Ask HN: Getting in Y Combinator?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=777633

by hajrice • 17 years ago

3 8 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I was looking at the YCombinator graduates and realized that in order to get accepted you had to have went to a very good college. I'm currently 16, have already tried to get into YCombinator yet am going to have to wait for high school to finish.

Now, has anyone managed to apply to YCombinator at the age of 16,17,18,19? Did you get in?

I'm asking this question mostly cause I think YCombinator is the best kind of "startup university" that an entrepreneur could attend.

Comments would be greatly appreciated. :-)

jacquesm• 17 years ago

Hi Emil,

I'm impressed with your drive!

But I do think you need to get a little bit more experience before you're going to strike out in this direction.

There have been - rare - occasions of teenagers hitting a home run, but your age will definitely work against you.

There are also all kinds of legal issues that would make it impossible to strike a typical VC deal with someone that is not yet of 'legal age'.

But if you keep at it like that and you continue to learn as much as you seem to have done so far then I don't doubt you'll make it big one day. Consider me impressed, I have a son roughly your age and I wished he was half as focused as you are.

best regards,

   Jacques

hajrice3• 17 years ago

Thanks man! That means a lot to me :-)

rubentopo• 17 years ago

I read your blog, and i found the idea behind biz teen interesting, but i think you're targeting a rather small market (the world doesn't have as many young entrepreneurs as it needs).

If you don't mind getting an idea from a complete stranger, why not do a social networking app for people within the same age range but focusing on something that appeals to a wider crowd (parties, traveling[backpacking through the world comes to mind], choosing the right school, etc).

Best of luck.

icey• 17 years ago

AFAIK you can't sign binding legal documents until you're 18.

hajrice3• 17 years ago

Thanks for the heads up! :D

gdp• 17 years ago

> I was looking at the YCombinator graduates and realized that in order to get accepted you had to have went to a very good college.

Is this written doctrine, or just an observation?

University-ism is one of those things that really bugs me, given that it basically boils down to "physical proximity and financial means to attend a university that I've heard of", without respect to the fact that some really dumb people still end up at very good universities (and similarly, lots of smart people end up at less-good universities).

Not that I'm suggesting that YC operates any such policy. I just thought it was worth mentioning because I've seen it in operation in various places and it generally causes me to run a mile.

p01nd3xt3r• 17 years ago

I was wondering about this too; I did not even go to college. I graduated HS at 14 and started working for companies developing software.

Will this put me at a disadvantage if there are lots of MIT, Stanford etc... grads that apply to YC W10.

Ask HN: Getting in Y Combinator?

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