Is "advice" really what Tarsnap needs? It got a lot of it (really terrific advice, too) from patio11. Looking at the home page, it doesn't appear any of that advice has been taken.
Patrick's advice (both in that article and otherwise) has been very useful to me. But when I said "access to advice", I meant in a pull sense rather than a push sense: Patrick (and other people who I consult from time to time) is great within his area of expertise, but he doesn't know everything -- whereas I get the impression that at YC, for every problem there is someone who has relevant expertise and can offer advice.
Quora being invited into YC at a late stage was a single company experiment, so I don't see why your company couldn't be a new experiment as well.
Re:YC Fellowship
by danieltillett on Monday July 20, 2015 @09:44PM
(#9920159)
Is Tarsnap a good fit for the VC industry? It is a great product, but it looks to be a much better fit for a bootstrapped lifestyle business? Why would you want to take VC money given all the problems that come with outside investors?
I don't intend to ever take VC money for Tarsnap. But that doesn't mean that YC can't offer me any useful advice.
> But that doesn't mean that YC can't offer me any useful advice.
But what can you offer them?
It's clear what YC Fellowships offer to companies, but I suspect there's also some not-as-obvious benefits to YC.
Would Tarsnap bring these benefits to YC?
Well, the benefit to YC is that they can get a better feel for companies which may fully apply to a class for a somewhat nominal fee. Stronger branding, bigger presence, and just doing some cool shit to boot.
I agree that people need to be aware that their company should offer some benefit to YC as well, just simple business...exchange of value.
Re:YC Fellowship
by danieltillett on Tuesday July 21, 2015 @02:26AM
(#9920801)
I think you are in a similar situation to me. I have no need for VC money and no interest in taking in outside investors (why sell a golden goose). By the same token I understand that no VC (or anyone from YC) would want to waste their time talking to me or giving me any advice. I would just be abusing YC’s time for me to apply for one of these fellowships - they give me more than I deserve by allowing my posts on HN :)
How about a version of this for companies which have been around for a while?
Seriously, it doesn't sound like Tarsnap would fit into this program at all, but I'd love to be able to participate in something "lighter-weight" than YC -- something which, like the YC Fellowship, would allow me access to advice and contacts without taking funding or relocating.
Of course, I'm guessing the YC Fellowship are largely a recruiting tool for YC ($12k is a small price to pay for the opportunity to extensively vet candidates prior to offering them a YC investment), so it wouldn't make sense for YC to invite me into that particular structure; but I'm not looking for money and I'd like to think that I could help YC by being "part of the family" and being someone companies could be pointed at to help with questions relating to my areas of expertise.