00:00okay what we're going to talk about
00:03is how to apply and succeed
00:06at yc um in my capacity as the head of
00:12i go around the world and i give
00:15talks and i meet folks that are applying
00:17and i answer lots of questions
00:19and so i think i have a decent internal
00:22model of the kinds of questions that
00:24and the kinds of things that people get
00:25hung up on and so i'm going to do my
00:29to anticipate what you're probably
00:31thinking about and try to answer those
00:32to the best of my ability
00:34all right so why is it even worth
00:37applying to yc um people ask this
00:40question a fair amount of time
00:42and i would argue that the very act of
00:45completing the application
00:47forces you to think about stuff that you
00:49should definitely think about
00:54you know what are we building
00:59what is different about what we're doing
01:01than other options on the market
01:04who are your competitors that's going to
01:07here's one that sometimes people don't
01:08talk about before filling out the
01:10what is your equity split you'd be
01:13surprised people often have never had
01:15and so the very act of going through and
01:17doing an application
01:19and working with your co-founder to
01:20answer all these things i would argue
01:22is an extremely good idea and regardless
01:25of whether you do i see again
01:26you should have you should ask
01:28yourselves all these questions
01:30and if you find a bunch of murkiness
01:31where you can't answer them
01:33that's usually a sign that it you should
01:35be discussing this more
01:36and so right off the bat i just i
01:39going and answering the questions i
01:40think it's a good idea another thing is
01:44if you are watching this very
01:46presentation there is a good chance
01:48um that yc is a great fit for you
01:51right there's lots of people that apply
01:53and they don't really know what yc is
01:55and they googled like
01:56how to get free money on the internet or
02:00trust me i read these applications and
02:02it's clear that they don't exactly
02:05what yc is and what it's all about they
02:07just want money right
02:08um that is not you you are here you've
02:10been participating in this you have
02:12there's lots of context that you have
02:14um about yc and so that out of the gate
02:16means you're going to be much better
02:17prepared to fill this application
02:19um and that you're a great fit for the
02:21sort of company that we would want to
02:23okay another thing is i think a lot
02:28what you should be doing as a founder in
02:29terms of cost benefit analysis on time
02:32there's a lot of things that seem like a
02:34good use of time that are not a good use
02:36and there's a lot of things that may not
02:37seem like a good use of time that are an
02:39excellent use of time
02:40and so i'd argue fill in an application
02:41should really only take you i don't know
02:45and the potential upside is quite huge
02:47versus other ways you can spend two or
02:49three hours where the upside is
02:51is not much at all um so let's talk a
02:54little bit about how you create luck
02:56and this is sort of like a meta point
02:59application thing but great founders
03:01create luck and there's ways that you
03:03can create luck in your life
03:04that increase the chances that you will
03:05get lucky and the way you get lucky is
03:08you set yourself up to be lucky as often
03:12and so if you can set yourself up so
03:13every single day of your life you have a
03:15it's something really fortunate
03:17happening to you the odds that something
03:19really fortunate will happen to you
03:20is like super high and i would argue
03:22applying to yc is definitely one of
03:25right um i answer questions and
03:26invariably people will probably ask me
03:28questions at the end of this
03:29that are some kind of a complicated way
03:31of being like of you talking yourself
03:33out of why you should do it for some
03:34reason that is not a great way to create
03:38and the fact is you're going to set
03:42to be rejected all the time as a founder
03:45get customers your customers unsubscribe
03:48um your customers are not happy you're
03:50gonna try to recruit people that may not
03:53you know you're gonna be told no all the
03:56if you set yourself up if so that you
03:59and that you never get negative feedback
04:02you're not gonna set yourself up to
04:04actually be successful so this is an
04:05example like when i talk to people when
04:08um a lot of the questions or concerns
04:10that people have are all stem from this
04:13which is they're afraid of what happens
04:14if they don't get in and so they don't
04:16even bother to take the chance
04:17and again regardless of what i see in
04:19this particular topic
04:21i really think this is a good trait for
04:23you to develop as a founder
04:25we work on this in the program with
04:26people of really encouraging people to
04:29of getting told no and systematically
04:32trying to set yourself up for good
04:33things to happen to you as much as
04:35right and so this is just another of
04:39so let's talk about some of the reasons
04:41that people don't apply
04:42this one is very common i am too early
04:44there is no such thing as too early
04:50sometimes in the extreme case people
04:52have changed their idea between when
04:53they get invited to interviews and when
04:54they get to the interview
