How to Apply And Succeed at Y Combinator | Startup School

YC Group Partner Dalton Caldwell shares his strategies for how to think about applying to YC. This talk goes beyond the information on YC's website, and reflects Dalton's latest advice on the topic. (Fun Fact: An earlier version of this talk is frequently mentioned by YC founders as instrumental in their decision to apply to YC and to getting in!)

00:00 - Intro
00:17 - Why It's Worth Applying to YC
01:11 - Creating Luck
02:16 - Weird Reasons Not to Apply to YC
02:27 - I Am Too Early
03:36 - Being a YC founder is different than watching YC YouTube videos
04:42 - How to Stop Being Discouraged From Applying to YC
06:21 - Other Reasons Why People Don't Apply to YC
07:16 - Don't Overthink
09:05 - YC's Application Tips
10:37 - YC Application Reviewing: The Basics
15:59 - What Are Your Odds of Getting an Interview at YC?
18:12 - How to Prepare for Your YC Interview
22:22 - What Makes a Successful Interview at YC?
23:38 - Post Interview Feedback
24:38 - Outro

[ycombinator]

Who is interviewing for S23 right now?

[CuttingEdgeSchool]

I have 11 days left to apply. Been working on our prototype since 2 months, spoke to potential customers and it's time we apply to YC. I am confident about me and my co-founder but I also know that our idea will evolve. Today's Wednesday and I'm going to sit and design my final Wireframes (post feedback from potential customers) and record our videos on Saturday. Really excited to apply. Doesn't matter if I get in or not because just the experience alone has given me a lot of clarity of what we want to build and who are we selling it to.

[chapterme]

Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Intro
00:17 - Why It's Worth Applying to YC
01:11 - Creating Luck
02:16 - 7 Weird Reasons Not to Apply to YC
02:27 - I Am Too Early
03:36 - Being a YC founder is different than watching YC YouTube videos
04:42 - How to Stop Being Discouraged From Applying to YC
06:21 - Other Reasons Why People Don't Apply to YC
07:16 - Don't Overthink
09:05 - YC's Application Tips
10:37 - YC Application Reviewing: The Basics
15:59 - What Are Your Odds of Getting an Interview at YC?
18:12 - How to Prepare for Your YC Interview
22:22 - What Makes a Successful Interview at YC?
23:38 - Post Interview Feedback
24:38 - Outro

[rudyferraz]

Today (4/22/24) is the 8th time I've applied, I'm not discouraged if we don't get in, I'll apply again, again, again, eventually we'll get in and build a company that will change how folks get around for free. Remember the only person stopping you is yourself.

[cruucruu]

Me and my friends are brewing a new work platform. thanks to your videos, we were able to start creating our business plan, determine the business model, and plan ahead on how we tackle the future problems. 😌

[genethemachine]

When my cofounder and I applied, we had an idea. Fast forward 30 days, and we now have an interactive prototype, growing website traffic, distribution channels, and an infinite amount of determination. It's happening fast and with Y Combinator it will happen at light speed.

[dght]

Side note: it’s okay, and even better to apply multiple times. I must admit all my life, I was of different mindset, and the failure only discouraged me from doing something I thought will not work out. And when I did do it and confirmed my suspicions, it discouraged even more and felt like waist of time. Getting used to do things that probably will not work.

[nonen]

Very good video. During my Market research, I realize that there are big shots in the market, especially one who has raised $670k, that crushed me, I became scared because I bare have $5k savings for my startup. I have been have lots of anxiety about how to build the best product and stand out. I realised that the more I think of this, the more I loss my drive and fall into depression. Now I am going back to my roots, and just trying to go take it slow and be myself and solve the problems for our potential customers, and not worry so much about the competitors. This video also made me understand that it's not war, we just need to be ourselves and do the best we can for our customers.

[formfakd]

"Hello people we are here to tell you about drama drama..!!!!" This is hilarious;)))). How refreshing it is to just listen to the super smart and normal people from YC. Listening to this logical, relaxed and just real line of thinking is like a "holiday for my ears" literally.

[nopelindoputraperkasa]

How to Register and Succeed at Y Combinator... the best video, greetings from traditional Indonesian gold miners

[kwhandy]

Despite you're not applying to YC(can't or even anymore), you already understand about any possible basic questions to ask to yourself as business owner whatever sector you're in.

Business owner should realize that they are not running orphanage, even Orphanage-as-a-Service

[rowanaldean]

Video on solo founders by choice is needed. Thoughts on founding team vs co-founders etc.

[msirius]

thanks I'm applying to YC W2025 batch!

[Dorian_Barber]

I thought the deadline passed.

Can I still sign up?
I’m going to sign up today.

[godwithagun]

Having a technical co-founder shouldn't be a prerequisite for accelerators - it's like saying you shouldn't own a house if you can't build your own house. 
A strong vision, passion and working prototype should be enough at this stage to get in. 
Plenty of startups that are well funded with heavy technical teams fail longterm, not from pure execution but from lack of creative vision.

[spegeleisen]

Applied for S24 but I feel like I kinda missed out on the strengths of my technical co-founder
I'm the non-technical guy but have been *heavily* enthusiastic about tech
Heck, I'll even be coding in the very early days, albeit with some handholding from my technical genius frendo

While my application is currently under review, if I don't make it in, I do want to learn from this application and make a solid leap forward in strengthening my application - and by proxy, my startup itself ahahaha - when I apply again for W25, WITH my technical co-founder this time around :)

This video has been so sweet & inspiring, I really want to thank YC for sharing this and putting this out there.
Even as I sit here working on my current startup (albeit in a non-technical business vertical) at 1 AM, this has significantly impacted me and the work that I'm currently doing to make this world a better place :)

I do look forward to talking with YC folks soon :D

Also, Parag, if you're seeing this - nice

[BrandonShi]

Dalton! This is amazing. Thanks for being so transparent. Great info, as I start to apply for YC with my startup PlatePost!

[amirnathoo]

These are all great tips for applying, but in my opinion the biggest barrier for even thinking about applying is the continuous assumption in every single YC videos that a startup will have multiple founders. So for me as a solo founder by choice, applying at YC is really like playing the lottery.

Reason I applied though is because I have that under my control and applying is easy. As said in the video, you have to create your own luck. You have 100% control on that.

[bes]

How is it that in every YC clip, we hear that applicants can apply from anywhere, but when you actually want to apply, there are a list of like 10 countries with 1 billion population not allowed to?!

[astrarai-thesobercoder]

Helpful and insightful. Thank you, Dalton.