The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not(blog.directededge.com)
blog.directededge.com
The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not
http://blog.directededge.com/2009/11/05/the-interview-with-y-combinator-thats-not/
75 comments
It seems to me that the pitch is in the application anyway. I can't imagine why they'd want you to just repeat yourselves.
You shouldn't expect them to remember what was in the application. If they do remember something it will probably only be one line.
That actually goes for investors in general, from what I can tell. Biggest mistake we made with the first investor that invited us in was assuming that he knew what we did. (One of his associates apparently had said that he should talk to us; he'd never looked at our website.)
In the case of YC interviews, that paragraph that says what your company does is buried in the thousands of pages of text that are going across their eyes during the screening process. Don't expect them to remember it verbatim. ;-)
In the case of YC interviews, that paragraph that says what your company does is buried in the thousands of pages of text that are going across their eyes during the screening process. Don't expect them to remember it verbatim. ;-)
Is a demo required?
I think its incredibly foolish to try to get funding for something that has no basis in reality yet. That's what a demo really is -- a toe-hold. But that toehold is usually enough to know whether a team can make it a reality, and whether they have a chance in the real world.
There's so much competition from great teams that it may well be a waste of time without showing your best.
There's so much competition from great teams that it may well be a waste of time without showing your best.
I understand but Paul Graham really makes an emphasis on the team, and that a demo is not required. I mean there has to be a way to prove that that the team can produce what they claim: past work, past startups, etc right?
I think YC is sufficiently competitive that teams without a demo (on the application) will not even get an interview. Also (I believe it has been said), the two weeks from when you're notified to the weekend of the interview should be sufficient to produce some kind of early stage demo. Your startup idea might be unfit for YC if you can't at least have something to show in two weeks of fervent work.
Thanks for the advice. I was under the impression that the demo would be unimportant, and since I'm in school right now, I thought I'd go slow at it unless I am accepted.
I can whip up something in two weeks easy (even with school), but I didn't submit a demo in the application because I didn't think it would be necessary, so I focused on developing the idea instead.
I can whip up something in two weeks easy (even with school), but I didn't submit a demo in the application because I didn't think it would be necessary, so I focused on developing the idea instead.
Trevor talked about this in the comments to my article on applying to YC:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=854088
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=854088
I guess what my situation was that I could balance school and the application, or school and the prototype. While I had an urge to work on the prototype I always felt guilty because frankly the application has a deadline, the prototype does not. Actually after the application deadline I was able to get back to the prototype.
No, but obviously better if you have one.
Heh, waiting for the post-interview phone call was a real nail-biter, we basically spent the entire evening waiting for the phone to ring. But it didn't.
It didn't even occur to us that they might call our land line back home until we got the email the next morning. Remotely checking the answering machine was fun too, hadn't used that feature in ages and the code didn't work (turns out you can't send DTMF tones when calling via Skype).
At the time we weren't sure if they give everyone a call or just the ones they accept, so we didn't take the absence of a call as a 'no', but kept wondering. In the end, we got the answer about 26 (pretty exciting) hours after we left the interview room.
So, unless you're a thrill seeker, put your cell number in the application :-)
It didn't even occur to us that they might call our land line back home until we got the email the next morning. Remotely checking the answering machine was fun too, hadn't used that feature in ages and the code didn't work (turns out you can't send DTMF tones when calling via Skype).
At the time we weren't sure if they give everyone a call or just the ones they accept, so we didn't take the absence of a call as a 'no', but kept wondering. In the end, we got the answer about 26 (pretty exciting) hours after we left the interview room.
So, unless you're a thrill seeker, put your cell number in the application :-)
You get an email when you don't get in with a nice couple of lines explaining why.
Our email came in the early hours of the morning. I'd encourage you not to respond to it, at least for a few days. I felt compelled at the time to send a few paragraphs the next morning responding to some of the criticisms. Retrospectively it probably wasn't that all that useful to anyone.
It must be an exhausting 3 days for the YC team. I don't think there are enough hours in the day for them to call all the unsuccessful interviewees. Especially when some of them (like us) will want to take more of their time responding to feedback.
