Camry with everything they owned, including Aberman's dog, and headed west. Aberman says that the very fact that he and Clerico had given up so much for their idea -- law school, steady employment, and a year each of their time -- provided more than a toe in the door at Y Combinator. "They can look at a founder and tell whether you're a winner and a fighter," Aberman says. "They want to find street fighters." Wachen says that he looks for the same qualities in entrepreneurs that Aberman identified in himself. "The team is extremely important," Wachen says. "A lot of the people are entrepreneurs but we look for evidence of the entrepreneurial flair." 2. Take advice, but set your own goals and meet them. The time a company spends at an incubator is never more than a matter of months, so it is crucial that founders set goals early and work consistently to achieve them. Advisors and mentors at the incubator tend to make it clear to the teams that they are there to assist, not shepherd, them through the start-up process. "We're here to be advisors and counselors, not dictators," Wachen says. "It's part of the job to keep people focused. It's great to have vision, but grand vision can sometimes be the enemy of focus." This is an approach congenial to most teams. Michael Seibel, co-founder and now CEO of Justin.tv, The resources that Y Combinator provided to help his company through the legal and financial