Hello all,
Obviously it’s hard to pick winners when the start-up is just starting, but I assume it’s more easy to see who will not make it.<p>I was recently asked to join an app with two others that applied to YC recently (they didn’t get accepted, but were told they were the top 10%).<p>I am nervous to join these two because they are both junior devs and first time founders.
Red flags include:<p>1. The founders' pitch consists mainly of the latest buzzwords.<p>2. They are either all technical or all sales/marketing.<p>3. They have a blind belief in the product <i>despite repeated market signals and iterations</i>.<p>4. Their only fallback plan is to "monetize the data".<p>5. They value equity more than revenue.
For a cursory understanding of whether you will stay together is this (note that I did not say "you all will be successful". Because startups rarely do what they set out to do; they change a lot during initial phase):<p>0. How long have the two co-founders been together? What is the chemistry between them.<p>1. How resourceful are they? Will they be able to make things work when things start to looking gloomy? Gauge their energy level and enthusiasm in general.<p>2. The project they are working on, how far are they in the project? How did they achieve that progress?<p>Get answers to these questions and you will be in a better position to make a decision.<p>Founder age does not (and should not) matter. Being junior has its own set of advantages.<p>And even if they don't have prior startup experience their resourcefulness should cover that up. Even experienced founders fail.