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Tell HN: Get feedback about your YC application from YC alumni

37 points by eddylu ↗ HN
Applications for the YC Summer 2011 batch close on March 20th. If you're in the Bay Area or Chicago and want to get some in-person feedback about your application from some YC alumni, Grubwithus is hosting a series of dinners to do just that! Just join the Hacker News Grubwithus group at http://www.grubwith.us/groups/hacker-news and we'll notify you when the meals are posted.

26 comments

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ffumarola
Great idea, wish I was in one of those 2 areas.

Best of luck to all who take advantage of this offer! :)

Jsarokin
Wish I was there. You should do some sort of online thing too ;)
SkyMarshal
YC is getting big enough that alums could probably create a cottage industry reviewing apps for a fee. My roommate just submitted his app, and would have jumped at something like that. So much time spent googling for 'successful YC app', 'successful YC app video' instead.

1. Setup YCappreview.com

2. Get enough alums on board

3. Figure out how to charge and how to distribute revenue

4. Profit!!!

dreamux
Please give as much notice as possible, last minute plane tickets are prohibitively expensive.
wengzilla
any yc alums up for a weekend dinner in nyc?
callmeed
Just joined the group and am looking forward to this (I'm a 4 hour drive from SF).

Are there any tentative dates or thoughts on what day of the week this might happen?

kerben
Sounds awesome, just joined. Would appreciate a few days notice if possible since I'd be coming to SF from NYC. If any YC alums are up for doing something similar in NYC please let me know too. Thanks again
kovar
I am about two hours south of Chicago and am really looking forward to this opportunity. If you have any tentative dates, the information would be most welcome.
eddylu
The Chicago one will be on Sunday 3/13 at around 1PM. Meal coming out soon. Hope that helps!
kovar
Thank you, that helps!
wolfrom
Barring a new remote dining edition of Grubwithus, I'll have to wait for the Winnipeg dinners for YC alumni. :)

But in all seriousness, I'd love it if someone would consider taking a glance at our application. People who should know have been telling us we're on to something, but I worry that we're just not communicating that effectively. I could pledge to eat during the feedback process if that helps.

sawyer
Windsoc does look like a good idea, implementing individual APIs is a pain. I'm no YC alum, and I'm not sure if there are any competitors providing the same service; but it sounds like a promising service.
wolfrom
Thank you for your feedback. There are competitors providing something similar, but not in the way we think developers require. They're also more focused on selling to large corporations rather than working with smaller ventures.
webwright
Is there any reason you wouldn't email as many YC founders as it took to get feedback?
wolfrom
I've e-mailed some whom I've already met, but I guess I've always approached it as I would speaking to investors, that cold pitches don't work. And I wonder what would happen if all 1600 applicants did the same.
webwright
I think you're right about investors and wrong about YC founders. Put yourself in a YC founder's shoes. If you got a cold pitch from an applicant, would you respond?

(note: I get emails every application season and always reply...)

Alex3917
I'll take a look at your app if you want, I already talked with you guys at LAUNCH so I understand much of it already.
wolfrom
Excellent! Thanks, Alex, it's on its way to you.
zaveri
any YC alums in the DC area?
tourbillonfunk
This sounds awesome!

Any alumni up for a weekend in Vegas? Me and my co-founder will show you around town. :)

rachnaspace
We'd love to get feedback on our application as well, but we're not based in either of those places. Can any alum review it remotely? - over email, phone..?
rdl
I'm honestly not sure if I should apply for YC or not. I'm having no problem meeting people and (presumably) raising money or revenue (although I haven't asked for a check yet from either).

If I were doing a consumer service, it'd be a no brainer. However, I'm working on infrastructure/security technology, although with some cool demos, and I'm not sure if being a YC startup would help in getting meetings with fortune 50 CIOs or various defense/government agencies.

kovar
I'm in a similar boat, doing ediscovery/cybersecurity validation tools. Not quite YC's cup o' tea, I think. (And figuring out whose cup o' tea it is is one of my challenges.)

Have you looked at any of the Federal grant programs, in particular, SBIRs? If you fit, that's some pretty easy money...

Drop me a line, if you don't mind, I'd be quite interested in hearing about what you're doing, particularly given your background. dkovar - gmail.

nabraham
Great to see Bay Area and Chicago in the same sentence. Pumped to be part of a chicago meet up and would love the feedback. Thanks!
hoag
Cool, I just signed up for the Monday 14th dinner @ 7:30 PM @ La Méditerranée! (Which, by the way, I never thought about until now means, if my French doesn't totally fail me, "borne from the middle of the earth"... right? Or perhaps the Latin, mediterranus, "in the middle of the earth?")

Anyway, can't wait to meet the rest of you!