task

application questions

[previously]

[2015-03-07] NEW task

] cull list of questions from example application(2007) by drew houston (dropbox)
] https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27532820/app.html

[2015-03-dd] NEW step

] # # - put each question into Y record

[2015-03-] NEW task

] # # - the 2015 application ? -
]
] items highlight light yellow, not on 2015
] CATEGORES =

[currently]

] APPLY

] how do you know people need what your making?
] validation - our next step (and where some seed money + connections would be an awesome boost). my focus shifts from building the product to marketing the product(tell people about it) and then supporting the users we acquire and converting them into paying customers.

without seed money or connections - I would like to be able to come back in a year and say I went from 0 - 1000+ users(active) and was able to convert (x%) into customers at an avg MRR/cust of x$.
with seed money and connections - maintain focus on product development, plus add marketing/sales and support. At a greater scale (10x)

] QUESTION CATEGORIES

] company, ] contact, ] founders, ] progress, ] idea, ] equity, ] legal , ] other ] curious ] why yc ]

[next]

]

questions - yc application - 2007

] hn username
] companyname
] company url
] phone # (cell)
] usernames of all founders
] Usernames of all founders who will move to (or already live in) Boston for the summer if we fund you.
] what is your company going to make?
] For each founder, please list: YC username; name; age; year, school, degree, and subject for each degree; email address; personal url (if any); and present employer and title (if any). Put unfinished degrees in parens. List the main contact first. Separate founders with blank lines. Put an asterisk before the name of anyone not able to move to Boston for the summer
] Please tell us in one or two sentences something about each founder that shows a high level of ability.
] What's new about what you're doing?
] What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?
] What are people forced to do now because what you plan to make doesn't exist yet?
] How will you make money?
] Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?
] For founders who are hackers: what cool things have you built? (Include urls if possible.)
] How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet?
] What tools will you use to build your product?
] If you've already started working on it, how long have you been working and how many lines of code (if applicable) have you written?
] If you have an online demo, what's the url?
] How long will it take before you have a prototype? A beta? A version you can charge for?
] Which companies would be most likely to buy you?
] If one wanted to buy you three months in (August 2007), what's the lowest offer you'd take?
] Why would your project be hard for someone else to duplicate?
] Do you have any ideas you consider patentable?
] What might go wrong? (This is a test of imagination, not confidence.)
] If you're already incorporated, when were you? Who are the shareholders and what percent does each own? If you've had funding, how much, at what valuation(s)?
] If you're not incorporated yet, please list the percent of the company you plan to give each founder, and anyone else you plan to give stock to. (This question is as much for you as us.)
] If you'll have any major expenses beyond the living costs of your founders, bandwidth, and servers, what will they be?
] If by August your startup seems to have a significant (say 20%) chance of making you rich, which of the founders would commit to working on it full-time for the next several years?
] Do any founders have other commitments between June and August 2007 inclusive?
] Do any founders have commitments in the future (e.g. have been accepted to grad school), and if so what?
] Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? Will any be working as employees or consultants for anyone else?
] Was any of your code written by someone who is not one of your founders? If so, how can you safely use it? (Open source is ok of course.)
] If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, feel free to list them. One may be something we've been waiting for.
] Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered. (The answer need not be related to your project.)

questions - yc application - 2015

] hn username
[COMPANY]
x] companyname
x] company url
x] If you have an online demo, what's the url?

(PREV q# 20)

x] what is your company going to make?
] Response to RFS ->select category ()
] where do you live, where will your company be based
[CONTACT]
] email address
] phone # (cell)
[FOUNDERS]
] email
] profile
] + co founder
] usernames of all founders
] Usernames of all founders who will move to (or already live in) Boston for the summer if we fund you.
] For each founder, please list: YC username; name; age; year, school, degree, and subject for each degree; email address; personal url (if any); and present employer and title (if any). Put unfinished degrees in parens. List the main contact first. Separate founders with blank lines. Put an asterisk before the name of anyone not able to move to Boston for the summer
] Please tell us in one or two sentences something about each founder that shows a high level of ability.
] 1 minute intro video (unlisted)
+c] an interesting project - outside of class or work - that you worked on
] how long have founders known each other, how did you meet, have any of you not met
[PROGRESS]
c] how far along are you
x] If you've already started working on it, how long have you been working and how many lines of code (if applicable) have you written?
] which best describes your progress - ] nothing ] sketchs ] mocks ] prototype ] private beta ] public beta ] pre orders ] launched
] how many users?
] do you have revenue?
] monthly growth rate ( users, revenue)
] IF you applied previously with same idea, how much progress, whats changed?
] IF you participated in another incubator/accelorator .. tell us about it
[ IDEA ]
] why did you pick this idea?
] whats new? what substitutes do people use // ] What's new about what you're doing?
] w] // Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?
] // What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?
] how do or will you make money, how much can you make // How will you make money?
x] how will you get customers?
]
[CURIOUS]
] what convinced you to apply -
] how did you hear about ycombinator -
********
]
] What are people forced to do now because what you plan to make doesn't exist yet?
] For founders who are hackers: what cool things have you built? (Include urls if possible.)
] How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet?
] What tools will you use to build your product?
] How long will it take before you have a prototype? A beta? A version you can charge for?
] Which companies would be most likely to buy you?
] If one wanted to buy you three months in (August 2007), what's the lowest offer you'd take?
] Why would your project be hard for someone else to duplicate?
] Do you have any ideas you consider patentable?
] What might go wrong? (This is a test of imagination, not confidence.)
] If you're already incorporated, when were you? Who are the shareholders and what percent does each own? If you've had funding, how much, at what valuation(s)?
] If you're not incorporated yet, please list the percent of the company you plan to give each founder, and anyone else you plan to give stock to. (This question is as much for you as us.)
] If you'll have any major expenses beyond the living costs of your founders, bandwidth, and servers, what will they be?
] If by August your startup seems to have a significant (say 20%) chance of making you rich, which of the founders would commit to working on it full-time for the next several years?
] Do any founders have other commitments between June and August 2007 inclusive?
] Do any founders have commitments in the future (e.g. have been accepted to grad school), and if so what?
] Are any of the founders covered by noncompetes or intellectual property agreements that overlap with your project? Will any be working as employees or consultants for anyone else?
] Was any of your code written by someone who is not one of your founders? If so, how can you safely use it? (Open source is ok of course.)
] If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, feel free to list them. One may be something we've been waiting for.
] Please tell us something surprising or amusing that one of you has discovered. (The answer need not

PROFILE - non computer system hack

Spent a day in Reno, Nevada casino once. For all intents and purposes it may have appeared that I was playing blackjack, but at the end of the day the $20 I dropped at the blackjack table was a lot less then what the Casino spent on feeding me complimentary drinks and bar food all day long.

How much can you make

- that is the $64 question. Forecasting that it would take approx. 1M in annual revenue, I could get a small team operating profitably, growing slowly. Expecting that we would have to get to at least 10x that to generate any SV interest.

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