The quantity and quality of the questions and feedback you get in the short 10 minute interview alone is brilliant. Even though we didn't get funded it's had a massive impact on the way I think about things. I'd fly out from the UK to do it again even if there wasn't any chance of funding.
Our email came in the early hours of the morning. I'd encourage you not to respond to it, at least for a few days. I felt compelled at the time to send a few paragraphs the next morning responding to some of the criticisms. Retrospectively it probably wasn't that all that useful to anyone.
It must be an exhausting 3 days for the YC team. I don't think there are enough hours in the day for them to call all the unsuccessful interviewees. Especially when some of them (like us) will want to take more of their time responding to feedback.
The quantity and quality of the questions and feedback you get in the short 10 minute interview alone is brilliant. Even though we didn't get funded it's had a massive impact on the way I think about things. I'd fly out from the UK to do it again even if there wasn't any chance of funding.
Or just be sure to tell me at the end of the interview which number you'd like us to call that night.
From the article, We’d given Jessica cards with our cell-phone numbers on them during the interview, but that didn’t seem to have registered.
I take that to mean that they tried to make it clear how to call them, but for whatever reason signals got crossed.
I take that to mean that they tried to make it clear how to call them, but for whatever reason signals got crossed.
I know people who have sent DTMF over skype. You just need to...try harder :>
Slight sidenote. On an 800x480 screen, overflow:hidden is a royal pain.
Not sure why you got downvoted. Thanks for the note, I appreciate it and will look into this.
Another tiny UI thing- for me the search bar overlays one of the results. For the easter egg I thought they had left pg out of the results until I realized it was underneath the search bar.
First, congratulations! I'm curious how you are setting up a company in the United States if you or one of your co-founders is from Germany? I've been trying to figure out the whole startup-as-a-foreigner thing (I'm Canadian), and so far I haven't been able to find any good info.
Did you guys happen to do much mingling in the waiting area just before or just after your interview?
We got to the interview super early and ended up chatting with Kate (we asked her how to get to In and Out), Skysheets Dan (saw his demo), and two other interviewing teams that were accepted. Then there were two less social teams who sat in the corner with their laptops, I guess nervously testing their demo one last time.
Maybe I'm over-fitting, but for me the nerve-calming benefits of being social in the waiting room was helpful.
We got to the interview super early and ended up chatting with Kate (we asked her how to get to In and Out), Skysheets Dan (saw his demo), and two other interviewing teams that were accepted. Then there were two less social teams who sat in the corner with their laptops, I guess nervously testing their demo one last time.
Maybe I'm over-fitting, but for me the nerve-calming benefits of being social in the waiting room was helpful.
They did. I remember them as the first other YC team we talked to.
Anyone know if YC is doing traditional companies? i.e. advertising and real-estate.
Don't need the money but could really use the "blessing". They have some of the most enviable media contacts in the industry right now.
Don't need the money but could really use the "blessing". They have some of the most enviable media contacts in the industry right now.
We'll fund anything that scales like a startup. We had a very promising startup doing real estate two cycles ago, but they fell apart due to disputes between the founders. I still think it was a great idea.
What company was this?
edit: why am I getting downvoted?
edit: why am I getting downvoted?
From: http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
"Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. "
"Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. "
Sure, I'll keep that in mind.
One point I'd like to make though is that it's less about the karma itself than it is about the reason that people don't like the question. I could understand why if I was trolling, insulting, etc.
Honestly, I don't care if my karma goes to negative infinity, unless that would automatically ban my account, or something to that effect.
One point I'd like to make though is that it's less about the karma itself than it is about the reason that people don't like the question. I could understand why if I was trolling, insulting, etc.
Honestly, I don't care if my karma goes to negative infinity, unless that would automatically ban my account, or something to that effect.
My first year on YC was depressing, as comments that I put a lot of work, energy, effort and thought into would sometimes be downmodded into oblivion.
I would write an expose on Hiring practices we used to have at Netscape, detailing precisely what hiring managers though, and how - and people would downmod me like there was tomorrow.
Over time, I realized, that sometimes it's just a popularity contest. Your comments, even if well meant, may just not be in agreement with somebody elses. I just learned to deal with it - over time you get a sense for the Ebb and Flow - and can learn quite a bit about the community. Don't always consider a downmod to be negative - sometimes it's just a reflection of what other people think - not a reflection of your comments value.
