really solid bargaining position before seriously approaching anyone. We have lunch with them when they call us (and they do call), but we're not asking for money yet. We'd probably take angel money at this stage, but the VCs zeroed in on us as the only enterprise business in the bunch, so that's who we hear from. ;-)

If nothing else, moving to the valley was probably the best thing we could have done (Austin Ventures is great and all, and they do a lot of deals...but there's just the one of them, versus hundreds of funding sources in the valley...if there's any chance you'll need money, the odds of getting it are vastly higher here), and YC forced me to make that move (my co-founder was already in Santa Clara).

SwellJoe2• 19 years ago

Oh, yeah, we were already a Texas corporation, as well. We dissolved the TX business, and started fresh in Delaware. The structure that YC did for us was a lot nicer anyway. There's a lot of stuff that lawyers in Texas (at least the lawyer I talked to) don't even think about that can be problems later on when funding comes or when options are issued.

elq3• 19 years ago

I've recently come across an interesting situation and would like to know how it would effect my company's chance at being accepted by YC.

An investor I knew in a prior experience has expressed an interest in investing in my new endeavor. The application FAQ lists an understandable preference to avoid funding a company that has already incorporated.

The amount the investor suggested is sizable (enough to sustain operations for at least 3 years even after hiring some very much needed staff/co-founders), and since the idea is substantial the money is very appealing.

But, though the investor is an engineer, he has no affiliation with the tech industry at large, so I'm afraid that I would be missing a great deal of support by taking this money.

Thoughts?

pg21• 19 years ago

I don't know exactly what your situation is, but if he is not someone you owe something to, the optimal solution would be to apply to YC first. If you're accepted, you can invite this would-be investor to Demo Day, where he can compete with all the other investors to fund you; if not, he's plan B.

Note that this assumes that you're not indebted to the guy in any way-- that he is simply a source of money.

BTW, 3 years is a lot of money. It suggests to me that you're either raising too much or (more likely) underestimating your expenses.

naivehs2• 19 years ago

want to report a minor bug in the application form

when typing the symbol ' (as in pg's) and then pressing update, a bunch of letter looking like "ÃÂ" appear in front of the symbol ' in the updated version.

pg21• 19 years ago

It's not just the application form. If you type utf-8 encoded chars into any form, you get crap out. We're actually trying to debug this right now. For the time being use plain ascii.

(That thing that looked like ' wasn't. It was probably something you copied and pasted, e.g. from MS Word.)

naivehs2• 19 years ago

Thanks for the explanation, I will retype them and update.

epi0Bauqu• 19 years ago

Here's a solution that covers a bunch of charset bases if you want to move to UTF-8:

1) Add accept_charset="UTF-8" to your form tag.

2) Add the hidden variable _charset_ with no value.

3) Add <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> right after the head tag in the html.

4) Make sure apache is serving the file in UTF-8 by default, which is usually by accomplished by adding AddDefaultCharset UTF-8 to the relevant virtual host configuration.

Some of this stuff is redundant, but doing the above will usually ensure the page and form view and submit in UTF-8. To be extra sure, you can double check the value of the _charset_ variable that gets passed.

If you are using postgres and/or perl, I can give more details on what to do there as well.

gibsonf13• 19 years ago

PG: Do you prefer teams to submit not quite complete forms and then incrementally add info as time goes by, or do you prefer a complete application submitted and then minor updates as time goes by?

Applications Open for Winter 2008 YC Funding

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