We wrote a solid application, made a silly video, and got into YC (hack-free?)

http://blog.makegameswith.us/post/34608527485/how-we-wrote-a-solid-application-made-a-silly-video

by jvrossb • 14 years ago

79 37 14 years ago

blog.makegameswith.us

pg3• 14 years ago

"We’ll never know if we got in because of our silly accent video."

You did not get in because of your silly accent video.

(As a rule it's a mistake to try to do amusing things in your video. Gags usually make you harder to understand rather than easier, and since we are usually at or past the limit of understanding when reading applications, any loss there is dangerous.)

stevewillows• 14 years ago

I really appreciate that you comment on these application posts. It's interesting to hear their theory contrasted by your comments.

pg3• 14 years ago

If there's a trend, it's that we like people for simpler reasons than they think.

callmevlad• 14 years ago

Do you have any advice on the length of the video? The application asks for a "one minute long" video, but most of the accepted videos I've seen are usually longer. Some are as long as 4 minutes. Does the length factor in to your decision?

jmharvey2• 14 years ago

We stuck to about a minute. I don't have any specific insight into how the YC acceptance process works, but it seems like a minute should be roughly the right amount of time to describe what you're doing. Remember that people have short attention spans.

state• 14 years ago

It's really nice to hear a really genuine story about this process. The long list of "hacks" strike me as orthogonal to the simplicity of the application. This is the story I had hoped to hear about the YC process: simple, humane and honest.

jvrossb4• 14 years ago

You summarized it exactly as we experienced it.

TheMakeA6• 14 years ago

I haven't heard much about the Skype pre-interview. Does anyone know more about that? Are they common?

CaveTech• 14 years ago

Never had a pre interview before my interview. I think it may be if YC wants to understand something about your application that isn't totally clear, before making a judgement on giving an interview.

TheMakeA6• 14 years ago

Thanks, that makes sense.

fbuilesv2• 14 years ago

I'm not sure if everyone receives the same email but last year we got one from Harj Taggar to setup a video call. They wanted to:

1. "Give you a heads up on the kinds of things likely to come up for you specifically at interview".

2. "Let you ask us any questions you might have about YC".

It was a 5-10 minutes thing.

TheMakeA6• 14 years ago

Interesting, thank you. Was that after they had already invited you out?

dbecker2• 14 years ago

It's refreshing to hear someone suggest they got in due to their ability to build something, rather than a shortcut or gimmick.

Good luck with your business.

jvrossb4• 14 years ago

Thanks! It occurred to us that had we been reading HN before applying we'd have gotten a little demoralized once we found out that all YC companies had apparently "hacked" their way in with some generally non-reproducible gimmick. We figured we should point out that this probably isn't the case.

dbecker2• 14 years ago

If you have time, it'd be nice to read a "what we got out of YC, and how it's shaped our path going forward." This would be interesting independent of whether you are still working on the startup you did with YC.

pdog• 14 years ago

Can you share a link to the actual application?

DesaiAshu2• 14 years ago

PDF here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/mgwu/YC+GM.pdf

What is interesting to us (discovered as we just re-read it), our slight pivot mid YC was to another idea we listed on our application.

TheMakeA6• 14 years ago

The proximity sensor hack is delightfully ingenious.

tomasien2• 14 years ago

I feel like a "How to hack the front page of HN" that is about how you shouldn't hack HN: you should just post/write/produce great content is also needed. I'll write it now, post it tomorrow.

I feel like the title of this post hints at a similar sentiment.

tomasien2• 14 years ago

http://tommy.authpad.com/how-to-get-on-the-front-page-of-hac...

jmharvey2• 14 years ago

Glad you wrote this. Looking at my YC batchmates, I don't see a lot of people with "how I got into YC" stories.

YC tends to select founders who are both talented and confident, so the overwhelming attitude among founders is, "of course I got in," not, "oh wow, I can't believe that happened!"

Of the 80-ish companies in the S12 batch, I can think of 3 with interesting "How I got in to YC" stories, and two of those boil down to, "we had amazing traction." Only Instacart's beer delivery was really a hack, and even that was a demo that their service really worked.

The hack stories are interesting because they're rare. It's important to show off your scrappiness and tenacity, but most founders do that by describing something they've done that produced a worthwhile outcome, not by performing a stunt during the application process.

The only reliable way I can think of to "hack" the YC application process is to apply with a business that you're going to pursue regardless of whether or not YC accepts you. The YC application is full of questions young companies should ask themselves, anyway, and the added confidence can't hurt during interviews.

TheMakeA6• 14 years ago

I do wonder what percentage of people drop or pivot due to a YC rejection. It seems weird to me that not continuing would be the norm.

huhtenberg• 14 years ago

You should've just started video in your native tongues, then slowly transition to the accented English and then phase out the accent as well :)

TomGullen• 14 years ago

Looks interesting, good luck with it! Good to see more game-dev related startups coming through.

lloydarmbrust• 14 years ago

Hahaha. Glad my misuse of "hack" inspired you to write this great post :)

We wrote a solid application, made a silly video, and got into YC (hack-free?)

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