skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Your recent stats blog post told us that 32 YC companies are worth more than $100 million. How many YC companies, including those acquired, are worth more than $10 million?
Since you probably can't spend too much time on each YC application, what is the most common issue you see that causes companies to not get further attention?
That's a wide brush you've got there.
What's the most exciting non-traditional segment (bio, energy, manufacturing, etc) you're looking forward to funding startups in?
How are the groups/partners assigned? I am assuming it is based on vertical expertise/experience but would love to hear more insight into that process since there are so many great "good partners"
Would you consider game studio startups as a valid startup application?
I can't seem to find any info on versions - Safari 8.0.4 was released a couple of days ago, does the exploit affect this security release?
What's something common that partners have to repeat over and over until founders 'get it' ?
Any interest in a Y Combinator IPO?
Running Apache Kafka at Scale
are you going to have a fund with LPs at any point in the future ?
Well life has not been hard. We live modestly by Bay Area standards: one old car, eat out rarely, socialize with friends at home, vacation cheaply. But its still a great life by the standard of anywhere else in the US or World. We don't feel its a hardship to live here ... we have a small apartment, but not small by NYC or European standards. Just small compared to my brother's enormous American suburban home, for example.

We can't afford to raise teenagers here ... but we do plan to live here until our first kid is 2 (kid not conceived yet ... just planning ahead).
How much traction do you usually look for when evaluating applicants / are most businesses reasonably validated?
It looks like you skipped all examples given next, which do not seem to be Ruby related at all: the inviting community, the extraordinarily involved creator and the tooling.
Indeed, there were secret deals with record labels in which Spotify gave up 'some amount' of equity to majors in order to be able to stream their catalogs....along with an upfront sum of course.

I think the real problem that isn't being discussed is the fact that on a service such as Spotify it is impossible for an artist to be independent, his/her efforts WILL support majors via their equity in streaming services.
That's a good point, but it also depends on disposable income. If after rent (or mortgage), food and other basic necessities you have $1000 left per month then it doesn't make a difference whether you earn $100,000 in SF or $60,000 in Ann Arbor.

And then for both examples a $50 Lego toy is 5% of the monthly disposable income.
Would you ever consider investing startups in defense industry?

For example a startup that builds anti-drone systems etc?
Looking on their main homepage again with that in mind: I have to agree, such potential customers probably wouldn't realize that this is what they want. So yes, there is potential for someone to make a Heroku for that crowd.
True that. Having some stats about how many people today use AngularJS with and without Node.js as server-side would be really interesting!
I've seen a couple of hackers back in the old days. Of course they've probably moved to some more sophisticated techniques, but I doubt they are wearing suits and doing this as a professionals.

More concrete answers of your questions guessing :

1. By brute forcing with popular techniques for buffers overflows ;

2. By tracking what the browser is doing via debuggers and trying to match a kernel bug with it ;

3. By reading a lot about latest exploits on the internet and connecting the dots.

What I think nobody from them is doing :

1. Analysing open-source code ( basically try to find the exploit by reading the code ) ;

2. Studying 5 years CS before doing this
Some misconception here.

Medical tests are either screening tests or definitive tests. Screening tests return the odds that what you're screening for is found, and at some indicative threshold the more invasive definitive test is performed.

Cell-Free Fetal DNA Testing is a screening test. It's a fantastic advancement, no doubt, and interestingly the false-negative rate is almost 0. However, amniocentesis is still the gold standard for definitive DNA testing (i.e., if the cell-free screen came back as 'elevated risk', the mother would still have an amnio).

Further, insurance coverage for the cell-free screen is not at great levels. The screen is not yet standard-of-care. Even with high-quality Silicon Valley big-tech-company insurance, our out of pocket was several hundred dollars. Worth it imo, but again not standard-of-care.

Moreover, cell-free screens are not available to women carrying multiples or who used egg donors, both situations that are much more common in the advanced maternal age/IVF segment.

It's a truly revolutionary technology, but we still have a way to go.
Why We Can’t Kill a Useless Government Agency
Yes, though what size chunk is not clear. So certainly 'a' chunk.
I think these texts take the "frequentist" view (primarily), but would still recommend 2 highly
It would be cool to see a "layered" language. By this, I mean a language that has no typing at its lowest level, but you can add it as a library on top of the base level. Then you can add stuff like automatic resolution of calls, etc., as another abstraction level. Of course, you could also add other rules instead of typing. For example, you could pepper your programs with arbitrary proofs, etc., and this could be directed by yet another library on top of your program.

Perhaps I'm dreaming. But it sounds like useful to me, as there are so many languages that are almost similar, and yet are slightly different in the way they handle typing and things like polymorphism. It would seem to me that those languages could all share a common base.
For people with immigration issues, does YC have any plans on expanding to Asia or Europe in the coming few years?
Thanks, this is a very good news. I'm definitely going to import my feeds right now :)

> The number (500) could be subject to change during the beta phase if users' feedback indicates it is too high or too low.

