I think this is an interesting experiment, and definitely in line with the idea that YC funds people, not ideas. I do think it will create a lot more work for the partners during review and interviews, but presumably they have taken this into consideration.

If I had to make a prediction, I'd guess that this will greatly increase the number of people who apply, given that the abbreviated option is "easier," having omitted many of the questions that require the most consideration/ research/ field experience. To a lesser extent, it will probably also increase the number of interviews granted, as there will be some impressive-sounding teams who might otherwise have embarrassed themselves somehow on the "harder" application questions.

However, I anticipate that a much higher percentage of people will be cut at the interview stage than in previous years, assuming YC is selecting for the same quality. I imagine it’s hard to judge a team’s merit by the application alone, and the “no idea” application will make it harder still by presenting less “data” about these applicants. I’ve heard a YC alum describe the idea-related questions as an “intelligence test,” so even if the idea is not itself important, it does serve a role in filtering applicants. So the interview will become even more important than it already is.

Overall, though, I think this approach will yield a bigger class than if teams were required to apply with an idea, and I believe that’s good for everyone. If this new approach yields even a few hits that might not otherwise have been considered, it will be a big win for YC. The applicants benefit from a bigger network, and although the “acceptance rate” will probably be much lower, I doubt it will be much harder for a given qualified team to be selected under this new approach. It may even become slightly easier, on average.

TL;DR version - wider net --> bigger class despite a lower “acceptance rate”

For reference, below are the specific questions that appear in the "regular" form, but are omitted from the "no idea" form. Everything else is exactly the same:

- Company name

- Company URL, if any

- YC usernames of all founders, including you, who will live in the Bay Area June through August if we fund you. (Again, that's usernames, not given names.)

- What is your company going to make?

- If this application is a response to a YC RFS, which one?

- Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?

- What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn't exist yet (or they don't know about it)?

- Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?

- What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?

- How do or will you make money? How much could you make? (We realize you can't know precisely, but give your best estimate.)

- If you've already started working on it, how long have you been working and how many lines of code (if applicable) have you written?

- How far along are you? Do you have a beta yet? If not, when will you? Are you launched? If so, how many users do you have? Do you have revenue? If so, how much? If you're launched, what is your monthly growth rate (in users or revenue or both)?

- If you have an online demo, what's the url? (Please don't password protect it; just use an obscure url.)

- How will you get users? If your idea is the type that faces a chicken-and-egg problem in the sense that it won't be attractive to users till it has a lot of users (e.g. a marketplace, a dating site, an ad network), how will you overcome that?

- If you're already incorporated, when were you? Who are the shareholders and what percent does each own? If you've had funding, how much, at what valuation(s)?

- If you're not incorporated yet, please list the percent of the company you plan to give each founder, and anyone else you plan to give stock to. (This question is as much for you as us.)

- Was any of your code written by someone who is not one of your founders? If so, how can you safely use it? (Open source is ok of course.)

- If you had any other ideas you considered applying with, please list them. One may be something we've been waiting for. Often when we fund people it's to do something they list here and not in the main application.