For early-stage startups looking to boost their growth with accelerators, nothing could be more intriguing than the name “Y Combinator.”
Startup accelerator Y Combinator has long been famous for its narrow gates. Of the more than 20,000 applications received for the summer and winter cohorts, only about 1.5-2% are accepted. Some of Silicon Valley’s leading companies, such as Airbnb, Stripe, and Dropbox, are also from Y Combinator.
Y Combinator will host its Winter 2023 Cohort Demo Day remotely on April 5th and 6th. The number of startups participating in the 2022 Summer cohort was down 40% from that of the previous cohort, but 17.5% of startups were accepted into this cohort, according to a Y Combinator spokesperson. It is said that it increased.
Y Combinator is currently accepting applications for its Summer 2023 cohort, and the deadline for applications is April 7.
Stephanie Simon, head of the judging team at Y Combinator.
Stephanie Simon is the head of Y Combinator’s judging team. Simon became a member of the application review team in 2016, and in November 2020 she became the head of the application review team.
Simon has read thousands of applications to date and has the best tips for up-and-coming startup founders looking to win this special accelerator program.
In a recent blog post, Simon wrote that he wanted founders applying to the current cohort to see Y Combinator as “elite basic training” for running a company during difficult times. ing.
“It’s common knowledge, especially in tech, that a significant number of successful startups have been born during recessions (search for ‘startups + recession’ and you’ll find many articles). That’s one of the reasons why we’ve had so many applications from founders who left big tech companies in the last few months.”
According to a Y Combinator spokesperson, the winter 2023 cohort had more than five times the number of applications submitted after the deadline compared to the previous deadline, which coincided with layoffs in the tech industry. point out that it coincides with the
Simon previously told Insider that the application process for Y Combinator is very easy.
When a startup submits an application, it is reviewed by the application review team and some executives. Founders who are selected for an interview are scheduled for a 10-minute video interview, after which an acceptance decision is made immediately.
“After a 10-minute interview, 99% respond within a day,” says Simon.
Simon also says that no matter how cutting-edge and trendy a startup is, that alone won’t automatically put it ahead of other startups.
In recent years, Y Combinator has seen a surge in applications in specific fields, such as “cryptocurrencies” and “chatbots.” But more important than that is the strength of the founding team. “The judging perspective is, ‘What is this smart, impressive startup doing?'” Simon says.
A spokesperson for Y Combinator said that while ideas like large-scale language models and generative AI were not surprising in this cohort, Y Combinator “funds the founders, not the ideas.” emphasize that.
Simon shared three things that Y Combinator looks for when judging. I’ll introduce them below.
It’s important to have a technical founder on your team
Simon says one way startups stand out is that one of the founding members has a technical background.
“We’re basically looking for founders who can develop the product themselves, or at least an early version of the product, on their own.”
Simon says having a technical team member helps solve problems more quickly and creatively because of their technical knowledge.
Also, if there are technical members, it will be easier to hire engineers. Recruiting engineers can be pretty daunting for a startup, but technical founders are usually easier to hire because they have connections with engineers.
Are you trying to solve a real problem?
Another feature of pitches at Y Combinator is the sense that the problems startups are trying to solve feel real.
“I feel that the more real the challenges are that the founders themselves have faced, or the challenges that have been faced by someone close to them, the more likely they are to succeed.”
According to Simon, listening to the pitch will help determine if honesty and realism are linked to the challenge. This is even more important, especially when the market is as sluggish as it is now.
“A few years ago, some startups might have raised a lot of money for ideas that weren’t tied to a specific problem, but that’s about to change.”
Simon points out that there’s nothing better than “talking to users” and incorporating user feedback before submitting an application to ensure they’re solving a real-world problem.
Also, if your service is costly for users, test it once before applying to Y Combinator to make sure it meets a critical need.
“That way, it’s a touchstone for you to see if you’re making something your users want and if you’re really serious about them. They say it’s a great product until they ask you to pay for it.” It’s a thing.”
In some cases, subject matter expertise is also important, Simon adds. For specific fields such as insurance and biotechnology, it is important during the screening whether the startups applying are experts in that field.
Biggest Factors of Rejection
For Simon, Y Combinator’s head of application review, the biggest factor in rejecting an application is “dishonesty.” In any cohort, you’ll find a certain number of startup ideas that don’t feel sincere.
“If it’s a hoax idea, or if the problem you’re trying to solve isn’t personally experienced by the founder or anyone around them, it’s pretty obvious.”
But beyond that, Simon says there is only one criteria for absolute rejection.
“If you imagine the startup to be successful, but it’s bad for the world as a whole. That’s the only absolute ‘no’ for us.”
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(Edited by Ayuko Tokiwa)
Source: BusinessInsider
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