Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding

Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by martythemaniak on Monday February 09, 2009 @03:35PM (#474123)

It'd be interesting to see how many applications YC gets compared to this time last year (as a % change).

On one hand, people might be pretty worried about taking a risk like this now that the economic turmoil has really started to hit the labour market and not apply as much. OTOH, recently laid-off people might flood YC with applications, even if they would not consider it before.

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by palish on Monday February 09, 2009 @04:40PM (#474209)

It seems like there will be a sharp decline in the number of applications because of the effort required to produce a video introducing the founders, even if it's a simple video. That is a Good Thing though because it will probably filter out most of the low-quality apps (a 13-year old single-founder applicant probably wouldn't take the time to make the video, for example).

On the other hand, if you ever wanted to Goatse PG, here's your chance.

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by menloparkbum on Monday February 09, 2009 @04:46PM (#474216)

?! Outside of setting world records for texting, pretty much the only thing 13 year olds do these days is post videos of themselves to the internet. The effort required to make a sub-minute intro video has almost reached zero.

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by palish on Monday February 09, 2009 @04:51PM (#474224)

I should've selected the example more carefully. If the first few seconds of the video is of a 13 year old, then the app can probably safely be discarded, so it's still a decent low-quality filter.

Also, if you put "almost zero" effort into your intro video, then it's going to suck. I don't know what YC is looking for in the video, but it seems like you'll have a higher chance of them funding you if they see that you have at least one naturally-charismatic founder, in addition to a very skilled technical one. The video can show your charisma, just like the application can show your technical skill.

It still seems like the total number of fully-completed applications will decrease because of the video. But again, that's a good thing.

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by ljlolel on Tuesday February 10, 2009 @12:58PM (#475557)

So you would've thrown out Aaron Swartz's young face? (Aaron co-founded of Reddit)

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by palish on Tuesday February 10, 2009 @03:29PM (#475879)

Thirteen year old: http://www.canbymn.org/dhoyme/Zach.MVC-004S.JPG

Seventeen year old: http://www.iamthewitness.com/Bollyn/RogerHolyfield.jpg

Eighteen year old Aaron Swartz in 2005: http://graphics.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Original_Photo/2007/09...

Also, I just realized that doing a Google image search for "thirteen year old boy" at a public coffee shop might not be such a good idea.

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by steveplace on Monday February 09, 2009 @03:43PM (#474129)

From a personal anecdote, it's much easier to start a business than it is finding a job. Less hassle, only have to grovel half as much for money.

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by c00p3r on Monday February 09, 2009 @11:42PM (#474700)

and even much easier to start it in so-called emerged markets (India/Nepal/Thailand etc.)

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Re:Applications open for summer 2009 YC funding by albertsun on Monday February 09, 2009 @05:36PM (#474294)

How many applications did YC get last year?

Edit: Scratch that, guess I should've searched first. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=336635

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