{"id":1059,"date":"2019-06-04T13:24:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T10:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arc.dev\/employer-blog\/?p=1059"},"modified":"2025-06-11T12:15:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T04:15:26","slug":"y-combinator-application-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arc.dev\/employer-blog\/y-combinator-application-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"31 Y Combinator Application Tips to Successfully Snag a YC Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As Y Combinator applications flood in for every new batch, founders with great ideas are looking for ways to make their applications stand out. Paul Graham, also known as PG, even pleaded with<\/a> his applicants to help encourage them \u2014 \u201cInvestors are optimists. We want to believe you\u2019re great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2011, Paul also said that the acceptance rate<\/a> to Y Combinator is around 3%. The percentage of applicants who get interviews is around 7%, according to YC partner, Kathrina Manalac<\/a>. This means that 3 out of 7 (42%) of the groups that passed the application stage will pass their interviews!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, countless YC founders, partners, and applicants have written about the YC application process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a list of 31 of the most important YC application tips and advice you can follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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General Tips for Applying to Y Combinator<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

1. Get to the point<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Back in the day, each YC partner read every application over a period of about 10 days \u2014 that is no longer true. Alumni reviewers do the first pass, and then each partner still reads 70-100 applications<\/a> per day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does that mean for you? Here\u2019s how Jason Shen, co-founder of Ridejoy<\/a>, puts it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming an 8 hour day with 5-minute breaks each hour means each app gets about 5 minutes of each partner’s time on average. (440 mins per day \/ ~85 apps per day = 5.2 mins per app)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Cut to the chase \u2014 impress YC partners with quality, not quantity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Impress them (concisely)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sounds contradicting? It is a bit. But not entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quoting Joseph Perla, former VP of Technology at Turntable<\/a>, a YC alum, and a two-time YC applicant \u2014 write everything<\/em> that is interesting and unique<\/em> about yourself. The biggest mistake he made in his first round of YC applications was keeping it too brief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of adequately showing himself off, he thought he’d save his accomplishments for the interview. But don\u2019t forget, only 7% of the applicants actually make it to the interviews! So write everything that\u2019s impressive about you and only write about impressive things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Avoid marketing speak<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of the most important things to accomplish in your YC application is to answer the questions as clearly and succinctly as you possibly can. Michael Seibel, YC partner, co-founder, and CEO of Justin.tv reminds YC applicants<\/a> that the only way to have a robust pitch for your company is to \u201celiminate jargon, acronyms, marketing speak, and any ambiguous terms such as \u2018platform.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a specific example Harjeet Taggar<\/a>, YC partner and founder of Triplebyte, gave:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Revolutionizing the world of digital communication via the social web” gets me no closer to understanding what you’re actually doing. Write in plain speak e.g. “a mobile application showing you nearby restaurants your friends recommend”.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As Paul Graham said<\/a>, \u201cthey\u2019re immune to marketing-speak; to them, it\u2019s just noise\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More<\/strong>: Here\u2019s How to Best Motivate and Reward Your Remote Engineering Team<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Stay away from buzzwords<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Revolutionize, disrupt, synergy, innovate, groundbreaking, world-class, unique, advanced, cutting edge, exclusive, superior, platform, leverage.<\/s><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scratch all of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These words can diminish the quality of your application and are not considered as \u201cimpressive\u201d as they may seem. YC partners are not interested in reading fluff. Write about your ideas in the clearest (perhaps \u201cdullest\u201d) way possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Strive for excellence, not perfection<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Writing an application for Y Combinator can be a nerve-wracking experience. You might start second-guessing every single word you use and every sentence that you write. Of course, it\u2019s only natural to be cautious; however, the red light should go off if you\u2019re chasing after perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Paul Buchheit, creator of Gmail and a YC partner, said<\/a>, \u201cPerfectionism is a disease. It stops progress and drives us crazy. Perfect is unreachable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Apply early<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

No, applying early does not guarantee that you\u2019ll get a spot, but you will have a small advantage because YC partners will have more time to read your applications<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that said, if you don\u2019t have a working demo yet, then it would be better to apply closer to the deadline with a working demo and everything in place<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More<\/strong>: 11 Data-Backed Reasons to Work With Remote Software Developers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tips for Being an Awesome Founder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

7. Be formidable<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to be \u201cformidable?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA formidable person is one who seems like they\u2019ll get what they want, regardless of whatever obstacles are in the way. Formidable is close to confident, except that someone could be confident and mistaken. Formidable is roughly justifiably confident.\u201d<\/p>

— Paul Graham, Co-founder of Y Combinator<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Paul Graham famously said, \u201cIf a group of founders seemed impressive enough, I\u2019d fund them with no idea.\u201d This is not to undermine the importance of having a strong and convincing startup idea, but every startup and every investor has reasons both to invest and not to invest. If you seem like a \u201cwinner<\/a>\u201d, investors are more likely to focus on the reasons to invest in you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why do investors focus so much on the founders as opposed to their ideas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most startups at this stage, the best predictor of success is the founders. So, the most important parts of the application for me are the questions about the founders\u2019 backgrounds and the most impressive things they\u2019ve done. We\u2019re looking for evidence that the founders are smart, effective, and determined.<\/p>

— Sam Altman, YC Partner<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a rule of thumb, you should not sell yourself short. With that said, don\u2019t pretend to be someone else. If you\u2019re not naturally \u201cconvincing,\u201d at the very least, stay sincere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Be resourceful<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Being resourceful seems like a rather clich\u00e9 thing to say about successful startup founders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to be resourceful \u2014 or in PG\u2019s words, \u201crelentlessly resourceful\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the startup world, most obstacles are external and these obstacles come in all shapes and forms. In order to be successful, you would need to find your way around them or find tools to help you plow through them. The last thing you want to be is \u201chapless<\/a>\u201d and passive. If you want investors to believe in you, you must find ways to show that you won\u2019t let the world have its way with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More<\/strong>: How to Get Developers Interested in Your Project and to Join Your Team<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Be naughty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Are you a rule breaker? Are you always looking for creative ways to solve everyday problems? That\u2019s what being \u201cnaughty<\/a>\u201d means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the questions on the Y Combinator application asks applicants to describe a time when they hacked something to their advantage. The whole purpose of this question is to find \u201cnaughty\u201d founders who enjoy and are good at beating the system in one way or another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like being relentlessly resourceful, naughtiness is a rare quality to come by. These qualities are not encouraged or rewarded in big companies or in most schools. However, investors need to know that you will survive without that kind of authority. They need to know that you\u2019ll be capable of paving your own road and \u201chacking\u201d the system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. Have more than one founder (or at least be looking for one)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Going solo may sound compelling for many reasons (i.e. owning more of the company and complete control of the decision-making process), but Y Combinator rarely invests in solo founders. Though there are exceptions, like Drew Houston from Dropbox, it is pretty rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the reasons why it\u2019s better for your company and for investors if you have more than one founder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n