How's your YC Winter 2008 application coming along?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=51248

by wonjun • 19 years ago

17 33 19 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

We finished the first draft of the application questionnaire, and we implemented about half of the features we'd like to show in our demo.

We are a team of two awesome cofounders, and our idea is not technically heavy.

How's your application coming along?

adnam• 19 years ago

If only I had a co-founder.

rokhayakebe• 19 years ago

hackermatcher

nickb• 19 years ago

You have to be more proactive in your search. Have you ever posted to any of the numerous "I need a cofounder" threads? Have you blogged about it? Have you discussed anything that interests you with any of the people who comment on here? Has anyone's comment or story they posted interested you? Why not email them? Most people have emails in their profiles.

mattmaroon• 19 years ago

I'm always skeptical about approaching the cofounder process that way. I wouldn't recommend doing this with someone you don't know very well. It will strain the bonds of friendship, without that, it's a crapshoot.

cperciva• 19 years ago

I sent an email asking to withdraw my application (I doubt it would be accepted anyway; but it turns out that I'm going to be busy on the "fly to Cambridge" weekend, and I don't want to waste their time) last week. I haven't seen any response, but I assume that someone reads the info@ address and has removed my application from their stack of reading materials.

Tichy• 19 years ago

Wouldn't it have been easier to resubmit the application with all fields blanked out, except for one with the explanation?

henning• 19 years ago

It isn't. I'm a wage slave for now.

npk• 19 years ago

Sounds like you're moving along quite nicely. I realized that I will not finish my PhD in time for the deadline, so it's been postponed 1/2 a year.

At one point, I toyed with the idea of submitting, just to receive feedback, but thought it would be somewhat unethical. Good luck all.

waleedka2• 19 years ago

I'm experimenting with a couple of ideas to see if one has potential. If so, I might consider applying in October. I've received lunch invites from a couple of investors to chat further, but I don't need the money yet. I believe that I should take investment only after I feel confident that the idea has a good chance of success. I can experiment with ideas on my own; it's much faster and I can change direction quickly if something doesn't look like it's working. If I do apply to YC, it'll be for the community and the support, not the money.

wonjun4• 19 years ago

I think you should defintely apply. YC application process in itself is another way to experiment and get feedback.

and how did you get lunch invites from investors? That sounds very promising.

waleedka2• 19 years ago

I simply attended a lot of hacker/tech networking events to meet other entrepreneurs hoping to find a co-founder. And in the process, I met a lot of other people, some of whom turned out to be investors or working for investors. I also met many good entrepreneurs with good ideas, but none (yet) with an idea that has good enough potential (in my opinion) to commit myself to for the next few years. I'm still searching, but until then, I will continue to experiment.

nreece• 19 years ago

:) Enslaved

zach• 19 years ago

Okay... hey, what did you get for #6?

wonjun4• 19 years ago

Do you mean this #6, "What is your company going to make?" lol

Leon2• 19 years ago

jsjenkins1682• 19 years ago

Anyone applying again who was previously turned down? I am also curious of what YC's opinion is of groups who would like to re-apply?

nostrademons4• 19 years ago

I am. Rejected SFP05 and SFP07, hopefully 3rd time will be the charm...

wonjun4• 19 years ago

What happened after rejections? Have you ever launched your products after being rejected?

jsjenkins1682• 19 years ago

Turned down in the interview stage?

corentin• 19 years ago

I really don't like telling that but your new project (Diffle) hardly is a startup at all! It's a nice website but it's nothing new. You need to solve some real problem.

Mistone• 19 years ago

its going great, hope to have it submitted by the weekend. last term was going to be too hectic.

This round the timing feels right!

gibsonf1• 19 years ago

We're working on it now. :)

NoMoreSnow• 19 years ago

The application process has taken us longer than I thought it would because it has made us question whether there really is a market for the idea. Yes, it does help to solve a problem, but we don't have a working product to get user feedback.

So for the past couple of weeks I've set the application aside and have focused on administering a market survey, so most of my time has been on the right wording for the test.

Hopefully with the help of social networks, email, WOM, etc... We'll be able to get a large enough sample to help us understand if we're heading in the right direction. If so, we'll submit our application with the survey results.

I am sure, though, that upon reading the questions, the person taking the survey will know quite easily what our start-up will be doing... which can be good and bad. Our positive spin on this is the survey will be our public declaration that we are up to something.

staunch2• 19 years ago

IMHO your application would look much better with a prototype than a market survey attached.

staunch2• 19 years ago

I'm not submitting an application, but my partner and I have copied it to Google Docs and filled it out for our own use. It turns out all our discussion meant when we wrote it down we were already 95% on the same page. It's still very useful as a way to refresh my memory, like pitching the idea to myself.

daniel-cussen• 19 years ago

Will learn to program first.

brianmckenzie• 19 years ago

I'm drafting my application now, but will probably not submit unless I have a solid prototype by the deadline.

Leon2• 19 years ago

I already submitted my application before I finished my prototype, which I now have to get done before the deadline. I'm trying to use this as really strong motivation to just finish the prototype instead of waiting until feature creep, polish, etc. is completed before submitting. I'll resubmit once the prototype is minimally functional. My biggest problem is being a single founder; pg said he usually doesn't accept them so I'm probably dead.

How's your YC Winter 2008 application coming along?

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