skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
This info would definitely be fun to see. Unfortunately, I think we'll have to wait and see what the SFP guys produce.

If you were selected for an interview, would you divulge the details of your team and project knowing that you are still in competition with other teams to get into the SFP?

The benefit of participating in a random web forum compared to the risk of jeopardizing your acceptance to YC is simply too small to be even remotely worth it for most teams.

Perhaps after the interview process some will be open to sharing, but before that I don't think we'll see much response on this thread.
In the late afternoon, early evening, you can walk down to Oakland Chinatown and get an adequate meal at one of the deli's @ Webster/10th.

Oakland Chinatown is one of those rare places where some of the eateries are open 363 out of the 365 days.
"We found from someone we met that random number generators on poker sites are powered by actual physical devices (e.g. lava lamps), and the results are cached for many thousands of hands in advance. So in a very loose sense, everything that happens in an online poker hand is predetermined. Since we're both big on poker, we found that kind of a mindfuck."
We've been told that interviews run around 10 minutes per team. I'm not sure if this was the case for previous seasons.
The interviews are much, much shorter than an hour. Either they're really good at reading people, you just have to make the most of the short time you have, or both.

Trevor said that they have about 50 interviewees for this round.
It has an escape_mysql_sql method - that alone says everything for me. It's just a big, messy mess.
natrius

you say a saved set of firefox tabs would work better but would you be able to access that from another machine other than your own?

Also I am not saying my idea is original - very few are nowadays; what I am trying to achieve is something that is "better" - easy to use, more functional, accessible, and more importantly has potential to evolve into something greater.

I realise that the only barrier for entry at the moment is lack of technical expertise (which isn't huge at all), but surely if that isn't any form of barrier why don't a bunch of guys from this forum group up together apply their collective technical knowledge and build a google killer?! - you make it sound as though a technological barrier to entry is no barrier at all.

I do not see this as my defining piece of work that will make me millions - that is exactly why I haven't jacked in my day job and pursued this full-time.

I'll be succinct on my motives for doing this:-

a) My day job as an IT consultant isn't rewarding/challenging enough

b) I don't want to join the rat race and not be able to pursue my interests due to financial burdens, ie mortgage, family, etc

c) There's no point in me dreaming up ideas in my head, messing around on my pc if I'm never going to publish it in the real world - however good/bad

d) most people never make it big with their first idea - I expect it to fail.

e) This is more of a learning process on how to get something out there, than on creating a money spinner.

At this moment in time, yes I regard this as more of a hack than a viable business solution, more precisely an experimentation of a concept.
When I was 8year old, I collected empty glass bottles in public trashes and earned some money when bringing them back to sellers. The trick is to find a good spot to find these bottles. I guess this could work today with pieces of furniture one can restore. Sorry to be out of topic, it's not IT ;)

When I was older I couldn't afford to buy a computer. So I built one my self. A friend who was EE made the plans and I also follow his directoves. It never went into a venture because the video output was not good and stable enough, but some worked well. It was a nice experience though.

Later got an Oric atmos. I wrote a disassembler and disassembled the whole OS, disk controler and basic interpreter. I then wrote a symbolic assembler that could call functions of the OS I digged out. This all done with peek&poke. Then came the Mac+, the PC, Linux, etc.
Uncov is stupid, unfunny, and they have an ugly layout.
Interesting funding information about some YC alums (includes Reddit's acquisition price)
Site requires registration. Here's the full text:

_______________________

Here are some of the more prominent "alumni" of Y Combinator:

Loopt, Palo Alto

A mobile application that shows users where their friends are. Loopt has received $5 million from venture firms Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates.

Reddit, San Francisco

A social bookmarking Website where users can post links to content on the Web. Reddit was acquired last year by Conde Nast for roughly $12 million.

I'm in Like With You, New York

A still-stealth service that fosters flirting online. The company recently raised a round of angel funding from unnamed investors.

Wufoo, Tampa, Fla.

A company whose application helps users create online forms, such as job applications, workshop registrations and event calendars. The company has raised an undisclosed amount of angel financing from unnamed investors.