04:56that's an extreme case that's pretty
04:59we also fund people that end up pivoting
05:02that means they've been working on their
05:04startup like a negative number of days
05:06right that is clearly not too early also
05:08and so again there's this
05:10there's a lot of ideas around there that
05:11like the right way to apply to yc is to
05:13wait till you have a certain amount of
05:15someone asked me a question what's the
05:16right amount of mrr to get into yc
05:18and like holy cow the answer is zero
05:22right that doesn't mean you will
05:23definitely get in every time clearly
05:25but any kind of roadblock you put for
05:27yourself that you're too early
05:28i would argue is your own
05:30self-constrained roadblock not something
05:32that's coming from us
05:33conversely people think they are too far
05:35along and this one is great because it's
05:38there's like this ideal point between
05:40too early and too late that is like
05:42last you know a week or something and
05:44otherwise you're too far on either
05:46um most likely you're not too far along
05:48we have folks every batch that come in
05:49we have folks that um
05:51man had over a million dollars in annual
05:55um folks that have had 20 or 30
05:59uh folks that have raised a fair amount
06:00of money like whatever metric by which
06:02you think you too far and again maybe
06:03you are genuinely too far
06:05because you're like got a thousand
06:07employees or something
06:08um the odds are though most of the
06:10people ask this question
06:11it's because they are launched or um
06:15they have a little bit of revenue and
06:16they're like oh wow we don't need yc we
06:18got it all figured out
06:19and again our data and the folks that we
06:21worked with suggest that you are most
06:22likely not too far along depending on
06:25so if that is the idea don't put the
06:26barrier into yourself on why you're not
06:28going to apply just cause you think
06:29you're too far along
06:30i'm too experienced this is where either
06:33you just oh yeah i went to business
06:35school or i've done a startup before
06:37okay that's fine but all you're doing is
06:40possibilities there and i don't there's
06:42lots of folks that are super experienced
06:44uh justin khan did yc three times um and
06:47is now the founder of atrium
06:48and he gets something out of it every
06:50time and clearly he's very experienced
06:52much more experience than many people
06:54that think this about themselves so
06:55again this is just creating barriers for
06:58this is a common one there's something
07:00specific about my company
07:02that yc just doesn't get and um usually
07:06the way that i answer this
07:07is by listing all the types of companies
07:11it is too long and too boring to list
07:12here so i will not attempt to be
07:14um to list them all but look whatever
07:17industry you're in whatever you're doing
07:19most likely we fund something kind of
07:22like it or equally crazy to that and we
07:24crazy and weird things and again why
07:26don't you make crazy weird i don't know
07:28we've funded nuclear fission and nuclear
07:30fusion startups and supersonic jet
07:33and like i don't know all sorts of crazy
07:35biotech stuff so there's
07:37it's unlikely that we're just going to
07:38be like wow that's that's too weird for
07:40maybe you are that one but most likely
07:42this is a barrier you're putting in for
07:44this one's also really common people
07:46think if you do yc you have to live in
07:49forever that is not true a huge
07:51percentage of people that we fund
07:52you know you do the program here but
07:54that's three months then you go and do
07:56right so if you're if you're super
07:58worried about like wow i just love new
07:59york city that's my home i want to be in
08:02okay that doesn't preclude you from
08:04wanting to apply to yc
08:05okay there's more um i'll go through
08:07this quicker i'm a solo founder
08:10okay that's not a reason not to apply
08:13it's just again maybe you're afraid of
08:14rejection or you know that we encourage
08:16you to have co-founders that doesn't
08:17mean that's not a reason to not apply to
08:19um i've already applied to yc once
08:21before i'll address this later but
08:23just because you didn't get in once in
08:24no way means that you won't do it again
08:27not a good reason i've already raised
08:29some money i don't know the stats off
08:32but a huge percentage of last batch had
08:34already raised a few
08:35you know on the order of six figures and
08:39there's definitely some
08:40seven figures as well and so in no way
08:42does it preclude you from applying to yc
08:44it's in fact extremely common um finally
08:48sometimes they're you know if you're
08:50doing like a self-driving car startup or
08:51a scooter or startup or something
08:53there's other folks that we funded in
08:56we we fund folks in the same space all
08:57the time this does not preclude us from
09:00nor is a good reason to not to not apply
09:06here there's not many but i do think
09:08there is a couple of good reasons to not
09:10one is you can you have the kind of
09:12business that is either not
09:14anticipated to be fast growing enough
09:15nor in your ambition is something that
09:17ever makes sense to raise venture
09:19and if that does not make sense for you
09:21then yeah you probably shouldn't apply
09:22like you should not raise any venture
