YC is doing a first ever Fall batch – applications due by 8/27

I went through YC in S20. The number one question I get from those who apply is, "Is it worth it?". For me personally, 100 percent worth it. The application process alone makes you think through questions you probably haven't thought of before. It's worth it if you are building a venture scalable business. It's also worth it for the people that you get to meet. As someone who lives outside of SV, it opened a new door for me that was previously unavailable.

I feel like YC is a bit like the music biz. They only sign companies which would have a chance without them in the first place.

I think I'll just keep working on my side projects. They'll never be billion dollar ideas, and that's ok...

I love YC and how generous they are with their knowledge and tools. Never did it and wont be applying but just wanted to say that the Dalton + Michael videos make me calm somehow. Not sure why.

Does YC accept founders that aren't 22-26 years old in the Bay area and went to MIT, Berkeley, or Caltech? I've met quite a few in person and they fit a very specific archetype. Perhaps thats whose applying, but I do wonder.

If you start a spring batch, what letter will you use to disambiguate it from summer batches? (S24)

I applied for W22, got interviewed and was rejected.

The rejection email was quite thoughtful and helpful. I applied twice after that but didn’t get an interview. Fingers crossed for this one.

Why I’m applying?

1. Been a daily reader for HN for the last 10 years. Seen companies going from “Launch HN” to be a hugely successful within years.

2. As I’m not from the US, getting accepted would mean I will have at least warm intros to US VCs and build a good network.

3. Being through the YC school back in 2021, then bootstrapping for a year and a half, then joining another startup as a CTO, I started realizing how good YC advice is. Some people like me had to go through it practically to understand the value of YC videos.

$1M in credits seems insane to me. Is it just from the number of companies offering credits? Or that compute is marked up so highly?

Related - what can you expect in terms of credits if you're not part of YC? Whether going solo/bootstrapping or another incubator?

Still have the requirement to stay in SF for three months?

What’s the realistic likelihood of getting accepted as a solo founder? My potential cofounder dropped out and I’d really really like to apply for this batch.

Interviewed in 22 and rejected. Ended up joining another accellerator and ended up having the startup acquired. Looking to start something new again in the mobile app/ai space. Love to chat with anyone interested in applying together

Hello, I am completely new to this and the MFN safe/375k$ are confusing me. What if my company gets accepted into YC but never receives any further funding/investment after that?

Do I still get the 375k$ and if so, how many shares do they get for it or is it included in the 7% already? Or do I only get 125k$ initially for 7% and the 375k$ later when there is a next round?

I am a noob in the startup world, but this feels like YC could be abused to get "easy money" while in reality the founders never intend to scale the company beyond that / hope for organic growth.

Can someone explain, please? Thank you!

I always wondered, is YC worth the try? Are there any hidden details that are usually not mentioned? I hope to get answers from individuals who went through the process.

Is it correct to say the purpose of YC is to seed fund as a lead up to an IPO?

Or is the purpose of YC to seed fund to create a blossoming privately-owned product?

I look at a software company like McNeel or Dassault that outlasts dozens of IPOS... from what I see of YC, I don't get the vibe these are even comparable.

YC was always the dream for me, and I've applied about 25 times over the last 10 years. My work has been all about startups/side projects since I was about 14 years old. I live and breathe startups. But since then I've learned there are downsides to even applying for YC, let alone actually joining.

1. People will steal some of your good ideas. I interviewed with YC back in 2021 where I discussed some unique marketing strategy that had not yet been done in my space. Very suspiciously, I was rejected, yet some large YC companies working in adjacent spaces immediately started implementing that exact specific idea over the next few months. It's possible that was a coincidence, but the timing was very suspect, especially since I was explicitly told during the interview "you have good ideas, but a large team could do this better". And so I'm pretty sure they stole my ideas and gave them to larger teams on the YC portfolio. Beware!

