Of course after you consider the upsides to this, there aren't really any downsides to applying now, even if you don't get accepted. But if you don't get accepted, I encourage you to apply again in the winter round. The problem you're addressing I believe is a good one to solve.

If you're not committed to a particular idea, you can safely wait, yes. But if there is something specific you want to work on, you can't safely delay at any stage, whether it's getting funding, releasing, or adding new features.

There are too many hopeful entrepreneurs that think "I'm not quite ready, so I'll do it in a month" - and have done so for years. In my experience it is better to push forward into the great unknown....

And there was another I can't seem to find now where a Google employee explicitly stated in response to people petitioning for one that a task manager was in the works .

Google does some nice stuff, and they have huge brand recognition, so I definitely worry about them. That said, I think that the whole productivity app business needs to be thought about in a different way, the way it works now you're always trying to shoehorn your project into something that almost but not quite fits. I hope to have an advantage in that department.

At the risk of being presumptuous, I like to offer my latest chapter on how to build a team, not so much on how to entice talents but to screen the wannabes who do not have the staying power to be in a startup.

http://www.lovemytool.com/blog/2008/03/team-building.html

Good luck. It sounds like fun.

When you say "the upcoming YC round", do you mean 4/02/08? If so, I imagine that you'd be better off applying as a single founder. Probably not a good idea to go into business with someone you've only known for 8 days. As a single founder myself, I'd need at least 6 months to a year to get to know someone and work with them before I'd make a commitment. Better yet, I'd prefer someone I've known for years, but the dozen or so possibilities always seem to have some other road block.

Is there anyone you already know and have worked with before that could join you? That way, your odds would be much better (for YC and beyond).

Good luck and keep us posted.

My intention is to apply for YC founding in a week, and I'm looking for a technical co-founder. But I'm probably not prepared to make a total commitment in that time. There are many ways this can be solved. One idea goes along the lines of a contract that will give a co-founder an increasing number of shares as work gets done. This way I won't end up with a no-good co-founder, and a co-founder that actually produces good work won't be cheated out of ownership. This is of course pretty fluid, and there are a lot of details that need to be worked out. Other ideas might be viable as well.

And for the record: I fully intend to get this startup going whether I get accepted for YC or not. And I'm looking for a co-founder regardless of outcome. My belief is that a cake prepared by two competent people is more than twice as big as a cake prepared by one competent person.

There are a few people that I have worked with before that I would love to do something with again. Unfortunately they are tied up. So no luck there...

Not making a judgement on this policy, it just seems fair for people to know before they take the time to apply as a single founder.

Two of the startups in the current batch were run by single founders when we accepted them. Neither was a startup legend or had any traction.

The odds of being accepted are much greater (roughly 4x) with a cofounder, but it's not impossible to get funded as a single founder.