09:24capital you should make the growth rate
09:26work for you and make the business model
09:27that works for you and that's a-okay
09:29right so no sweat that's a good reason
09:32you're just not sure you want to work on
09:33this very long all right that's that's
09:37um we're used to working with people
09:38that are working on something very long
09:41and so if you just want to do something
09:42for a few months or uh put this on your
09:44resume then yeah that's that's a fair
09:50how to apply okay this is really
09:53there's a website you go to the website
09:57and you follow the instructions um it's
10:01early or late depending on your
10:02circumstances as jeff said
10:07uh it's slightly harder to get in
10:09earlier late and that's just because
10:11that's not our primary time to be
10:12cycling through things um
10:14but if that's what if those are the
10:16circumstances you're in um you should
10:19this is a very common email question we
10:20get is hey it's two weeks after the
10:23deadline can i still apply
10:24guess what the answer to that question
10:26is it's a very quick yes
10:28but people want to ask they want
10:29permission and again this is a recurring
10:30theme about founders you need to learn
10:32you don't have to ask permission for
10:33everything you don't need our approval
10:35you know there's a website if there's a
10:37button where you can apply you should
10:38right you don't need to email us have a
10:41say yes and then do it that is an
10:44right um so just keep that in mind um
10:46and you can just email us
10:48and again most of these questions are
10:49just people asking should i apply and
10:50our answer is almost invariably yes
10:52but if you want to ask us you can
10:54there's the email address
10:57so let's talk about what makes a good
11:00the first one i promise this is not
11:04this matters and it's because i read so
11:07i have a very good idea of what they
11:09actually look like and i realize that
11:11this talk will go on the internet and
11:13many of the things that i say will be
11:15reflected back like i'm creating a
11:16feedback loop for the things that i read
11:18and so things i'm putting in here are
11:19actually meant like i want these ideas
11:21to get dispersed of people knowing what
11:23makes a good application because i think
11:24that will make my job easier
11:26right so this is very intentional the
11:29is that you would be shocked how many
11:31people don't actually fill out the dang
11:33like sloppy sloppy sloppy right there's
11:36like whole areas where they don't
11:37answer the question whatsoever they
11:39don't put in urls they don't fill out
11:42i don't know it's again it's not a very
11:44long application you'll see yourself
11:46but it is shocking to me how what a high
11:48percentage of the time people just like
11:50don't fill the dang thing out or like
11:51put in lots of like errors and it's just
11:54not great think about it about you know
11:55applying for a job or any other kind of
11:58lack of professionalism here not equated
12:01so just fill it out it's that simple and
12:03that's why i'm leading with this is you
12:04would be shocked how few people follow
12:06maybe they think it's like a lottery
12:07ticket where they put it in an
12:08application and it's a bad one they
12:11no humans read these things i read these
12:13things and i appreciate it if you fill
12:16the second thing is the founder video
12:19you would be shocked
12:21how many people don't follow the dang
12:24there's directions on how to do the
12:25founder video i.e it should be a minute
12:27all the founders should be in the video
12:31don't do that we get the 20 minute
12:34like spirit journey video
12:39where i don't even know what they're
12:40taught you know it's just like it goes
12:42it's yeah or like sometimes i've seen
12:44like an hour 20 i've seen some weird
12:46but like the 20 minute spirit journey
12:48video not super helpful
12:50and i'm not it's really hard to sit
12:51there and watch something for 20 minutes
12:53um one minute is a perfect amount of
12:55time we give you examples
12:56those examples are great videos be like
12:58that video um it's also really good to
13:01the entire founding team in the video
13:04people are always like hey
13:05i'm here and i'm in the airport and my
13:07co-founder is in here so here's my video
13:09and like i think that's fine if that's
13:13but maybe just waiting a couple of days
13:14till you can be with your co-founder to
13:16do the video would be a good idea
13:18because my theory is a lot of times when
13:20people don't follow the directions and
13:22maybe because their co-founder doesn't
13:23know they're replying to yc
13:26like there's all these things under the
13:27hood where the lack of the co-founder in
13:30speaks volumes um and so maybe
13:33maybe you are have a great reason why
13:35your co-founder is in the video but
13:37i would suggest it right just and it's
13:40so i'm not telling you anything that's
13:42not in the directions i'm just letting
13:43you know yes we watch these things
13:44and yes it's valuable and if you just
13:46follow the directions then we're going
13:48and when it's like either there's no
13:49video or the video is weird another
13:51thing that people do a lot is they put
13:53like an unrelated video of a product
13:56demo that they made with one of those
