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Converge (YC S23) will review your YC application before you submit

24 points by janhenr ↗ HN
Hi HN,

We're the co-founders of Converge. YC was a turning point for us, and we believe that a large contributor to us getting in was the feedback we received from previous YC founders (e.g. founders of PostHog reviewed our application back in the day).

Now that the next YC application deadline is in 8 days, we'd like to pay it forward by offering feedback on your application.

If you’d like a fresh set of eyes, fill out this form: https://forms.gle/H12KqmaaN4zpoYBd9

We’ll do our best to respond with thoughts or suggestions.

25 comments

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i_have_an_idea
YC start up idea -- an app that uses AI to help you maximize your YC application
redeux
Not just YC, but any start up incubator / accelerator plus pitch decks.
conartist6
Now that's thinking. They've already destroyed recruiting. Next: themselves.
edoceo
I've got one that evaluates pitches and I'm trying to get it to eval the 1m pitches we get. I've only processed like 1800 applications, so it's not very trained - and I'm of course still tweaking the prompts based on investor conversations.
loktarogar
I read this as a startup for reviewing YC applications. The reality is much nicer :) Very generous of you!
uncomplexity_
hey thank you for this! will send ours later.

our product is uncomplexities.com, which has a shit ui but already functional. still working on the v2 to be out next week.

to other founders out there, what are you building / submitting to yc?

conartist6
Seems like these days the advice is simple, YC only cares about AIs not human beings, so be sure to tell how your startup will help make the AI bubble bigger before it pops
conartist6
Sorry if I'm combative, but most of these companies don't even bother trying to close the loop on justification that these products would make the world a better place for humans.

It's obvious to me that AI technology is good for anyone getting rich off it, but like, our industry is the joke of the country right now. It's like the whole industry has shut its doors: everything it once built or believed or championed has been replaced with the idea that humans aren't good enough. Show me that YC still believes at least ONE other thing!

shortrounddev2
For real, I'm a little ashamed to be working in this industry
jasfi
Most people building AI products believe they will make the world a much better place. Even if not their products specifically, then AI in general.

In the background there's an ongoing debate of whether AI will lead to a utopia or a dystopia. There's not much of a middle-ground.

oulipo
Exactly. Unchecked AI is going to ruin our democracies, like they did with Trump election
bilekas
I don't know if it's YC specifically who 'care' as you say. If you see the launches : https://www.ycombinator.com/launches

There are an ungodly number of AI based submissions, if the pool consists of for example 80% AI based, it stands to reason YC will probably be choosing between a lot of AI tech. Almost like survivor bias.

If the new trend of submissions is AI, I don't see why YC should say : "No we want to improve humanity" . Doesn't seem like that's their interest really.

conartist6
They're openly courting it. Read through https://www.ycombinator.com/rfs
bilekas
I stand corrected. Well then I guess the onslaught of AI slop is here to stay for a while at least. Great.
user_7832
I think it’s interesting and funny (in a funny-weird, not funny-haha) way that despite YC and Paul Graham being so respected here, they (at least YC, don’t know how much say PH still has) are promoting this AI slop thing.

PG et al probably care more for returns than quality - not saying that’s intrinsically good or bad - but that’s not at all the ideal many hold him as.

bilekas
Thats a tough one honestly, if you're an incubator, you almost want to always be at the ground level for those that will take off,YC has a history of that. Looking back I'm not sure anyone was a "visionary" to see the potential but maybe it was a case of threw enough ** at the wall and some stuck.

Either way I don't think it's a bad thing, small startups should have the ability to flourish and fail. I am just surprised it's all AI at the moment when we still have problems left unsolved.

BadCookie
Wow. Every request is AI related! I thought maybe the systems programming one wasn’t… but alas, I was mistaken.
dthedavid
Submitted.

I'm building a copilot for salespeople on LinkedIn (heysalesman.com). I'm using the product to sell the product.

Looking forward to the feedback.

conartist6
How would your product make the world a better place for human beings, especially if it were successful?
BriggyDwiggs42
Well it will make him lots of money, and he’s a human.
dthedavid
We will be able to help sellers find buyers faster. This improves selling efficiency, therefore helps grows world GDP.
waonderer
Good products can reach those who really need it. If this works successfully, I can say it does make the world a better place.
aqueueaqueue
Make sure your company name is a common dictionary word :)
waonderer
> A name defines a company. It has to be something primal—something that you can scream out during interc*urse, like Aviato.