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<h1 style="text-align: center;">Ycombinator interview preparation</h1>
<h2>[WHAT]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] by Garry Tan, founder&nbsp;@&nbsp;initialized.com -&nbsp;&nbsp;Tan, former yc partner, details how to present your startup in the 10 minute yc interview process</li>
</ol>
<h2>[WHY]</h2>
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<li>]&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<h2>[WHERE]</h2>
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<li><strong>] READ THE FULL ARTICLE</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] <a href="http://initialized.com/last-minute-tips-for-yc-interviewees" target="_blank">Last minute tips for YC Interviewees</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ol></ol>
<h2>[WHEN]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] 2016-11-02</li>
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<h2>[EXAMPLE - summary (manual) ]</h2>
<p>Based on your team, idea, and traction, you've made it into the top 5% of all people starting startups at this time. You're one 10 minute interview away from being in the top 1.5%.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Use plain-spoken language and start concrete</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;Don't let your desire to fit some idea of what a startup should sound like obscure what you actually do. If you're making &nbsp;software that connects retailers with consumers, that's fine, but that's not specific enough. Better to say that you help brands like Gap or Aeropostale directly sell to customers online through YouTube stars.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong>...Then zoom out, and be sure to show why that could be something much bigger</strong></p>
<p>The best founders are able to start off with very concrete and real progress, but then once they've established themselves as real, they can zoom out to show what the product could become.</p>
<p><strong></strong><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Traction</span> gets you in the door, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the big future</span> gets you the check </strong></p>
<p>This fact is important because the top broken pitch problems end up being related to exactly this. Some pitches start with the grandiose future, but the team has nothing rooted in reality or what they've done so far to show that they're the folks to make it happen. Others focus almost entirely on talking about the traction now, but never talk about what it could become.&nbsp;</p>
<p>It takes both.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Know your numbers</strong></p>
<p>What is the cost of what you're doing? How much does it cost to acquire a user? How much does it cost to service one customer? How much money do you make per unit sold?</p>
<p>The most obvious way to tell if someone is serious is that they've thought through the costs and pricing of their business.</p>
<p><strong>What do you understand that nobody else does?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>Having big dumb competitors is good because it shows that there's a real market or problem that's being solved, and YC partners have a long history of seeing firsthand small teams of smart people outperforming big dumb companies for years. It's a well known playbook. But it's not enough to call them big and dumb. What can you do that those incumbents can't or won't?</p>
<p>These tips work great for all pitches (including pitches to us!). Being prepared in the above ways is helpful for founders in the same way the 12 question YC application helps founders of all stages&mdash; because these are the things that naturally help people make things people want.<strong></strong><strong></strong><strong></strong></p>
<h2>[HOW-TO]</h2>
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<li>] start a startup -</li>
<li>] apply to ycombinator -</li>
</ol>
<h2>[REFERENCE]</h2>
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<li>] SRC = best-of-HN-2016-11-01, (#)comments(#)</li>
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<h2>[RELATED]</h2>
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<li>] # 2919 - <a href="/view/article?id=2919" target="_blank">ycombinator interview questions</a>&nbsp;- IN business/startup-accelorator/the-ycombinator-interview</li>
<li>] #&nbsp;4425 - <a href="/view/article?id=4425" target="_blank">contents-startup-accelorator</a> - IN business/startup-accelorator/contents</li>
</ol>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">&nbsp;</h1>

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