13:57free tools where there's no humans in it
14:00i can't even describe it but anyway
14:02there's a whole genre of things that
14:03people put in there that are not
14:04remotely following the directions
14:06so please follow the directions i swear
14:11clarity of thought this is a good
14:15is easy to understand what they're
14:16talking about and it doesn't mean you
14:18write tons and tons and tons of words
14:20tons of words can definitely has a
14:22diminishing return where we don't know
14:23what you're talking about and it's
14:24i just can't understand what the
14:26application is saying
14:29also clarity on who's building the
14:30product it's remarkably obfuscated
14:33to even figure out what's going on and
14:35who's even building the thing
14:36like you'll see who the founders are and
14:38you'll kind of see what they're working
14:40but it's really hard to tell who's
14:41building it and so just having it be
14:44of who's building it um again this is
14:46this would put you way better than
14:48if you just do these things it's so
14:52so good applications do these
14:55let's talk about clarity because this is
14:57definitely something that
14:59uh is worth talking about great
15:03that i read the application when i read
15:05an application and i know when i read it
15:07they're going to get in
15:09they're super easy for me to read it
15:11does not require a lot of work it
15:12doesn't feel boring or painful
15:14it just reads like with no effort
15:18um and it's because i understand there's
15:21and everything just adds up and it's a
15:25it's like wow what a great application
15:27and you move on it's very quick
15:29um weak applications
15:32obfuscate they obfuscate
15:36everything what is your idea
15:39obfuscated what who's on the team who's
15:43obfuscated how does it work i have no
15:46what is the state of the company are you
15:48launched do you have users what is it
15:49you have revenue but you're not launched
15:52like basically it's like a puzzle you
15:54pre when i'm reading one of these
15:56it's like a brain teaser where i'm
15:58trying to figure out what's going on
15:59and i promise this doesn't help i think
16:03a lot of the times that people
16:04obviously is they either think that
16:06that's what we want to read or we like
16:07buzzwords or we like this stuff
16:09or they're trying to hide something
16:12we're like the revenue is actually their
16:14personal salary but it's not revenue for
16:16the company but they're putting it in
16:17there because they think they should
16:19stuff like that and so we'll ask
16:21questions sometimes to figure this out
16:22but there's such a clear delineation for
16:26me as an application reader
16:28about someone that is clearly
16:29communicating in a very crisp way
16:31versus where it's this brain teaser and
16:34i'm trying to pull out
16:35or it's just like tons of work for me to
16:37pull out the key facts from the
16:42and i think this is broadly applicable
16:46if you're trying to convince someone to
16:48buy your product or you're trying to
16:50convince someone to work with you or
16:51you're trying to convince an investor to
16:53invest in your startup
16:54and they don't even understand what
16:56you're talking about you have already
16:58lost right simply going for
17:02coherent understanding should always be
17:05the first thing you do before you're
17:06trying to sell someone
17:08right so if i don't understand what the
17:10heck is going on in your application
17:12it doesn't even get to the point where
17:13it's like hey should we fund this
17:14company or not we just don't know what's
17:16and you will notice that other people
17:19will check out like if you're trying to
17:20pitch your thing to someone
17:21they can't follow you there's no way
17:23you're getting them to yes and so i just
17:24think this is such a broadly applicable
17:26skill and something that we work on a
17:28is simply being clear and making sure
17:32knows what you're doing first and then
17:33selling them comes second
17:35once they actually understand what
17:39so i put in a few examples here so
17:41here's some examples of
17:43really great descriptions from real yc
17:46applications from world yc companies
17:48that got in and so here's a company
17:51and this is the entirety of their answer
17:54there's not more this is it um
17:59i don't know i'm not gonna read it um
18:02it's what three sentences and i read
18:05that and i know exactly what they do
18:07and i know who wants it and that's it
18:10great seems valuable right this requires
18:14effort to pull out what remix is and
18:17and who it's for that i'm like great
18:20like takes two seconds to read
18:25here's another one for a company called
18:26tetra science also excellent
18:29or a software platform that connects
18:30scientific tools to the cloud it allows
18:32scientists to access their lab device
18:34blah blah blah and we make a heart small
18:38which connects those labs to the web
18:42that's great that's what we want to read
18:45understandable no jargon answers all the
18:49notice they're not trying to sell us on
18:51any of this they're just explaining what
18:53and that's why this is so great is it's
18:54super coherent super clear
18:59here's another example from git lab when
19:04and they explain exactly what it is the
19:06history of the company and they also add
19:09really impressive facts right at the top