Inkling Markets, Chicago

A still-stealth start-up that "helps organizations tap into the collective wisdom of their employees, peers and customers," according to its site, which also says it remains self-funded for now.
The Death of UI Consistency
A hypothetical: what would you do if users were mostly using your software in uninspiring ways you didn't intend?
I noticed that a lot of the most-viewed/discussed/whatever things uploaded to scribd were collections of humorous pictures, or widely-circulated jokes, or whatever. In other words, recycled humor content that's been on the Internet for quite a while. The most common purpose for coming to scribd seems to be getting some cheap yuks.

Well, stuff like that has been around since 1996 and even before that through forwarded emails.

If you worked hard on something and then your users used it in ways that made your application isomorphic to something really boring and played out, would you be disappointed?
The Justin.tv "scrum" whiteboard
'... Six Apart didn't hire Brad -- they acquired LiveJournal from him and named him "Chief Architect" or something ...'

Same result.

'... their developer does not seem to be amazingly qualified to do what he's doing ...'

The thing that strikes me is the system is not layered enough. The API's the app developers should be calling would shield having to deal with these types of problems. nostrodemons [0] summared flickrs approach to optomisation. [1] So is it the lack of a scaling infrastructure where twitter is failing?

'... how many are dynamic and how many are cachable/static ...'

One thing I notice with twitter is the update on the sytem. Every 2 minutes.
For most users 5-10 minutes would probably be ample. I often wonder why they don't say "right you want RT, well here's the monthly subscription".

As for the dynamic and cacheable, the main hits appear to be reads of RSS public timeline. [2] RT creation allows no or little caching as the RSS would be built on the fly. Couple that with Rails in ability to talk to multiple db's [3] and you get bottle necks. Makes you wonder why they don't switch certain layers to perl?

'... definitely no Fitzpatrick ...'

Rare as hens teeth.

Reference

[0] nostrodemons, 'news.yc user'

http://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=nostrademons

[1] nostrodemons, 'comments in Startup founders, what books did you find most helpful?'

http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=5715

[2] google groups, twitter development talk, Alex Pain 'we don't gaurentee
that you'll be able to collect contiguous sets of data from the
public timeline API method. It's our most-requested method, so right
now it's optimized for performance, not archival'

http://tinyurl.com/3xay7v

[3] Twitter trouble, 'thereÂs no facility in Rails to talk to more than one database at a time', Ibid.
Y Combinator a new twist on finding hot companies
Is there actually any info there that wasn't already known.

No mention of xobni, hey san or auctomatic: who have all have good news on the funding front.
No, I wouldn't! Your users are telling you how they want to use your app. Besides, there is nothing more inspiring than having users actually using your software!

See "Let a hundred flowers blossom": http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/02/the_art_of_rain.html

The caveat of that concept is if users are using your software on a way that is impossible to capitalize...
I'd never heard the Reddit price. Still don't know if that's the correct figure of course, but it was interesting to see it.

Also interesting to see some of the other people getting additional funding.
I don't understand the point of the uncov blog, except as a place for juvenile "haters" (is that expression mainstream yet?) to vent their frustrations.

If a web service is ill-conceived, useless, etc. it will die of its own accord.

I'd be willing to wager, though, that something they lambaste will wind up as a huge success, and they'll look (even more) ridiculous.
How game mechanics can make your app more fun
Hmm... you could argue that everything in a real world poker hand is predetermined since the cards are shuffled before they are dealt and they are not reordered thereafter. Of course, if you're playing online, future hands are also predetermined, a property that is not typically true when you are playing in real life, so I guess that makes it strange.

The thing to keep in mind, though, is that as long as no one has the means to predict what will happen during a given hand (aside from using standard probability), then the game might as well not be predetermined. It's basically the same as the free will vs. destiny argument, as far as I can tell.
It's good to pay attention to your enemies' criticisms, because they'll tell you things your friends are too kind to say.

