YC interview advice

"the answer probably shouldn't involve ads"<p>Actually we're not as down on ads as other investors seem to be. We liked Heyzap, and they make money from ads.<p>"The last thing you want to do is argue with the partners."<p>That's an overstatement. We don't like people who supinely agree with everything we say. That's as bad as refusing to listen to anything we say. What we look for is a middle ground: people who respond intelligently to our suggestions.<p>Some of the suggestions we make are stupid. If people agree with those, we conclude they're stupid. (We don't do this on purpose to catch people. We just don't understand very well yet what each group is doing.)

The YC interview is so quick you are going to be out of there before you realize it has started. In other words, be on top of your game. Anticipate questions, especially the ones that you don't want to answer about the weakness of your product (they will come up). Don't be defensive. Have a demo ready to go when you walk in the room which gives a quick and good first impression. It's not going to be a lot of idle chit-chat, they are going to dive right in.

<i>"It has become clear that in this market you should have revenue by demo day. Ideally you're ramen profitable. It'll be much harder to find investment if you're not."</i><p>If you're "ramen profitable", why do you need a VC at all? You're self-sufficient by that time, you have proven your product - you should be talking to a bank, not YC.