I don't think if this would be of any use for you but actually, there are websites that in a month produce way more than 500 entries. LifeHacker for example produces something from 730 to 800 entries per month (with very few of them being useful at all... and this is the reason why I decided to unsubscribe). So everything depends on how (and how much) a user checks the reader.
YC is famous for funding startups at a very early stage, even at a pre-traction stage, which seems to contradict the popular knowledge that an idea without a good execution is worth nothing. With just an application form and a 10 minute interview, how can you tell if the founders will be able to execute the idea properly? What are the most important traits that you look for in an application from a very early stage startup?
“All DSLs grow in complexity until they are Turing-Complete, then JWZ’s Law takes over.”
What are your thoughts on the risks to pay-day loan type companies given Wonga in the UK has just taken a huge hit due to regulation.[0] Are they at risk to be regulated here in the US too?

[0] - http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31603152
"somewhat proprietary" = "Where is the specification of the XML format of MuseScore 2.0 save files"

All I could find was http://musescore.org/en/handbook/file-format

Without a full specification (ideally with parser implementation, example source code for reading & writing, etc.) the XML is essentially proprietary, although still human readable.
More and more VC firms (GV, KPCB, Greylock, etc) are hiring designers/engineers-in-residence to help vet potential investments and provide guidance to portfolio companies. Is this something you've thought about implementing at YC?
The evolution of the university. But I think it's a much better model--it's got just the right amount of decentralization, it attracts the best people in the world to one place because of the network effect, we pay you instead of the other way around, instead of asking for donations of our alumni in the future we'll let them invest in the ecosystem, etc. And I think you learn far more in 3 months of YC than 3 months of university.

YC is fundamentally just a hub of smart people that help each other.

I think there is some chance that the total aggregate market cap of YC companies by then is approaching the largest market cap of any company (though a safer bet would be 20 years from now). I hope that we'll have funded many of the most important companies, and been able to help them quite a bit. I'm pretty sure the network will be powerful.

I'm sure we'll also do new things that seem crazy today, e.g. a fundamental research lab.
Guardian appoints Katharine Viner as editor-in-chief
I've been closely following YC and the startup scene in SF. What's your advice to a startup, applying to YC this season, and is from a foreign country? I've read most your writings and watched few interviews as well. It'd be great if you have something to add! And thanks for the AMA!
No. That got a quick involuntary shudder out of me.
How should a company approach other offers (venture funding, other programs, etc.) prior to hearing back from YC, specifically when there are firm deadlines in place?
Online Hiring Event for Developers, Promoting Diversity and Fairness
What's this? Capture the asteroids? Multiple playable ships? Corporation logos?

This is not Descent. Descent is a dark, gloomy space shooter, that makes you feel miserable, disoriented, lonely and afraid of the damn robots with their not so bad AI.

And then you invite friends to play cooperatively to make it a little less horrifying.

That is Descent.
I'm just speculating here, but it's probably 6x NY's footprint in square miles yet with large open areas that are not built up.
That's correct. The best paying exploits at Pwn2Own are exploits where just browsing to a website gives an attacker root code execution on the machine.

These types of exploits pay well because they are extremely difficult to pull off, as they require multiple exploits to break through the browser security, out of the sandbox, and through the OS protections.
If you're a New Yorker the answer should always be "No".
Hey Sam,

What would you try to optimize for in terms of learning and growth - good mentorship or fast growing companies? Or is there some other attribute you'd recommend optimizing for?
Do you think if Zuck applied to YC today with Facebook as it was in 2005 he'd make it in? (Assuming the 'social network' landscape still looked like it had in 2005).
With your recent hardware announcement and partnership with Bolt, are you more likely to accept hardware companies that can benefit from the new services you now have access to? In other words, will you be more likely to accept a larger number of early stage hardware companies?
Counting companies that have raised with SAFEs but not equity rounds, probably about 250-300.
How often does YC fund early stage companies that don't even have a functional prototype?
If you had applied now with Loopt, do you think you would have been accepted into YC? Or Alexis Ohanian / Steve Huffman with Reddit in its primordial phase? It seems like YC has become so competitive that it cuts out some of those promising (risky) founders that don't have as much to show.
Hi Sama,

You have a CS degree from Stanford and you're now running YC. Do you wish you had a MBA or management degree or some sort? How did you learn about management even at your previous startup? In general how do founders specially who come right out of college without business degree learn to manage team as a leader? Just wondering as I'm a programmer myself and would like to be in management role someday but don't plan to get degree like an MBA.
Does YC fund stealth startups?
My personal definitions for class boundaries are as follows:

-Poor: Can't afford basic necessities without assistance.
-Lower: Can't afford leisure time or discretionary spending. May work multiple jobs.
-Lower-middle: Earns an hourly wage. Works at least 40 hours per week, and receives overtime premiums for more.
-Upper-middle: Earns a weekly salary. Expected to work 40 hours per week or less, and additional hours are compensated appropriately.
-Upper: Works only to the extent needed to pay for luxuries. Never fears the loss of a job.
-Rich: Never needs to work: is completely secure financially.

