YC W21 will be remote. Applications are due in 10 days on the 23rd. I put together this Google Doc to make it easy to draft and share with proofreaders. To make your own copy go to File > Make a Copy.<p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P0IzDEwKQ7C8kXKdSm1WQmQ_BOyV7ejAEn0T1ogrznw/edit" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P0IzDEwKQ7C8kXKdSm1WQmQ_...</a><p>I'm applying with NanaGram (<a href="https://nanagram.co" rel="nofollow">https://nanagram.co</a>). NanaGram is a service that helps you send regular printed photos to your grandparents in the mail. All you have to do is text your photos. What makes it different is you can add siblings and cousins to curate photos as a group. It's bootstrapped, solo, and profitable. I've been on-and-off full time. There's so much room to grow. I'm doing the Startup School build sprint (<a href="https://blog.ycombinator.com/announcing-yc-build-sprint-and-20-equity-free-grants" rel="nofollow">https://blog.ycombinator.com/announcing-yc-build-sprint-and-...</a>). It's been so helpful to have somewhere to report to each week. I'm planning to focus on NanaGram exclusively the next 6 months with continued weekly reporting cadence.
I was a bit hesitant about applying since it's remote (thus less opportunity to build connections when you're outside the US), but it seems that the last remote batch was more than successful. Are there any S20 participants who'd like to share their experience? :)
Unlike most other years startups should be very wary of going down the YC/VC path.<p>There is so much money around courtesy of rolling funds, micro-VCs etc that it's almost certain that you will raise a decent sized seed round. But that money seems to be concentrated in the early stages so the competition for a Series A is significantly higher. Which means unless you hit product market fit, have incredible unit economics and lots of traction within the first 18 months you are going to die. Or you will just keep raising Seed+, Seed++ etc until you have no equity left.<p>And unfortunately there just isn't enough accurate data on what the conversion rate is going from Seed to Series A so it's hard for startups to make educated risk decisions.<p>More and more I think the smart path is to try to bootstrap your way for the first few years and then go for the Series A at which point you will have all of the leverage since you can simply say no since you are profitable.
My team at LTSE (S17) just added W21 support to <a href="https://Captable.io" rel="nofollow">https://Captable.io</a>. If you're deciding whether the YC Deal [0] is worth it to you, you can use Captable.io to model the impact of the YC post-money safe to your cap table when you raise your future priced round. All free.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.ycombinator.com/deal/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ycombinator.com/deal/</a>
I did W20 and S20 back to back (had to pivot due to COVID). I much preferred the remote S20 batch it’s not even close. There are so many advantages and almost no drawbacks in my opinion.
We, Cybersenshi for cybersecurity testing automation & simplification <a href="https://cybersenshi.com" rel="nofollow">https://cybersenshi.com</a>, have applied to W21. I wish all the best for all the applicants. Can't wait for the results.