My humble thoughts on the 10 minute YC interview process

18 points by evanowens 15 years ago | 7 comments

i'd like to start out by saying that i have nothing but the utmost respect for y combinator and the people involved in it. i wish like hell we would have been accepted into the summer 2011 program.

after 2 days of reflection i have a few humble thoughts, and i'm sure these were manifested because we were rejected:

1. the 10 minute interview process works for yc and they have their reasons for keeping it brief (probably because they had to do 170 of them this time and because 10 minutes is all they need to make their decision). that being said, it seems to me that such a monumental decision (at least for the teams applying) would warrant a bit longer discussion. there is a wide range of industries and business models that are represented, and i guess the question is: is it worth extending the interview 10 more minutes so that teams may expound on their ideas? to me, the interview felt like chaos and before i knew it jessica was snapping our photo and we were whisked out of the room.

2. i know everyone tells you not to have a pitch ready and to listen to the questions and respond thoughtfully and this you should absolutely do. however, i think that you should also have a list of 5-10 points that you simply have to get across and you find time to squeeze them into the interview, regardless if it's a total non sequitur. i understand pg and co. are intellectual giants, but i find it hard to believe that they know the nuances of the very industry/business you've been deep into for months or years and there could potentially be a crucial piece of the puzzle they're missing that you need to convey.

3. mike tyson says everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. well, we were punched in the face. all you can do is internalize your yc experience and learn everything you can from it. then you got to get up and keep on charging. my grandpa always tells me that a) it's gunna be uphill all the way and b) you're gunna be just fine.

4. finally, i think there are only so many defining moments in our lives and it's up to us to capitalize. that 10 minutes in the interview room is probably one of them, and maybe there's a damn good reason 10 minutes is all you get. i wish you all the best of luck.

pedalpete 15 years ago |

First off Evan, as I'm sure you appreciate, this isn't your only chance, your only 10 minutes. It may be your only 10 minutes with YC, but you've still got a lifetime (or 3 years, whichever comes first) of 10 minutes(es) in your business.

It seems to me you focus lots on the 10 minutes issue, and yet you understand why the limitation stands. What you may be missing when you refer to PG&co. not knowing the nuances of every business, is that they shouldn't need to know the nuances of every business in order to make a go/no-go decision.

Could it be your focus on the nuances rather than the big picture may have been a self-imposed limitation?

I don't know what industry you are involved in, or anything about it, but the simpler you can make something seem, the more approachable it becomes. If you are getting into nuances that can't be understood without background knowledge, it could have just been to complicated when other interviewers had a clearer message.

evanowens 15 years ago | |

pedalpete,

great point. i think we failed to keep it simple. we focused too much on level 2 and 3 stuff as opposed to the basics - blocking and tackling. and pg went right to the crux of our business model and we had assumed we had that figured out long ago. thanks for the input.

SkyMarshal 15 years ago |

Out of curiosity, what part of your proposal led them to turn it down? Was it something they accurately understood, or something they misunderstood and you think an additional 10m would have fixed that?

evanowens 15 years ago | |

he doesn't think our pricing model will work. we're a ticketing business and we think fans will pay to upgrade their seats in game, if the price is right. i think it was just a disagreement and we didn't have any hard data to back up our assumptions.

orky56 15 years ago | | |

Sounds like Nor1's model for upgrades is one step ahead in the transaction process which makes payment and overall decision making much simpler, leading to higher conversions. Something to ponder...

transmit101 15 years ago |

It really shouldn't be even close to a defining moment in your life. There are a myriad of routes to building a successful company, and YC only accounts for a tiny percentage of them.

It's easy to miss this fact if you spend a lot of time reading Hacker News, but it's true. So use this knock to re-evaluate and analyse by all means, but YC is far from a guarantee of success: if you were going to be successful after being accepted through YC, then you will inevitably find some other path to the same destination.

pbreit 15 years ago |

I'm surprised you got stuck on revenues. Typically if you can show that you are building something that people want in a big category in an area people are known to spend money, you would be ok. Ar you sur that was it? I would also reiterate what others have said: if you're grinding away on nuance, you need to simplify.