Great post Tristan. Solid advice. I'd also add <a href="http://ipaulgraham.herokuapp.com/" rel="nofollow">http://ipaulgraham.herokuapp.com/</a> in the list of resources on the bottom. It forces conciseness.
Good article.<p>I'd suggest that your strongest points are:<p>1. "Traction trumps all." Demonstrable opportunity is the primary currency.<p>2. "Be a nice person." Successful people don't like to work with assholes.<p>3. "Prepare, and be brief." Anything that doesn't add significant value needs to come out of your pitch.<p>4. "Don’t be deterred by interruptions." These are opportunities. Think of these as buying questions. If they're asking you questions, they're telling you what you need to do to convince them to believe in you.<p>Good luck all in the next round or other endeavors!
> It’s relatively easy to pick up on someone’s personality in their application.<p>From the written application that's supposed to be as terse as possible? I think I could get a feel for someone in person since I could dig into particular questions on the spot, but seems I'd have a real hard time judging meanness if I could only see the 1-way communication of the written YC application.
I'm having trouble understanding how one would demonstrate traction at the idea stage.<p>Would it be a combination of 1) demonstrating past successes gaining traction and 2) having a catchy prototype? Or are there other things?