If you can manage to satisfy even these guys, you're in good shape.
I would pwn them.
Net works for Generation Y
Passion key to success
Actually, almost. SF is almost finished with a deal for Google to wifi (at no cost) the entire City (and probably the Bay Area eventually), so coding on the beach at no charge will be possible soon.
Redherring 100:  200 startup finalists
E-commerce sites drive back office
Entrepreneurs stick to the task
Data Visualization of Web Stats
Not to mention that these guys are probably hacking their asses off instead of hanging around here like us ;-).
Cybercrooks exploiting new Windows DNS flaw | CNET News.com
YourStreet.com Brings Social Network to Your Street
Any more invitations available? Could you spare one for brex2003@hotmail.com?
I'm a non-applicant, but my response would be:

It's completely astonishing the change that occurs in a man the moment his first child is born. Not when his child is born, or after, but as the child is being born - the father actually changes and is never the same person again. Nothing is more important than that child and as the father you will make sure everyone understands that, and if they don't they had better get the hell out of your way - cause you are man and you are repopulating the Earth.
CIA Startup Funding. In-Q-Tel -- Investments
Why Apollo?
'... There has been a lot of excitement, interest and discussion around Apollo, especially since we released the public alpha ...'

Warning: The author is a product dev manager so it's going to be slanted towards the framework. One problem I have with this approach it is it requires flash. Sure it might look good, be easy to develop but I don't have (can't get) flash because they don't compile the 64 bit linux version (yet).

Sure there might be hacks but it reminds me of the plugin-wars of the '90's.
Doesn't flash have an install base of something ridiculous, like 96% of end users?

Saying flash reminds you of the plugin wars is pretty off track, the war is over and a winner has been announced.
Top 7 Tips to be More Successful at Everything
Know the Difference Between Marketing and Selling
For Better Marketing: Manage Your Activities and Monitor Your Results
Username	bugger@notme.com
Password	pa$$word

Username	mxx@mailinator.com
Password	mxmail@

http://www.bugmenot.com/view/registration.mercurynews.com
Look through Chapter 4 of the BRL manual for paragraphs marked "Advocacy".

http://brl.codesimply.net/
Strange, I got in without registration.
I'm in like with you invites
I have three... Just post your email address & I'll invite you.

Only catch is that once you get an account, you have to put your invites here as well.
Business Side of Web 2.0
The article mis-referenced the url - it should be www.yourstreet.com . It looks interesting, but the neighborhood I live in, Cole Valley (SF) is combined with Haight Ashbury into one big neighborhood. These two are completely different cultures and valuations, so I am a bit disappointed in the lack of local knowledge. We'll see if it evolves.
i'm there! yaacovtp at yahoo com
bladerDOGMA at gmail please! (remove the Kevin Smith movie)
'... install base of something ridiculous, like 96% of end users? ...'

Yeah but non-flash apps hit 100%. So are you 100% sure that all your users have flash usability all the time? So you have factored in the extra code to detect browsers with & without and covered the 4% or portions of the 96% that may have a buggy flash install?

'... Saying flash reminds you of the plugin wars is pretty off track, the war is over and a winner has been announced. ...'

in the sense that you still have to download, install & hope they work. Now there is another layer on top to get in the way albeit with less choice.
Flash has it's place. But in moderation. It's just another form of vendor lock-in for developers and cannot always guarantee anything approaching usable results when it fails.

'... About 99% of the time, the presence of Flash on a website constitutes a usability disease ...' [0]

It doesn't have to be that way when most of the time there are alternatives. Neilson recognised using flash as a problem in 2000 [1] and despite what he says in 2002 it's still the choice of developers, designers who want to limit their users interactions. [2]

Reference

[0] Jakob Nielsen, Useit.com, 'Flash: 99% Bad'

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20001029.html

[1] Jakob Nielsen, Useit.com, 'Flash: 99% Bad, Update Added June 3, 2002: Flash Now Improved', Ibid.