2. It's just a massive distraction if you can actually go it alone. Sam Altman famously said earlier this year, it's only a matter of time before there is a billion dollar company run by a single person with AI. I used to say that back in 2021 even before ChatGPT was released. For many types of SaaS companies which could effectively just be a single person, there is no need for funding, networking, or anything else except writing code and talking to customers. Everything else is just a distraction. YC advice is free on the internet. Vinod Khosla said many investors bring negative value to the companies they invest it.

3. The Silicon Valley groupthink bubble. I laugh at some of the nonsense that comes out of SV, but it doesn't matter to them because there is so much money sloshing around SV that as long as you can attract money by playing their high school popularity contest, you are validated. No matter if there is no substance to your idea. YC companies should count their actual revenue as not including money that comes from other YC companies because it is suspicious if your “product” only matters to people with VC money to splurge. For me, the ultimate test of a good idea is if people are willing to give you their OWN hard-earned money.

4. I, personally, don't do well under intense competition and social pressure. My best ideas and most productive spurts of my life have been when I don't feel pressure to grow, but I work out of a sense of enjoyment in the craft and wanting to solve people's problems that I care about. I have a feeling that YC is one intense pressure cooker, and I'd most likely die there.

My cofounder and I are thinking of applying again for www.onetake.ai (B2B AI SaaS, with growing revenue and ~3,000 paid users).

With such a surprise short deadline, we're not on the same continent at the moment. Is there any stigma attached to doing the application video remotely on eg. Zoom?

I always assumed that being together to record the video was just better.

How to get accepted in this batch: make sure you mention “AI”, “generative pre-trained transformer”, “llm” at least once in app ;)

I had been considering applying but got turned off by gary tan's, and the rest of vc-dom's, rude aggressive politics. Luckily my startup is starting to gain traction, hopefully that will make it easier to find investors that don't turn me off.

Lottery plus Insider Connections.

Maybe 2% actual proper evaluation?

Just applied with my marketplace nerdcrawler.com (easiest way for artists to auction their art and earn 4x more starting with comic artists). Since launching in January 2024, registered users are growing at 40% MoM; we've generated >$148K in GMV and ~$10K in revenue (>350% CMGR).

Applied twice in the past. Got 1 interview and 2 rejections. But, this is the best traction I've ever had so I hope third time's the charm.

This is slightly off topic, but does anyone else think that the accompanying video is AI?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jOYX2pgTZk

When I came across their twitter post about this, I was a bit taken aback. I think it is AI, but I can't tell that easily. I've seen Dalton and Michael videos so the facial expressions and cadence are off, but maybe I'm just seeing things? Anyway, no judgement on the use of AI or anything, just wondering if I'm correct.

it comes with free commercial drugs with exclusive credits? Great one

Can we please have an AI::generating YC-application-Emmitter-9000 Parody Box.

EDIT:

A thing trained on all the YC applications, the posts about success and failure with a success recommender/dark-pattern/gap-areas/ideas-previously-not-possible-till-AI etc would be a really interesting data to query.

And have it spit out the recommendations for parody based on all the techno-babble encapsulated.

For Fun & Profit.

I applied for summer 24, and got a less-than-thoughtful response bordering on personally insulting (“TL;DR - why don’t you go back to your day job?”). I won’t be applying anymore.

Funny thing is, I didn’t even want to hear back - I just like to fill out the application as a writing exercise, to help me get a snapshot of my own thinking around what I’m building.

I guess it’s stressful reading all those applications, but why respond if all you have to say is “I don’t believe you”? Silence will do just fine; I’m aware that people don’t believe me - it’s called a startup, right?

(Anyways, nbd, apologies for the tangential rant, love the website)

This seems really last minute. 3 weeks to submit your application? Was this thing planned over the weekend?

Kind of a shit time to be away from family or school. Lots of stuff happens between September and December.

I certainly would be surprised if it were their second Fall 24 batch...

It would be surprising if you had a prior Fall 24 batch....

Wait....

All I can glean from this is that joining a YC Batch gives you access to a time machine.