Summary of YC Interview Advice

Last week we found out we’ll be interviewing with Y Combinator for their Winter 2010 cycle. Jerry posted on Hacker News asking for advice and we started reading, reaching out left and right, and trying to soak it all in.

Check out del.ici.ous for my collection of relevant blog posts.

Below are my favorite bits…

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http://blog.directededge.com/2009/11/05/the-interview-with-y-combinator-thats-not/

Talk to as many people as possible about your startup and try to get them to ask as many questions as possible. Show them the demo and see what they think.

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http://myoung8.posterous.com/advice-for-your-yc-interview

The greatest risk you run when interviewing with YCombinator is having Paul, Jessica, Trevor, and Robert not understand the full extent of your opportunity.

The key is NOT trying to create an all-encompassing description of your company, rather, it is to embrace constraints, to be as concise and precise as possible. … Try to condense your description into something less than 10 words. Coming up with a good tagline isn’t really all that important per se–it’s the exercise of trying to explain what you do in a clear and concise way that is. Once you’ve done it for your tagline, try to do it for everything else you might say.

Convince them the opportunity is viable … the market is big enough … the market is capable of supporting a new entrant (i.e. that there is enough money to go around if you enter the market and that barriers to entry are low enough to permit you to attack the market).

…the surest way to increase your chances of being accepted is to not need YC.

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http://railspikes.com/2009/11/9/y-combinator-interview-advice

Paul thinks big, so if he likes your idea, be prepared for him to rattle off about 2 years worth of work for you to do – new features, new markets, a different direction, etc.

However, it’s not all about the idea. Some teams get roughed up in the interview and are surprised to be accepted. The Y Combinator partners are looking for teams to fund. Lots of YC startups end up doing a totally different thing before Demo Day.

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http://david.weebly.com/1/post/2008/11/y-combinator-interview-advice.html

Having said that, be sure you know your market in and out. You better know who your competitors are (”We don’t have any” is not an acceptable answer), the history of the market (What previous companies were similar? Were they successful? If so, how did the exit? If not, how are you going to do better?), how you are realistically going to make money (for a 3 person company, at least $30,000/month), and a very good technical understanding of how you are going to get all this done.

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http://sam.bluwiki.com/blog/2009/04/advice-for-yc-interviewees_12.php

The last thing you want to do is argue with the partners. Accept criticism and show that you’ve thought about the objections they raise. If you don’t have an answer, be honest. Offer to do the research and follow up later in the day.

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http://blog.listia.com/my-yc-interview-experience-s09-by-james

- Research previous YC companies.  Take a look at the types of companies YC has funded and see where you could fit in.
- Be open to make changes to your idea.  This says a lot more than one may think.
- Reread your application.  The same questions may come up.
- Know the answers to the easy questions.  “Would you be fully committed?”, “How many founders do you have?”, “What problems/hurdles are you anticipating?”, “Who would use your product?”, “Are you open to changing your idea?”
- Most importantly, be genuine.

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http://drraw.blogspot.com/2007/04/ycombinator-advice-interview-tips.html

…don’t mistake passion for stubbornness. You should be as excited about your idea as possible without being violently attached to it. Whenever somebody says your idea has something wrong with it, they are giving you a chance to learn something. The right answer is always “why do you think that?” instead of “we’ll prove you wrong”.

(Re-)Re-Read the application … Expand on your answers and re-think them.

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http://mattmaroon.com/2007/10/19/advice-for-y-combinator-interviewees/

Relax. You’ll get a lot of points if you aren’t nervous. … You’re basically in unless you mess it up, so just look at it as an enjoyable afternoon hanging out with Paul and Jessica.

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http://vagabondhacker.com/2009/04/16/our-y-combinator-interview-experience.html

I’d advise candidates that more than anything else, you must (a) intimately know your market and competitors and (b) convey your determination.

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http://blog.pretheory.com/arch/2007/11/yc_interview_tips_1.php

If you have demo, walk in with it loaded and your laptop open.

Show them the coolest thing right off the bat.

…some content is just plain better for your app than other content. Think about it - if you were pitching YouTube, you wouldn’t your investors to come to the front page and just see music videos. This will give them the impression that you’re trying to compete with MTV (plus it raises questions about copyright infringement). You’d be better off showing off the highest-quality user created videos you can find. Always show the data that best fits with your app first.

Watch the clock and deliver your vision.

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Can’t wait see all the other interviewees in Mountain View next weekend! Best of luck!