The application I used to get into YC as a solo founder and no revenue, AMA

[james_conor]

It is about that time of the year again when there are a lot of questions about what YC invests in and doesn't invest in. I've been trying to help out in comments, but I think my experience with YC runs contrary to the assumptions most people seem to have about YC so I thought I'd just go ahead and share my entire application.

Background: I'm the solo founder of Courier (courier.com). We build APIs that help developers easily build notifications for their products for any channel - email, SMS, Slack, push, inbox, etc. These days we're ~40 people, Series B, with almost $50M raised from Google Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Twilio, Slack, and a bunch of amazing angels.

Highlights of "but YC doesn't do that?" from my application:

• Solo founder
• No college degree (let alone "prestigious") or FAANG job
• Late 30s, with spouse & kids
• Zero revenue, zero customers
• No working product

Things that probably do comport with your expectations:

• Technical founder - I could & would build it myself if I never raised a dime of funding
• Already lived in San Francisco (I don't think this mattered much then, and matters even less now)

Things that I think are overlooked but are important:

• I'd incorporated and was going full-time on Courier whether I got into YC or not
• I had professional experience in the space I was building in

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b3H5PFMbM-zrGGjEjHFqhDTzYoU3fmXPr154IdGQidI/edit

 

[kakumei]

@james_conor Same situation. Late 30s. Spouse is Co founder . I built the product myself and my stronger side is business. Early revenue stage. Good feedback. Strongest ever Yc application and a YC alumni kind of likes it.

Hope you are doing good.

 

[james_conor]

@kakumei Sounds like you're off to a great start - good luck with the application!

 

[kakumei]

@james_conor Thank you. Let's see W ha t they say.

 

[butterfly2222]

@kakumei Have you received anything from them?

 

[kakumei]

@butterfly2222 No. Don't expect. I just do my job, building my company. Onwards with it

 

[knowmeyouwont]

@kakumei What was the outcome of your yc application?

 

[enliven]

@james_conor Just wondering:
- In what order did you make your first hires?
- At what level / how did you incentivize your first hires since none were at a co-founder equity level?

(I understand if you're limited in what you can share)

As a technical solo founder myself, I'm wondering how to find and incentivize someone to own the tech-building without giving up founder-level equity

 

[james_conor]

@enliven 1st hire: designer, 2nd hire: engineer. (And engineers for the next several hires, too.)

Comp obviously varied by experience, role, etc. but I'd recommend checking Pave.com (a Courier customer!). I still rely on their data for figuring out the right equity grant.

 

[enliven]

@james_conor Wow a designer full-time?

That's the one role I can't really do myself, and was intending to contract it out, but didn't realize a full-time design hire was a first option

Thanks!

 

[james_conor]

@enliven IMO design is critical to building an exceptional product.

 

[enliven]

@james_conor Agreed -- I just didn't realize there would be enough work to hire a full-time designer in the early stages

 

[royalpriestess]

@james_conor So what do you think worked in your favor ?

 

[james_conor]

@royalpriestess I really think it was primarily (a) I was a technical founder capable of building the first versions myself (b) I had worked in and understood the pros/cons of both developer tools (as a developer) and communication systems (having worked at a marketing automation SaaS) and (c) showing hustle. I was moving quickly and was fully committed.

 

[debhubtravels]

@james_conor This is a great app and thank you for sharing! How are things now?

 

[james_conor]

@debhubtravels As with any startup there are ups and downs, but we've been fortunate and things are going well. Our customers love our product and we've built a great team. Far more work ahead of us than behind us though.

 

[psalm9one]

@james_conor How did you manage the self funding part till you get some investment assuming with family and kids? Thanks for sharing. Very helpful. First time that I am seeing an application with only stuff and no fluff. You deserve it.

 

[james_conor]

@psalm9one You can see inside the application that I said I was going full-time on Courier on April 1 2019 (application was written late March). I was accepted into YC mid-April so it wasn't like there was a long duration between going fulltime and being in YC.

I also ended up raising a seed round in April, too.

 

[psalm9one]

@james_conor Thanks a lot for taking time out to share your YC experience.

 

[formeratheist2god]

@james_conor Was it your first time applying? What did you achieve during the program? Who where your first hires and when did you hire them? How do you cope with not having another co-founder to talk to? What was the biggest mistake that was 100% avoidable in the early days?
Lastly what’s the long term vision of courier?

Sorry for the barrage of questions!