19:11over 100 000 organizations use it
19:13thousands of programmers at apple all
19:18glad they put that in there right and
19:20it's right at the top super crisp
19:22right so this is when we read these
19:24applications it's very clear what they
19:25do and we're like wow tell me more
19:27like i understand what you're doing
19:30here's an example of a bad one and i
19:32didn't pull this from a real application
19:34i wrote this myself and i wrote this
19:37based on many of the applications i read
19:39you know what i'm saying like i didn't
19:41have to think too hard to write what a
19:43description is um and it keeps going i
19:47couldn't fit it on the slide
19:49it keeps going for pages
19:52and this isn't even an exaggeration this
19:55is what a lot of applications are like
19:57and i understand like i have empathy for
20:00apply with stuff like this because i
20:02think that they think
20:03that this is what we want or they think
20:06that if they use enough jargon or
20:08that we will get confused and fund them
20:10or something you know it's like
20:12stunning us like oh i don't know
20:17instead this is arduous work that makes
20:21like want to go take a break i'm like
20:25like i read one of these and i need to
20:26go like get a breath of fresh air
20:28um this is a really hard to read it's
20:30really hard to understand what's going
20:32and i still don't know i read this and i
20:35i've learned nothing i still don't know
20:36what this company does even after
20:38reading the application
20:39and so please don't apply
20:42with stuff like this it's not helping
20:46makes sense yeah and you do you see the
20:49crisp difference between this
20:51and the good examples yeah okay
20:55um great applications tell a story
20:58so here's the things that i would want
21:00to pull out of an application that i was
21:02um who is on the team so this is who we
21:06this is what we're working on this is
21:09why we're working on it this
21:11ie how we got the idea something like
21:12that this is what we've accomplished
21:16even if that's hey we haven't done much
21:20want to figure that out and this is why
21:23we're going to make this work
21:25and that's pretty much it these are the
21:27things that i when i read an application
21:29that i'm trying to pull out of it
21:30and there's nothing fancy here and if
21:34really really really hard to figure this
21:35out that's a scientific not a great
21:38but if this just flows out without
21:40taking any effort whatsoever then that's
21:42nothing fancy here right and if you've
21:46ever hired people and read resumes
21:47before it's kind of the same deal
21:49right you just look at a resume and
21:50you're like okay cool there's some key
21:51things you're looking for and then
21:53you're like sounds good and you move on
21:54right a resume that takes tons and tons
21:57to make sense of is probably not a great
22:02okay here is my number one tip to
22:10make it clear that there's at least one
22:14who can make the thing that you are
22:19and notice i'm being a little vague in
22:21that language because this is not
22:22just software this means any kind
22:26of technology that you bring to bear
22:29right so if you are building a cure for
22:32cancer you clearly are not going to have
22:33any programmers on that team
22:34nor would you be expected to do so but
22:36it would certainly be good if you're
22:38working on a cure to cancer
22:39to have some sort of scientist on that
22:41team does that make sense
22:43um same thing hardware you know our
22:47nuclear companies there were no
22:48programmers that were the
22:50founders of the nuclear companies but
22:52you would hope to see a couple
22:54of uh folks with phds and something
22:56related to the nuclear field
22:58right um so some sort of domain
23:01and the reason is um we
23:05we fund lots of startups and if you have
23:06all these great ideas and no one on the
23:09do it you're going to have a hard time
23:12um and so just having a really good
23:16both in the application and in general i
23:17would recommend having someone on the
23:20do it is highly recommended
23:27sometimes there's folks where the team
23:31say you are working on something in
23:32software and there aren't folks
23:34that have the credentials or background
23:37they're known software experts that's
23:40fund folks like this but the burden of
23:44is on them to prove they can do it i can
23:46think of an example of a company where
23:48it was like a self-taught programmer um
23:52excited and wanted to do their idea so
23:54badly that they went and built the
23:56prototype themselves
23:57and it was in the application like here
23:59i milled this built this myself
24:01great they got in right um and it's
24:05the burden of proof not just like let me
24:07take your word for it but you were able
24:09even though you don't have a background
24:11of an established software engineer
24:12you built a prototype and you brought it
24:14to market and you proved it
24:16and so that's a good way to think about
24:20status of having a currently
24:21non-technical team of just simply
24:23backing up the fact that you can bring
24:25the market you can bring the product to
24:26bear whether that's from a team
24:28whether that's you learning from
24:32whether it's a friend helping with a
24:33prototype just some evidence that you
24:35can bring the product to market is