Those are somewhat subjective, but they work for me. That DINK couple is solidly upper-middle class, but that is the class with the most potential for individually motivated upward mobility. If they voluntarily limited annual expenses to $50k, got annual raises of 1%, experienced annual expense inflation of 5%, and earned 6% on their investments, they could meet expenses without working after 6 years. Their investment income would exceed their working income after 17 years. They could retire in the 18th year, and would never need to work again. Practically speaking, they would likely continue working, for additional self-worth, savings, and social status, but with the confidence that only "go to Hell money" can imbue.

(Of course, income taxes make such a rapid rise impossible. With an income of $250k, you're likely paying at least $100k in taxes alone. Ignore that for this thought experiment.)

They won't be rich. They wouldn't buy a nice house without a loan, for instance, but they would surely get the most favorable interest rate available. They could still be threatened by a market crash. They wouldn't be VCs, but they could be angels or entrepreneurs.
I just didn't see what happened above as a personal attack. He referenced his professional experience and someone provided evidence of that career.

But you're right, this is hardly an important issue to me and we could go on about "doxxing" for days, so I'll consider my peace made.
IIRC on Windows, SYSTEM is an account something less than full Administrator but more privileged than a normal user. I think many services run as SYSTEM.
Given your recent comments about the potential danger of A.I, would you fund a startup which seemed dangerously close to making superintelligent A.I a reality?
If we get an interview but aren't accepted, will you still reimburse the traveling expenses for us poor people?
I'm not sure if it's wise to expect specification of a file format published before the actual software using it is actually released. Let's cut the guys some slack.
First you sell the stuff you mine from the ground, then you sell shovels to the miners, then you hire the miners and make them dig stuff out of the ground for you that you sell.

The final stage is selling miners to other mining companies.
SYSTEM is admin privilege internal account, IIRC. It's a user on windows - http://i.imgur.com/MkP9pIm.png
Yep, that was it. Haven't used it, but seemed the business model was a good choice!
Btw Kudos on doing AMA on HN vs Reddit. We should do more AMA's here.
RethinkDB 2.0 release candidate
I'm dying... lol
Yes. There are certain people that you cannot sit across from and let yourself not invest. He is one of them, for sure. He also had great growth.

(Zuck comes to speak to the YC batch every year or so. PG used to say that when he talked to Zuck he'd find himself saying "whoa, we should really fund this guy". I had the same experience last time he came to YC.)
People certainly do find security vulnerabilities by reading source code.
an ordinary tale of, one of the millions of adsense-salary drawers, who were suddenly fired. Starting from the 1st 'Panda' update. I didn't know it mattered much in the 1st First world, but imagine this in countries like India & Pakistan. Little young boys became super-rich and bought flats in Dubai and what not. Now again back to earth. All of them are now fat and depressed, like the one writing this comment ;)
What do you think of the bitcoin blockchain? Do you believe in it's hype?
It would be most useful if historical Landsat 7 data was also available, but of course that is a lot more data.
Independent of the fact that there's currently a tech bubble or not. If it hypothetically exploded, would Y Combinator stop its investment activities?
Drupal Patches Critical Admin Password Reset URLs Vulnerability
Hi Sama,

Is YC a good fit for someone targets a lifestyle business, as opposite to having great ambitions like becoming the next Google/Facebook?
Maybe this sort of effort could be supported by some kind of hybrid MOOC/crowd sourcing framework. A big part is perhaps a cultural shift. In the US, tipping servers is voluntary, and yet most people are fairly consistent about tipping mostly due to cultural norms (plus having a tip line on the bill/receipt).

There's a potential cultural shift from "I like this" to "I value this" which could make many activities economically viable which are now pet projects or personal passions. You should be able to tweet cyber currency or something.
Hey Sam,

I have a product which is a direct competitor of one of YC11 companies. We have pretty decent traction, and we are solving the same problem significantly different from them. What are our chances? Does YC accept competing companies?
This happens pretty naturally in OCaml actually. It arises from the structural subtyping relationship on module signatures. You don't really shoehorn anything at all...
Are there any one or two questions that really stick out as most important to the YC partners?
What stage would be ideal for considering moving a project from research (at the graduate university level) to a startup? In this case I'm referring to a project that is based on custom nanoscale hardware components that rely on some pretty groovy physics. The applications are pretty immediate and the market already exists in the biotech/healthcare field.
Seems a lot like http://thefuckshouldiwear.com/
How would you spend this week if you were applying?
The credit limit was about fronting money to grow the business.