I would write an expose on Hiring practices we used to have at Netscape, detailing precisely what hiring managers though, and how - and people would downmod me like there was tomorrow.
Over time, I realized, that sometimes it's just a popularity contest. Your comments, even if well meant, may just not be in agreement with somebody elses. I just learned to deal with it - over time you get a sense for the Ebb and Flow - and can learn quite a bit about the community. Don't always consider a downmod to be negative - sometimes it's just a reflection of what other people think - not a reflection of your comments value.
If you haven't read about them on HN, they probably never launched.
How about just hire a PR firm?
Yeah you get good media contacts with YC but that only takes you so far. What's good is the community of founders who have gone thru YC.
Yeah you get good media contacts with YC but that only takes you so far. What's good is the community of founders who have gone thru YC.
They said they need to understand what you are doing.
Well, we got into these businesses from meeting industry insiders and specialists. You sit down with people, chat, and find out business opportunities. Just today we evaluated festival, trade show and expo opportunities; took me about 10 hours to study the industry and see potential, I am still evaluating it, but there is no reason for YC not to understand it fully.
Seems like the whole startup scene is focused on web-based tools and utilities, while we're focused in real-world businesses.
Seems like the whole startup scene is focused on web-based tools and utilities, while we're focused in real-world businesses.
What you describe sounds more like a small business than a startup. YC only funds startups (i.e. scalable and disruptive). The two are not synonymous. YC primarily funds software and web-based companies because you can create a scalable and disruptive web-based company on $20k.
I wonder where all those recent down-voters come from. It used to be more friendly around here. When only trolls got voted down to 0 or less.
I find real-world business refreshing (compared to the reality bubble of web-startups-only). I'd say, go ahead apply. You will at least get noticed easier than the next twitter clone.
By the way, I am also interested in operations research. (I write my thesis about the very real-world problem of scheduling at Deutsche Bahn.)
By the way, I am also interested in operations research. (I write my thesis about the very real-world problem of scheduling at Deutsche Bahn.)
Thanks for the insight into the process. That sounds a lot more useful than an actual interview, because it seems like you are learning something from the meeting through the brainstorming.
Wheels, this is brilliant and it mostly matches what we learnt from other startups during StartupSchool and the Y-Combinator reception last month. Thanks for putting this in a post.
Interesting read and nice success story...
On DirectedEdge home, can I enter any search term, or does this need to be a well formatted Wikipedia entry url ?
On DirectedEdge home, can I enter any search term, or does this need to be a well formatted Wikipedia entry url ?
If you type the beginning of an article name it should autocomplete after a sec (it's a little slower than it should be...) There's also an easter-egg you can use:
http://www.directededge.com/?Y%20Combinator
http://www.directededge.com/?Y%20Combinator
Thanks.
disclaimer : I'm a radical graph data, noSQL proponent, so you had me at 'edge', however...
The only thing that I care about on that page is the graph.
Id like to see just that graph, but prefetched, fluid interactive javascript. Nothing else, except the text bar at top, and the interactive sliding autoscaling graph data app.
That would be wonderful, a new thing packaged out of old things Id half enunciated a thousand times myself.
the other stuff, Id put in some links.
This way you have all the focus on what your about.
So my 'Crazy Thought' is - make that the whole company, trim away everything else.
What would it look like if you had 2000 data points on the screen, gradually getting smaller at the edges, and fluidly navigating with say 500 nodes of prefetch ahead.
This should be in JS using Raphael if its not already .. [ I didnt see a raphael.js inclusion in your source page. ]
disclaimer : I'm a radical graph data, noSQL proponent, so you had me at 'edge', however...
The only thing that I care about on that page is the graph.
Id like to see just that graph, but prefetched, fluid interactive javascript. Nothing else, except the text bar at top, and the interactive sliding autoscaling graph data app.
That would be wonderful, a new thing packaged out of old things Id half enunciated a thousand times myself.
the other stuff, Id put in some links.
This way you have all the focus on what your about.
So my 'Crazy Thought' is - make that the whole company, trim away everything else.
What would it look like if you had 2000 data points on the screen, gradually getting smaller at the edges, and fluidly navigating with say 500 nodes of prefetch ahead.