24:37um and like last note here
24:40is obfuscating this doesn't help
24:44right so sometimes people make it very
24:47built the product or where the prototype
24:49came from or who's going to build it and
24:51i don't recommend obfuscating this i
24:53think having to be super crisp
24:54on who is making the thing that you're
24:56working on is highly recommended
25:00okay if you have an application that
25:03actually follows the directions
25:04really well and is well written and does
25:07the video stuff correctly
25:08and you have one or more folks that can
25:11build the thing that you want to build
25:13and there's some evidence that you're
25:14serious about it and what i mean by that
25:16um just like a lot of times people apply
25:20and it's clear they did it kind of on a
25:22whim and they're not actually serious
25:24it comes across if there's just some
25:26evidence that you really
25:28want to do this um that's recommended so
25:31if you if you meet those things
25:33um you get about a four times higher
25:36odds to get an interview
25:37right like if you're doing this stuff
25:39getting an interview is not that crazy
25:42um and if you're not if you fail all
25:45these criteria then yeah the odds are
25:47are pretty slim and so it's as simple as
25:50that this is you know
25:54this is the pro this is what it looks
25:56like to get an interview is that you
25:57meet these criteria and again it's
25:59pretty straightforward and transparent
26:03let's talk about applying more than once
26:05okay about a third of last batch
26:07were companies that applied already in
26:09the past and didn't get in
26:11and so the reason i say this is
26:14it's not bad to apply and not get in
26:17that doesn't ruin your odds if anything
26:19the way it helps you is that your next
26:21application shows progress
26:24if if you apply and don't get in and you
26:26apply again and you show progress
26:28i look at that when i'm reading the
26:29applications and i know we all do
26:31and we're like wow way to go they really
26:34like i'm so psyched like they went from
26:36an unlaunched idea and then the next
26:38application they launched it
26:40wow great job you know like we're we're
26:43impressed and this is another thing to
26:44is as application readers we're like
26:47on your side we're not looking at
26:49reasons to pick something apart
26:50we're looking for evidence that like
26:52you're serious and that like things are
26:54going well and you're trying really hard
26:56and so when you see someone expend real
26:57effort and make real progress
26:58application application
27:00that's such a strong signal right and
27:02this is why you see such a
27:03huge percentage of the folks that that
27:04do i see are folks that have applied in
27:07right is because it is such a strong
27:13one thing i wanted to mention is that
27:16you it's basically impossible to network
27:20your way into yc the whole reason yc was
27:24created was to make it easy
27:26for people that had no network to
27:30start a startup and get help and raise
27:33the idea of having this website where
27:35you can apply and then you do a 10
27:36minute review and you get funded
27:38was like really out there and weird i
27:41uh when oic launched that i was not
27:45so we don't expect anyone to have a
27:47network we don't expect anyone
27:49to network with us um
27:52one note on this is a lot i get the
27:55sense it's not a lot of people
27:57but some people attempt to cold email
28:01us a lot or do other things that are
28:05a lot and that does not help
28:09we don't expect you to have done that
28:11and the vast vast vast vast vast
28:12majority of people that get in are
28:14complete strangers we have never met
28:16that's the entire system here is funding
28:17complete strangers and
28:19my guess is your time is better spent
28:21actually making your startup better
28:23than trying to like do some weird stuff
28:26to like get attention like we always
28:28have these really crazy
28:28attention-syncing things that happen
28:30and i can assure you we don't enjoy
28:35um again what do i mean like people
28:38physically mail us weird stuff sometimes
28:42great right so sometimes some some
28:44people put a lot of effort into this not
28:46a lot of people some people do
28:47and i'm just letting you know that this
28:50is not a good use of time
28:52um nor expected in any way and that's
28:53not how i see a setup
28:55another thing to think about is
28:57sometimes there are people you know in a
28:59alumni or other people
29:03and they will give you well-intentioned
29:07for instance oh don't apply until you
29:10or oh you know let me i i'm really tight
29:15with the yc partners so let me put in a
29:16good word for you or like
29:18you should be very skeptical of this
29:20stuff um self-appointed
29:22people that are giving you
29:24well-intentioned advice
29:26that's essentially putting up barriers
29:27between you and the process
29:29i would just be like really wary of that
29:31i'm sure it's coming from a good place
29:32again a lot of times when i answer
29:34questions for people that applying some
29:35of the weirder ideas
29:37come from people that are vaguely in the
29:39network and so if someone's telling you
29:41you're too early or too far along or
29:43something something something i would be
29:46right and again you don't need a network
