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I Am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator. AMA

429 points by sama ↗ HN
Applications for YC for Summer 2016 are due next Thursday 3/24.

People often have questions about YC, and I'm happy to answer those (or questions about anything else).

EDIT: Ok, I have to run. Thanks for the questions!

767 comments

[ 1.6 ms ] story [ 342 ms ] thread
samsherer
What are the main differences in your mind between Techstars and YC
sama
I think YC helps your startup. I've never been through Techstars, though maybe they do too.
lilrushi
How can I get an internship at Y Combinator?
sama
We don't really do internships, but we've funded more than 1000 startups and many of them do. I'd suggest applying to internships at YC startups!
kjcharles
What sort of growth would you look for in a social net applying to YC Fellowship & YC Core?
janvdberg
Hi Sam, I always wondered how someone so young could become president of YC (and do an awesome job at it). Or would you say it's actually a prerequisite?
sama
Let's see how the next 10 years go before we call it an awesome job.
halsharari
can I apply to YC alone or do I have to have a team?
sama
You can definitely apply alone, though we recommend having a cofounder.

Startups are very hard, and very emotionally draining, and so it's really helpful to have someone else to share the workload with.

That said, we fund solo founders every batch.

saddington
>Startups are very hard, and very emotionally draining...

^^^ This cannot be communicated emphatically enough... most people have no idea how true and real these challenges are.......

mkagenius
>Startups are very hard, and very emotionally draining...

emotional draining is not that much but since you are alone, you do not know 'how' bad a situation is and you kind of overthink it and think its very bad and breakdown. While it really might not be that bad.

tuilan10
Hi, do you often invest on pure consumer product with no business model but great traction ? Thks
sama
Yes! It's harder to build a product that people love than it is to figure out how to monetize it, so we're happy to take the risk there.
orky56
Distribution is more than half the business model.
MeherSom
Applications are only for an already developed product/prototype ? Or can we apply apply to present an idea ?
sama
You can apply with just an idea, but we have a bias towards people that get stuff done. The best founders usually build something early.
m_mozafarian
What's the probability on acceptance for those who are applying the second time? Is it progress or right fit that you mostly look for?
sama
We've funded many companies on their second (or later) application. Dropbox is a well-known example.

We do look at progress since the last application, but mostly because we like effective people. Great founders get stuff done.

wj
I think I recall seeing something about the Fellowship and Summer programs being the same application but last I looked I couldn't find where that was mentioned. Is that still the case?

I feel like I'm a bit between in that I have a product but haven't closed my first customer but hoping to real soon.

sama
Yes, it's the same application.

I'd recommend applying for both.

firehawk895
Hi Sam. Ours is an education marketplace (Pyoopil), still looking for a product market fit. Any advice for us? -- now that you guys have acquired imagine-k12. Will there be a special focus on ed-tech startups?
tejovanth
Hey how do you talk about a culture-centric problem to a foreign investor/accelerator. By culture-centric I mean in terms of the festivities and celebrations that's localised to a place.
iMuzz
YC has a giant application pool. This makes it very difficult for very early stage companies with no revenue / users to compete in the application pool.

As a company with no revenue / users, How can we best stand out against those that do have growth / users?

I understand that companies can apply for the fellowship. But what does a company lose by getting into the Fellowship over Core?

sama
We fund companies with no traction/revenue all the time, though the bar is higher.

A really compelling idea is more important to us than traction or revenue. We understand how quickly exponential growth happens.

danieltillett
Sam given the huge volume of applications you guys have to go through and the limited time you have to look at each one do you think that you are in a position to accurately judge if an idea is compelling or not? You can judge traction quickly, but it takes much more time to judge the quality of a pure idea.
malz
It is interesting that on this AMA you say both "ideas are worth so little" and "a really compelling idea is more important to us than traction or revenue." Can you elaborate?
firethief
I think the compatibility of those statements hinges on the difference between an idea in the sense of something you could transfer in an elevator, and an idea in the sense of the culmination of an entire viewpoint on a topic, along with the mind(s) that developed that viewpoint.
hyperpallium
It is striking. My guesses:

1. Revenue/traction are worth even less.

2. Not the idea itself, but the passion and resolve it evokes in the founder, and their backgound and general ability to be able to execute it.

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8cellos
Are educational projects viewed mainly by IK12 or by all YC partners? What about hardware educational startups, do they stand a chance? IK12 only got software startups so far, so...
sama
All YC partners, and yes.
anujp
I wish there was a way to message users on HN. Wanna talk hardware education?
MeherSom
I need a technical co-founder to build a platform and I don't know any developer, what can I do ? 1- Search for one ? Any recommendation for the steps to make in order to find the right man ? 2- Or ask a web/mobile development company to build the platform ? What do you think are the +/- of this case ?
hashnsalt
How do you see online education growing? Will there be more bootcamps or is it really possible to build a university entirely online?
vral
How do you personally figure out the difference between a petty problem vs. something actually worth solving?
[dead] avelardi
Do you feel even though there is a massive influx of startups seeking funding, there is a lack of real innovation in the market?
matt101589
Hi Sam. How many of accepted startups are side-projects before entering YC?
mlchild
I'm intrigued by your comments that you're interested in funding social networks—it seems like a new one launches on Product Hunt every day, but few are able to overcome the chicken-and-egg problem and achieve scale.

What's your take on the best way to make the network useful on day one for a small number of users? What are you looking for in a YC app for a social network (with or without traction)?

sama
The thing we look for the most is a small number of users that are super, super engaged with the product.

Most new social networks we see point to their top-level growth of new users. These usually eventually fade.

What you want instead is something that starts with a small number of users that use it many times every day. Snapchat is a good recent example of this phenomenon.

mahyarm
Same with

- pinterest: some collection of moms in middle america

- twitter: SF Tech & SXSW

- facebook: ivy league colleges -> colleges -> high schools -> the world

- snapchat: so-cal teenagers

orky56
I recommend validating your market with a newsletter or some other channel that already has social engineering baked in. In the case of Product Hunt & Mattermark, this allowed them to demonstrate value with curation of highly valuable content for a particular group of people. Once you have validated it, creating the application seeded with those users will ensure you have the well in place. Spending time building the app without having the ability to iterate first on the differentiating aspect might be a waste or at least an inefficient use of early resources.
MeherSom
Can you give us an idea of the number of applications you receive for every session and how many do you accept ?
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tlawal87
Earlier this week, you listed your specific investment interests. If we are working on one of those tough problems in regulated environments, what is the best way to get a serious consideration from Y Combinator (apart from continuing to build as fast as we can & talking to our initial users)?
jennykaypollock
What's the most impactful skill people should learn in their 20s?
sama
How to communicate well.

How to think for yourself (and especially, what problems are worth solving that others are ignoring).

How to build stuff (and especially, how to get things done instead of just talking about getting things done).

How to learn new things quickly.

MeherSom
What do you think are the right tools to get these skills ? Books ? (Which ones ?) University/Online courses ? (Any recommendation ?) Else ?
rrtigga
How do you know when it's time to move on with your idea?
sama
When a) it's not working and b) you are out of ideas on how to make it work.