This should be in JS using Raphael if its not already .. [ I didnt see a raphael.js inclusion in your source page. ]
Well 'should be in rapheal.js' comes across a bit strong...
I meant : it seems a good kit, you've probably heard of it.
I meant : it seems a good kit, you've probably heard of it.
BTW, time to put up a nice looking 404 page or fix whatever's wrong:
http://www.directededge.com/dsfdsfds
http://www.directededge.com/dsfdsfds
What is wrong with that 404 page?
It's a 404. Form follows function. I prefer it to a prettified version, honestly.
It's a 404. Form follows function. I prefer it to a prettified version, honestly.
"Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request." suggests that something is amiss.
I'm not a big fan of overboard, fancy graphics (just look at my sites), but just a little bit of looking nice goes a long way.
I'm not a big fan of overboard, fancy graphics (just look at my sites), but just a little bit of looking nice goes a long way.
It's a standard Apache error. No big deal.
Really, if the user hits a 404 then something has gone badly wrong and I think it's appropriate for them to get an ugly message.
Really, if the user hits a 404 then something has gone badly wrong and I think it's appropriate for them to get an ugly message.
If it is a 404 page, do not assume that it's something the user has done intentionally. Links change, sites link wrongly. Link-shit happens.
If you really want your users to be helped by your site, even when they've ended up somewhere they probably shouldn't have gone, you need to have a basic 404 error page which gently describes that the page doesn't exist and contains a link back to the home. Not everyone using a website will see "404" and understand what it is, and without a link back to the main site, a user (potential customer) is lost.
If you really want your users to be helped by your site, even when they've ended up somewhere they probably shouldn't have gone, you need to have a basic 404 error page which gently describes that the page doesn't exist and contains a link back to the home. Not everyone using a website will see "404" and understand what it is, and without a link back to the main site, a user (potential customer) is lost.
Yes, I know it's a standard Apache error (I know a thing or two about Apache). What you are apparently not seeing is that there's an error when trying to handle the 404 with the ErrorDocument directive, which indicates that their configuration needs a bit of tweaking.
Even for 404 errors, it's pretty standard practice on corporate web sites to include at least some of the main site's look and feel, with a link back to the main page or something.
Even for 404 errors, it's pretty standard practice on corporate web sites to include at least some of the main site's look and feel, with a link back to the main page or something.
But it's not a corporate web site. Thank god...
This is a great breakdown of your journey. Thanks for giving us the info.
I just spent 10 minutes playing with the flash visualization on your homepage.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Wow, I'm going to have to be a lot more thoughtful when I post on news.ycombinator from now on.
And you'll start with your next post, right? :-P
I am sorry if this is completely obvious and I am missing something. But I just do not understand, not one little bit.
Why did you fly to America to get $5000? It is not a large amount of money. I am surprised it covered your air fares.
So why? I do not feel the need at all. You did. I would like to here why. Did they really say something in the interview that justified all that time and expense?
update: I have no idea whatsoever why this is being downvoted. There is no way I would fly to the US to collect a pathetic $5k. I'd genuinely like to know why people think it is a profitable thing to do so. Thanks.
Why did you fly to America to get $5000? It is not a large amount of money. I am surprised it covered your air fares.
So why? I do not feel the need at all. You did. I would like to here why. Did they really say something in the interview that justified all that time and expense?
update: I have no idea whatsoever why this is being downvoted. There is no way I would fly to the US to collect a pathetic $5k. I'd genuinely like to know why people think it is a profitable thing to do so. Thanks.
You're being downvoted because people think the answer to your question is so obvious that you must be trolling. However, I'll assume you're being sincere.
The money is the least important aspect of getting in to YC. What matters is the advice they provide and the community/network aspects. These things are so valuable that they are a huge state change for most startups.
The money is the least important aspect of getting in to YC. What matters is the advice they provide and the community/network aspects. These things are so valuable that they are a huge state change for most startups.
This is not obvious to me at all. I admit I have difficulty conceiving of advice so compelling I'd travel to America to receive it.
Fair enough I guess. People pay what they think it is worth. That's capitalism; no argument from me. I am not trolling. Carry on.