29:51expecting the network to give you all
29:52the perfect device is not always great
29:55real real quick point this is not about
29:58the last topic you think of it watch out
30:01for predatory advisors
30:05so in the entertainment industry there's
30:07lots of people that want to be famous
30:09there's lots of people that want to be a
30:10recording artist or they want to be
30:13there's a huge supply of them and one of
30:15the things of starting out in the
30:17entertainment industry
30:18is you meet all these people that claim
30:21to have great connections
30:23and they're somehow going to extract
30:24value from these poor naive people
30:26and it's really sad and this exists for
30:29sure in the tech industry
30:31where there are people that will just
30:32ask for equity or cash compensation and
30:36all the stuff and promise you the world
30:39it's kind of a drag to see this exist
30:43and so i just want to encourage everyone
30:45to be very wary of people like this
30:48and to do research and that means
30:50googling them if they claim fantastic
30:52things look into that
30:54due diligence on other people they
30:56worked with in the past
30:58there's just like a whole variety of
30:59people that claim to help you break into
31:02that i think is pretty dubious and there
31:04are some legit things in there
31:06but just like in the entertainment
31:09i don't know 10 people that claim they
31:11can get you a meeting with
31:13the head of all the labels to get you a
31:14record deal you know
31:17nine of those are probably lying you
31:20keep in mind the best way to have great
31:23things happen is to build a great
31:25great folks will find you and to be a
31:27little wary of some of the
31:30some of the folks that are looking for
31:31people just like you that are trying to
31:33all right so let's talk
31:40if you get invited to interviews they
31:44the interviews are in person we expect
31:47the full founding team to be there
31:49um there's usually three to four people
31:51from yc in the interview
31:53and the questions are usually very basic
31:57and what we're trying to do is just
31:58understand the nuts and bolts of the
32:01it's nothing fancy just like i was
32:02saying about the application process
32:04people are surprised to learn that
32:05there's nothing too fancy here there's
32:06no trick questions there's no
32:09um really expert stuff we're just trying
32:11to understand really basic things like
32:14are you launched well how are you
32:15getting users okay what is the next step
32:17for the company how do you see this
32:19these are all very very basic questions
32:21and we're simply trying to understand
32:25the stuff right versus um
32:29yeah actually let me go to the next
32:32there's a lot on the internet about how
32:33to prepare for interviews
32:35and i think a lot of it is a little
32:40and the reason it's wrong is i think it
32:43sets up the mentality that a yc
32:44interview is this adversarial thing
32:46that it's your job to beat right it's
32:49like the interviewers are your opponents
32:51and your job is to go in there and like
32:53stun them and confuse them
32:55and then if you fool us good enough then
32:59and i think that that is wrong
33:02um and i i again i read this whole genre
33:05blog post because they're entertaining
33:07um and i think it's usually people that
33:10didn't get in that write that and so i
33:11understand how i can feel adversarial if
33:14and it's also more exciting to write a
33:16blog post about this really exciting
33:18interview and it was like they were
33:19grilling me so hard and i like
33:21had to think on the fly like that's more
33:23exciting than yeah we had a kind of a
33:24boring conversation about my business
33:26right and so i want you this is a good
33:31any kind of working with investors i
33:33want you to put yourself in the shoes
33:35of the person on the other side of the
33:36table which is what are we trying to get
33:39out of the interview imagine you were
33:40interviewing a company what would you be
33:43you'd be looking for basic answers to
33:46and you'd be looking for having a
33:48pleasant conversation
33:50that this is someone that you want to
33:51work with and that you're excited to
33:53embark on their journey with them
33:54right and so a lot of what i'm looking
33:56for in an interview is like can i have a
33:58productive conversation with this person
34:00and if someone goes in there and like
34:03memorized paragraph of text about
34:07ai something that's like weird
34:11that's not like an organic conversation
34:13of someone you might want to work with
34:15that's someone going in there that
34:16clearly read way too many blog posts
34:19and spent way too much time preparing
34:21and is like kind of not understanding
34:23the context of the conversation
34:24which is hey like let's have a
34:26conversation about your company
34:27instead they're just like spouting
34:29nonsense at us okay and i feel like
34:31that's a consequence of people
34:33reading too many blog posts about this
34:37because the fact is when we fund a
34:40we are now working really closely with
34:42that company forever
34:44the founders and your group they they
34:48get your cell phone number they call you
34:49all the time they text you all the time
34:51these become people that are really
34:52important member of your life and the
34:55like they like this lasts a long time