[2] Flickr makes good use of flash in their set & collection tool. But I had the case last year where a bug in the Flash version for Fox scrubbed all the text in all Flash rendered screens leaving me to guess the manipulation process.
You might try voluntary rapid deep breathing to simulate heavy excercise. It's a very strange sensation and I wouldn't recommend doing it too often (maybe even check with a doctor first). Generally, after about 5-10 minutes, I feel very similar to the way I feel when working out, except without the sweat, elevated heart rate, and muscle strain.

It's not exactly practical to swim 20 laps then sit down and do some design or development, even if you could bring your laptop to the pool.

But yeah, metacognition techniques are basically metaprogramming for your brain.
'... Justin clearly proves you don't need an original idea to get buzz, sponsors, and funding ...'

Very true. I think the commercial worlds just seen a glimpse of Stephensons gargoyles [0] and blinked at the possibilities.

Reference

[0] Neil Stephenson, 'Snow Crash contained Gargoyles that where constantly wired for sound, images and other sensors selling the information to the highest bidder.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Crash
i think it's quite cute how people who lack the balls to do their own startups feel so qualified to comment on the people that do.

still criticism is more useful than congratulations and when the writewith guys make this a massive success, i'm sure they'll buy this guy a drink. or not.
Ha, I have no idea who Kevin Smith is. I think I was able to figure it out, though...

Remember to invite others on here!
chaos598 AT gmail.com
Some Call it Concatenation - Worse Than Failure
"unoriginal idea"

He should stop using gmail then...
Considering TextPayMe was acquired they'd expect to be on that list.

You'd be hard pushed to find someone that hadn't heard of Kiko and despite all the claims of failure, they still got bought and generated a return for their investors.
Personalized portals: a quick shootout
Well we have Techcrunch and GigaOm already. What wasn't there yet was a blog like Uncov. I'll give you +1 because I agree with your last statement that one of these startups will be successful. But out of x YComb startups, there will be plenty to go down.
Yet Another Social Network :)
The Entrepreneur's Key to Success: Feature Interview - Yaro Starak
Those sites (TechCrunch and GigaOm) are not cheerleaders, because they do post negative reviews, albeit not for any YC companies (yet).

The uncov blog, OTOH, seems to be all negative (we'll see if that changes in the future).
If you can manage to satisfy even these guys, you're in good shape.

That assumes they're being objective; so far, it looks like jealousy or other frustrations manifesting themselves.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not they do like anything in future.
Thanks. It looks pretty sweet. I'll start an invite thread as soon as I have some invites. I have to wait to get any right?
joshfraz AT gmail DOT com :) thanks!
In-Q-Tel has been around for a while (at least 1999, perhaps longer), and while they have funded interesting companies with national security implications (I remember one of their firms was working on software to get around firewalls that they hoped to get into places like China), have they had any commercial successes?
rohun.gholkar at gmail dot com
Yeah it would really put the pressure on you. It's a cool idea really but I don't see it being able to 'overthrow' Google. I guess if you have thousands and thousands of volunteers editing things but I don't see how that's going to happen.
He does have some good points though. I do find myself wondering if all the good web application ideas have been done? I mean there must be a finite amount of useful things to put on the internet. I'd like to get everyone's thoughts on that, it's a worry I have.
CEO Of Rivals Involved In Securities Fraud; May Kill Yahoo Acquisition
I have 3 or so invites left too, if anyone wants some just let me know
I love how people are starting to pick up bootloads posting style
just to be clear, are we considering Oakland and SF the Valley? might be better to pose the question as cheap ways to live in the bay area. unfortunately there are not many, but places in the eastbay (elcerrito, oakland) can be great.

Also check out places near SF State, shaking up with a student can be a good way to go.
sri at defcraft dot org please
me.jobs.r.u.woz at gee male dott comm
hasan (at) PromoterForce ..... com

thanks!
A startup CEO? One who needs to get some PR for the startup?
search! Sometimes I want to ask a question but I feel like it's one of those things that's already been posted, but it's kind of hard to find it.
They have the social games down pretty well. I'm sure more are coming which should lead to plenty of time spent on the site/mobile per user.

