These are all things we care about, but they are probably not the most common questions we ask. E.g. we already know about the equity split because we ask about it on the application form, so we only bring it up during the interview if we noticed something odd about it.<p>The thing we care most about in interviews (at least of things one can change) is how engaged the founders are with users. How do they know people actually want what they're building? Have they talked to real, live users? What have they learned from them?<p>We don't care super much how big the initial market is, so long as the startup is making something that (a) some subset of people want a <i>lot</i>, and (b) if that market is not itself huge, there is an easy path into bigger neighboring ones. Basically, we're looking for startups building Altair Basic.
My partner and I got a YC interview last round (no luck this time, unfortunately) and one thing I'd like to caution is that if you have a "chicken and egg" situation ("Why would X users use your site until you have Y users and vice versa?) or an "established competitor" situation ("What's to stop Google from just adding a link to X product?"), you should have as close to bullet-proof responses to those questions as possible.<p>Our interview was pretty much spent trying to respond to those questions. This is why having an actual product with any sort of customers is so valuable, because that's live evidence that what you're doing is working. Unfortunately my partner and I had little more than an idea and half of a web application, which we didn't even get to demo because we were so caught up trying to defend our position. I literally never even turned my laptop around to PG and company, which is probably my biggest regret about the whole thing, because I had spent every free moment of the past several months working on it and maybe that could have said more about our ability to execute than a debate on whether X market for Y users even existed.<p>Then again, probably not.
In general, answer the question directly and be honest. Trying to use bullshit marketing speak similar to what is taught during an MBA is a turn off and limits their ability to access whether or not you know what you are talking about.<p>At least, thats what I get from this article and every single essay I've read that was authored by PG.
Those are great questions. Similar questions I've asked during funding and M&A interviews;<p><i>What do you not yet know, how are you developing information about that?</i><p>This is knowing what is risky and what isn't. Some problems are just 'engineering' you do work and get them done. Others need 'new physics' which is code for an imagined but not yet designed feature or capability to work. Too many of the latter can be a real problem.<p><i>How many people do you think you'll need to realize this vision? How many to keep it current?</i><p>One of the more sad failure modes of startups is over hiring. More people can be good, too many people is really bad, understanding what the people requirement is can bite you if you don't get it right.<p><i>How will customers find you? What does it cost you to be visible to them?</i><p>Customer acquisition, especially in a demographic that doesn't congregate (small/medium business fits this category) can be unduly expensive. If you have a product that would sell like gang busters at $X but it costs $X + $Y dollars to get a customer, you need to fund to <i>n</i> customers such that the $Y starts going down via word of mouth or other coverage.<p><i>Stack rank your feature set in 'lifeboat' order, explain how you got that order.</i><p>You should have more features imagined or lined up than you can deliver, that gives you follow on. But you also need to know what is the minimum set for a viable product. Understanding how you get to that minimum set says a lot about your priorities, your sense of the customer, and your reasoning about the business.
Great post, love the short Do/Don't format. I would add "How will you get users." That's the single most important question Hajj had for us in the pre-interview Skype chat.
Great subset, one has to hope people do not read this as "this is how you game the interview process" but rather as "reflect about your idea with these points in mind".
"Are you going to work on your startup even if we don’t fund you?"<p>Do they really ask that? Do people really ever answer anything other than "Yes"?<p>I could see it if you had some idea that needed millions in funding to start moving, but then you wouldn't be at YC, I wouldn't think.
Please revise the title to conform to the guidelines (<a href="http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html" rel="nofollow">http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html</a>) by removing the "5" at the start — thank you.
What about something as simple as the expected value proposition or 'why should we give a sh!t about your idea?' When I've pitched to angels, these seem to be a common theme.