34:57and so i just want you to know from our
35:00we're just trying to get a feel of like
35:01okay like are we ready to
35:03really work with this company and get
35:04super involved and so
35:07remember you know have that compassion
35:08for the people on outside the table
35:10um versus making it really like a
35:14situation where uh it feels
35:18um i don't know memorized and painful
35:22for us on the other side of the table
35:23um and again like i think sometimes
35:26people try to manipulate the process
35:28and i don't if we get any hint that
35:30you're trying to do something
35:32weird again that's not a great that
35:37trust i think that's the word we're
35:38looking for trustworthiness in a sense
35:40we're we're getting to know the real you
35:45so let's talk about a successful
35:46interview interviews do go really fast
35:50and the reason they're fast and intense
35:51is we're trying to pull all the
35:53information out of you quickly and
35:54there's not a ton of time
35:55and so it's not an attempt to trip you
35:57up it's simply that that's
35:59how much time we have and we're trying
36:00to learn as much as we can
36:03successful interviews the founders
36:05demonstrate a mastery of their own
36:07they can talk about what they're working
36:09on they know their own numbers
36:10they know how many users they have they
36:13know what their plans are
36:14they know what their equity split is
36:15like all the things that are in the
36:17they are like yeah i can talk about that
36:20you know like oh i have a question when
36:22about that in your application what did
36:23you mean oh yeah i have an answer to
36:26right like we're just looking for you to
36:28clarify things that we may not have
36:29understood from the application
36:30um and so there's no such thing as a
36:33correct answer right this is not a quiz
36:36beat the interviewers at their own game
36:38this is a legit we're just trying to
36:40understand what you're doing
36:43another thing is we know
36:46how risky this is and we know how slim
36:50the odds are in an interview are to
36:52and so if you come in there being like
36:56everything's great everything's perfect
36:57i have it all figured out i'm confident
36:59like we're definitely going to be
37:01successful i promise like
37:04okay that's not actually good like it
37:07denotes a lack of self-awareness
37:09and so again if you over practice for
37:11these things and you think your job is
37:13and tell us how you have everything
37:14figured out and you're a genius and your
37:16whole team is geniuses
37:17and like it's like you cannot lose not a
37:21um in an interview right so a good idea
37:24of what is hard about the business
37:26and what the challenges are is expected
37:30and recommended versus the things where
37:31you do have you know where you do know
37:34does that make sense so yeah like
37:36overconfidence not necessarily
37:37a great you don't see this in successful
37:41um you see self-aware founders
37:45if you are interviewed and not selected
37:48we send an email with some feedback
37:50usually the feedback
37:51is focused on a single thing which is
37:55concerned about or not convinced about
37:56in the interview and it's pretty
37:58transparent and straightforward and if
38:01you take that feedback
38:03and you go work on it and you apply next
38:06and you show how you either disprove the
38:08feedback or addressed it
38:10that is highly recommended and that's
38:12totally a great way to get into yc you
38:15like sometimes people get these emails
38:16and then you never hear from them again
38:18or they like get really angry or
38:20something and like argue with you
38:22um but you can either prove it and show
38:25that the feedback is invalid like
38:26hey we're worried about your growth
38:27strategy blah blah blah we'll go prove
38:29it yeah we did grow here's what we did
38:31we love that we'd love to be disproven
38:33or hey you were right about the growth
38:34strategy and so here's the changes we
38:36that's great things to hear too and so
38:40that's a great way to take this feedback
38:41into account is is demonstrate either
38:45it was not valid or that you've
38:49applying to yc is actually really
38:51straightforward and well documented
38:54and intentionally so
38:57so there are not a lot of secrets
39:00and we're not looking for people to do
39:02too much tricky stuff the more you can
39:05make it super clear tell a super clear
39:07story like i talked about earlier
39:08then you're going to do great and i
39:11the skills that you need to successfully
39:13apply are broadly applicable to what it
39:15takes to be a great founder
39:17right if you're going to talk to
39:18reporters if you're going to be talking
39:20other investors if you're going to be
39:21talking to employees or talk to
39:23having all the skills that we mentioned
39:25earlier that you would want to see in an
39:27or an application i think are extremely
39:30okay and then final point
39:34if you have questions and the question
39:38should i apply dot dot dot most likely
39:42is yes and just always think about and
39:44reflect on if you're being the barrier
39:46to setting yourself up to being lucky or
39:48having fortunate things happen to you
39:49and and optimize towards saying yes to
39:52i think i think it'll help you in
39:55general as a founder
39:56great thanks so much