Fair enough I guess. People pay what they think it is worth. That's capitalism; no argument from me. I am not trolling. Carry on.
It shouldn't be that difficult to imagine. It's a very old tradition to travel long distances in search of specialized knowledge. Practically every famous medieval scholar did. But of course the tradition is way older than that. In the mid 6th century BC Pythagoras went to study in Egypt, and his biographer Porphyry said "It was from his stay among these foreigners that Pythagoras acquired the greater part of his wisdom."
From wikipedia:
"""It is not easy to determine how far Pythagoras was indebted to the Egyptian priests, or indeed, whether he learnt anything from them. There was nothing in the symbolical mode of representation which the Pythagoreans adopted, which bore the distinct traces of an Egyptian origin."""
And further: """The philosophy and the institutions of Pythagoras exhibit what might easily have been developed by a Greek mind exposed to the ordinary influences of the age."""
"""It is not easy to determine how far Pythagoras was indebted to the Egyptian priests, or indeed, whether he learnt anything from them. There was nothing in the symbolical mode of representation which the Pythagoreans adopted, which bore the distinct traces of an Egyptian origin."""
And further: """The philosophy and the institutions of Pythagoras exhibit what might easily have been developed by a Greek mind exposed to the ordinary influences of the age."""
Sure, but the world has changed in the several centuries since.
Today travelling across the world to receive information isn't something most people would do - or even think about. After all, the price of information has crashed even more than stocks in Lehrman Brothers.
Today travelling across the world to receive information isn't something most people would do - or even think about. After all, the price of information has crashed even more than stocks in Lehrman Brothers.
Actually travelling great distances as part of one's education is more common, not less. I wouldn't be surprised if at least a million people a year move to distant towns to go to college or grad school every year in the US alone.
That's not the point being made. The point is that the concept of travelling for wisdom should be familiar. Like fighting dragons to get princesses.
The travel expenses is reimbursed by YC up to a certain amount. It's no expense for the founders except time.
I'm curious what led you to Hacker News if you don't see the value of YC more than the money.
I'm curious what led you to Hacker News if you don't see the value of YC more than the money.
Lots of people (me included) are on Hacker News because of the community and the quality of articles (as compared to Digg, Slashdot, Programming.Reddit, etc).
It's beyond advice. It's the energy, community, contacts, drive, and exposure that you get to a community of like minded entrepreneurs. Getting _into_ that community is something that may change you for the rest of your life. Even just going for the _interview_ may be a life changing experience, regardless of whether you are funded.
In Silicon Valley, you see something similar in companies - there is this massive meritocracy and cross pollination that takes place. Companies get successful. Employees vest out and go form new companies. Then they reach back into their (metaphorical) Rolodex and pull colleagues from years passed who went through the most intense interview ever - working side-by-side for multiple years. It's why I recommend anyone from outside the valley interested in technology, particularly early in their career, to take any job they can get with a good valley company, and pay absolutely no attention to their salary. None. Once you are established, the money will follow.
But it's all about getting in the door, taking that first step. YC is one of those first steps for startup founders.
In Silicon Valley, you see something similar in companies - there is this massive meritocracy and cross pollination that takes place. Companies get successful. Employees vest out and go form new companies. Then they reach back into their (metaphorical) Rolodex and pull colleagues from years passed who went through the most intense interview ever - working side-by-side for multiple years. It's why I recommend anyone from outside the valley interested in technology, particularly early in their career, to take any job they can get with a good valley company, and pay absolutely no attention to their salary. None. Once you are established, the money will follow.
But it's all about getting in the door, taking that first step. YC is one of those first steps for startup founders.
What's obvious to the people who downvoted you is that the YC program is about much more than $5k. http://www.ycombinator.com/about.html
I'm sorry, but even though the money is the least part of the package, I need to correct you on this one: it's not $5,000, it's at least $10k (2 founders) and probably $15k.
Saying it's just $5,000 is disingenuous.
Saying it's just $5,000 is disingenuous.
[deleted]
Despite being given the same advice by others that had been through the process we still foolishly wasted time preparing a short 1 minute pitch.
We might have had a better result if we'd invested more time in getting the user experience in our demo right and answering the one critical question - "Why would people want this?"
Don't make the same mistake we did. :)