Waiting for my invites and I'll give them out here.
sorry danw, i mistyped earlier with th eunderscores. it's
me.jobs.r.u.woz at gee male dott comm
Clearly they're having fun with their blog. Did you look at the comments? I wish my blogs launched with that much traffic.
Yeah. HA. Thinking about it now, im sure some of the YCombinator COOL KIDS would be apprehensive about sharing their superior ideas. SO maybe I should change this post to have the REJECTS post their companies and descriptions instead.
Amen! Keep repopulating bro!
Revised Post for the Rejects: Would you post the following information for the interest of other REJECTS?

Your Company Name: Small Public Description: Demo, Screencast, or Company Link if applicable:
davidLAMP at seenly dott commm
(remove the all-uppercase word)

Thanks!
There are a ton of great web applications that doesn't exist yet - you can't think of any because they're not there yet (and having original ideas is difficult)
tj.mcconnell AT gmail DOT com

Thanks!
Inkling is "still-stealth"?
brett AT thusth.us
They may be too preoccupied with their upcoming interviews to worry about posting here right now. The ideas for their actual projects may completely change once the YC starts working with them.
davidsmit gmail
There should be a rule against submitting your own site more than 49 times. If your content is valuable enough for others then you must know someone else willing to share it with us.
One of the rules people who understand web startups all agree on is that you should launch early-- as soon as you have even a minimal core of working features. As Reid Hoffman said, "if you're not embarrassed by your first release, you launched too late."

In a domain where the correct thing to do is launch something easy to make fun of, it's easy to sound clever by making fun of things that have just launched. I wonder if the anonymous geniuses behind uncov ever consciously thought about that.
Thanks... as soon as I get more invites, they'll get posted here.
http://zipcar.com

I haven't tried them out yet but plan to when I move to Cambridge in a few weeks. Seems like a good way to save money if public transportation gets you most places but you still need a car.
Y Combinator: An assembly line for tech start-ups
How abt sending one (just one) invite to me at kashif.razzaqui (at) gmail
Our Company: Dreamvex LLC.
Our First Project: bandsintown.com
Public Description: Bandsintown takes an innovative approach to the live music scene by offering an online social destination where users can search, discover, and share their live music experiences. Simply put, Bandsintown.com is the best live music event search, notification, and discovery tool available.
got it thanks!!
Knewjax's Reject Company: Dreamvex LLC. Our First Project: bandsintown.com Public Description: Bandsintown takes an innovative approach to the live music scene by offering an online social destination where users can search, discover, and share their live music experiences. Simply put, Bandsintown.com is the best live music event search, notification, and discovery tool available.
timg.is.here at gmail.com
Which implementation of Lisp is best when speed matters?
"Everything that can be invented has been invented."

-- Patent Commissioner, 1899
They generated a return for their later-stage investors. yCombinator took a small loss on them.
Startup Idea: Exchange Itunes movies/songs
Itunes allows you to play the downloaded
movies and songs on upto 5 computers (and
you can reset them once a year).
So how about a service that'll allow
people (friends) to share movies and
songs.

So it'll be fesible to have people
who share lots of the same interests,
to share.

IANAL, so something like this even
legal?
Why I'm frustrated that I wasn't accepted into Y Combinator.
yan.sarazin [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks
Yeah thought that was strange too. I use it.
Probably SBCL.
That maybe because Uncov people (or person?) have technical background. Even though TC and GO did post negative reviews, usually they're not that striking. But TC and GO mostly hyped things up with weak reasoning.

I remember back then when I was caught by the hype of web 2.0, I read TC review about this website called Zooomr. TC said it's like "Flickr on steroid". What happened to Zooomr now? still in beta and seems inactive. Have you seen Zooomr UI? not so good.. it's just Flickr with patches here and there, mashup here and there. I wonder how relevant TC reviews are. Even some of my friends these days have moved on and tagged TC as irrelevant and biased
This article definitely got me more excited about Apollo than the previous reviews I read when it first came out. I can think of one instance where it might be of use to me, assuming I only have to click one button to convert my web-app to an Apollo-app. It'll be interesting how closely the final product comes to meeting these ambitious goals.
Potential customers are very qualified to comment on startups.