y combinator

Hello! I'm a non-technical (PM) cofounder & I met my technical cofounder via YC's cofounder matching platform. It took me ~3 months and ~60+ engineers to find the right fit. That's a whole lotta dates... I've documented my process here, including...

I was playing around with Custom GPTs and made one that helps you find an ideal co-founder. It asks you 10 questions compiled by Y Combinator and then evaluates your compatibility with other potential co-founders. Best part? It has long-term memory, so you can answer questions once and then...

One of the realities that I grapple with as a founder is how much of the company we expect to keep over the life of the company. This isn't intended to turn into a complaint thread or a place to evangelize bootstrapping and saving money -- I already believe in that. I'm just curious about the...

Currently my company is converting 6% of our traffic to our $9 per month product. Is that good? I can’t get a clear answer on google for what the average conversion rate for something like this.

This batch was our first time applying to YC, obviously no interview. We have a profitable product but being from Asia we don't have an interesting background. I never thought that Y Combinator is something I could be part of, but I remember my co-founder sent me a video that really made me...

Yooo good luck to everyone that applied! In the meantime are there any fellow founders targeting the creator ecosystem? I worked at an A16Z funded startup that targeted this space and handled their entire creator partnerships funnel. Got to learn from some really awesome peeps, including the...

Lesson learned: evaluate fit over the course of a month - if you don’t click then just move on. Don’t try to “make it work”, it won’t. I’m writing this to share my experience as well as to reflect. About 6-8 months ago Cofounder and I met on YC Cofounder Matching. The first convo was great -...

Context: We had our YC interview on Friday for Sendif. It bombed. If I could turn back the clock, I'd do these 3 things: 1) Say less. When asked, "What is a better email?" I blurted, "A better email is...conversion rate...drives sales...click rate...xyz...e-commerce...bla bla bla." I wish...

Hey all, my side project has been steadily growing, despite the fact I'm still working a 48 hr a week job and hence have little time to build or tell people about it. I currently have around 300 people signed up and maybe 2-4% being regular daily active users and only opened it on 28Dec to the...

While I frequently use Google Tasks/GCal and whatnot, I often find myself defaulting to texting myself thoughts and reminders just because it's the lowest-effort way to get something recorded down. So I created a bot that I can text instead. I can still store thoughts and notes in my chat...

Hi all, I built a product intro video using Canva. Took me a couple of hours. I like what pump.co (a YC startup) did with their intro video. So, followed a similar format. Please view the video once (just 54 seconds) and share your feedback. Happy to take you through how I built it. Question...

Writing this because I see a lot of posts wondering what their chances are or if they should even apply. YC grad here. This isn't official YC advice, but a practical guide based on my experience getting in and helping applicants prepare applications and one that helps me in recommending...

Hey ycombinator peeps, I'm quite active in both r/PPC and r/Searchadvertising, and I've spent the last decade immersed in the world of Performance Media. I hope you find these tips useful for your startups. This is specifically aimed at early stage startups with little to no digital footprints...

Hi guys, I apply for the W24 just before the deadline, in the same night my application have 3 views from different countries (sure is alumni’s), 1 week ago I have 4 new view (I assume is partners). Does anyone know what the process is like? I believe that when passing through the alumni filter...

I am a solo founder running a startup with $400000 ARR with 0 outside investment with 25% - 35% net margin. However since I am having to reinvest most of the profits in my startup, the current net margin stands at 10% -12%. The main issue is I am kinda non technical but I managed to scrap off a...

Happy Friday everyone! Just a short encouragement post for rejection day! We've applied to YC at least 9 times, for all kinds of startups and ideas. All rejections with 1 interview lol But in May when we got rejected for the S24 batch, we joined Founder University, a pre-accelerator program...

I am working in the field of AI (technical) for the last 4 years. I have always been interested in optimization techniques like RLs and GAs. I have already applied to W24 with a slightly doable idea (not an OpenAI wrapper :p). However, there is one idea I have always been intrigued by. I have...

Super excited and nervous. Any tips other than be concise and crisp? Update 1- Very quick 10-minute interview, don't know how it went. Almost 20 hours have passed, haven't received anything yet. Update 2 - Rejected.

I got into Antler Residency in NYC recently and still waiting to hear from YC. Although YC is a no-brainer as network and learnings are game-changer. I want your opinions on the fundraise part - YC invests $125k for 7% and then invests $375k as MFN. Most founders after YC raise at $15m...

Hi everyone, I applied to Y Combinator in early September (created my application in late August and applied during the first week of September) but I haven't heard back with an interview invite or rejection. To add to the confusion, I've seen a couple posts from people who applied after me and...