I am working on my YC application, but I was wondering if I should even expect to have any chance at getting accepted at YC.<p>I have experience of building high quality products that had early adopters' attention (was covered on various top tech news sites multiple times), and I bet I have the best answer for "case where you hacked a non-computer system to your advantage". Also I gave up everything to work on the startup, so I am pretty committed. (No going back to school and stuff)<p>BUT. I'm a single founder. Trust me, I really want to get a co-founder, but I know it's extremely important to find someone who I know will work out well with, so I can't just get a co-founder quickly for YC application.<p>I am informed that it's almost impossible to get into Ycombinator if you're a single founder. But I also know a few got in. How did those few single founder companies get in?<p>I really want to get into YC, and I'm doing my best to fill out the application, but it would be more encouraging to know that there's even a chance. Please help. Thanks.
After thinking about this for a while and getting rejected twice as a single founder, here's what I've come to believe: Apply anyway. Bust your balls to be successful regardless of the outcome.<p>If you try too hard to find a co-founder, there's a good chance you will find the wrong one. Plus, YC hates newly wed co-founders almost as much as single founders (probably even more). And regardless of acceptance into YC, you don't want to end up with the wrong co-founder. It's better to go it alone.<p>The deadline for checking all the boxes to be a YC founder was three years ago. You <i>could have</i> met a co-founder in the normal way, in the way that lovers meet. You <i>could have</i> built cool shit to prove you're a hacker. You <i>could have</i> moved to Silicon Valley to work at some hot startups and build connections.<p>If you didn't, hard luck. Startups are hard, do it anyway.
On the scale of things that will positively affect your startup, finding a cofounder is probably near the top. (Sounds like you know this already.) Out of curiosity how are you looking now? I know its hard but there might be more options to explore.<p>Particularly in the bay area; I've had great luck at Startup2startup, founder dating, and YC events (how I met my current awesome co-founder).
If you're a single co-founder you'll likely be set up with one or someone from another startup (if they fail). Of course getting in is much harder as a single founder. So be honest, are you open to having a co-founder? mention it.
Drew Houston, the founder of Dropbox, applied as a single founder. You can read his application here:<p><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27532820/app.html" rel="nofollow">http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27532820/app.html</a>