Overall I think HN is being too harsh. This is a person taking a rather honest look at himself and giving us a glimpse into his life that also happens to capture an interesting history of the Internet.
The most common thing is getting founders to focus on the right thing. At this stage, nothing but building a product that users love matters. Founders want to focus on anything else, and have wonderfully detailed excuses for why whatever it is is so important.

"Write code and talk to users" is not sexy, but it's the road to success. Seeing your name in the press is sexy, but unfortunately has nothing to do whatsoever with actual success.

There is no shortcut for the hard work of building a great product.
Would http://www.bachwelltemperedclavier.org/literature-and-online... work for you?
What's something he said or did to cause the 'whoa' reaction? Any kind of anecdote you can share?
Do you think that YC could ever invest or advise startups / founders that can't move to silicon valley for 3 months for one reason or another?

Is there something inherent in the in-person experience that cannot be overcome by technology (in general too i suppose, rather than just the type of work ycombinator does)?

Personally i believe we're not quite there yet. I have some hope, that within our life time communication and collaboration tools can become both sophisticated and intuitive enough to make physical presence for most type of work completely irrelevant)
That last point about the models actually captures a rather interesting point. Generally I agree that if the model isn't giving results that match observation than it should be concluded that the model is incorrect rather than the observation was flawed. This has worked very well as the scientific method, but I think that it is hinged on the fact that these observations are objective and verifiable.

Now I happen to agree with you that I feel this dust result is incorrect, but morality is so undefined and subjective that I can't help but disagree with your conclusion that the model must be wrong. The entire moral question of the dust vs torture doesn't have one defined answer so we can't really conclude anything more than opinions about the model
I know a lot of YC alumni, are endorsements about quality or quantity? Are they important?
Two Months (and counting) with Aurelia
I think everyone else agreed with you, just found it a bit distracting when reading the article and I rarely comment on grammar or spelling, the post was fresh when I made the comment and the post was made by the blog author. I made an assumption he'd be monitoring the thread and made a friendly note here, or so I thought.
Great question! The biggest mistake founders make is burying whatever it is that's exceptional about them or their company deep in the application.

We are optimists. We want to believe. Help us by putting whatever it is that is going to make us want to fund you early in the answer to each question.

Also, be concise.
What does it mean to be president of YC?
Good evening Sam, thanks for taking some time around.

- What do you think of similar structures burgeoning in Europe?
- Are they a good first step before applying to YC?
> that is the result of sociological rather than economic factors

Economic and sociological factors aren't completely separable.

Specifically, you can't assume that economic factors don't drive marriage rates. For example, people with college degrees are more likely to get married. Is that because they can afford to? Because the same type of people who commit to schooling also commit to marriage? Would decreasing the cost of tuition increase the marriage rate?

It's a correlation, and trying to infer causation from it is always going to be dicey.

That is still an interesting graph though. For example, looking at the top line (dual income) and light green (married, only husband has income), it looks like basically since the 70's wages for men have been flat. The growth appears to be almost entirely accounted for by growth in wife's wages.
One thing my company struggled with in ImagineK12 was attracting enough users to know if we were making something they loved - how can founders focus on both?
You should consider a geo-ip lookup for an initial location recommendation, even if its not perfect.
Hi Sam Altman, What would you suggest to a new college grad? Should I go work for a big companies, save some money and then go into start ups or just go into start ups ?
Agreed, with all languages I'm aware of this is purely a design concern, outside the scope of language specification. However I'm currently working on a library that relies heavily on this so-called static polymorphism, so you can imagine what a pain it is whenever I do a major refactor. Without formal relationships between classes, methods, etc., it's much more of a manual and error-prone process, as far as introducing inconsistencies in the API. This has led me to ponder some language-level (or even just IDE-level) ways to specify loose relationships between disparate constructs that would make such iterative API development easier. No brilliant insights yet though. :)
Just want to say thanks to YC for rejecting my previous terrible startup twice, or I won't have the oppy to pursue a more promising one now. When a startup is not ready, YC can smell it.
What are your thoughts on pre-accelerators such as Entrepreneur First (www.joinef.com) that take people pre-team, pre-idea?
Thanks for asking.

We're very much focussed on automating the process of getting rows and rows of data out of one system and into another. (e.g. transfer all of today's sales data from one platform to another)

IFTTT is much more event-based (e.g. when I receive an email from person x, send me a text)
you're running in debug mode. and apparently umlauts (äöü etc) break your site.
The Rust language itself has a noticeably heavy ML influence.
Firefox pref: turn_off_all_security_so_that_viruses_can_take_over_this_computer
Tumblr is hiring a Weapons Engineer.. wtf does that even mean?