JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE YC
And here we
go! (I added some humor notes just to lower tension jejeje).
First let
me give you some context about what we brought there:
Project: A
Developer Platform for Non Developers | No-Code Sector
Stage: Prototype,
No clients, No numbers, A lot of Passion and Desire.
Team: Just
two, one tech guy, one product guy (me).
For those
who are not too familiar with the YC process, the application is made up of 3
basic stages: Filling the Application Form, be consider for an Interview (just
in case you pass the first one) and finally be inform about their final
decision (email or call; first one rejection, second one, you are in).
THE APPLICATION FORM
This is the
easiest part taking into account that you are not exposed yet to a face to face
situation with anybody but yourself. Some tips over here: be short, not too
much poetry, use numbers if you can, put in natural words all your feelings, be
very transparent (they have heard a lot of stories so they can feel when
something is out of place) and once you finished, read it again and cut words
that doesn´t add valued or feel like “ornament”. The nice thing about this
stage is that actually you are doing this work for yourself, because every line
you put, gives you a clear vision of what you are working on and why are you do
in it. Also it forces you to search, study and analyze a little bit more where
are you getting into (competition, market, the rest). And actually this is an
issue the vast majority of people doesn’t consider in deep in their journey because,
hey, we are building a Startup, we don’t have time for that, right. So it is a
super excuse to sit down and put that information in words, it will help a lot
and you will keep that for you and your team as a great “groundwork”.
There are
two major issues here: The video you make with your cofounders talking about
your product (be calm, pretend you are talking to a friend, and no matter how
many of you are, make everyone talk), and the video you record showing your
Demo (totally recommend making it, it will show them that actually you have
some real thing “cooking”).
Then just hit “Apply” and forget about it. Go do some exercise or just retake your normal live and activities.
In the
meantime, probably they will send you a message (try to answer quick) just
asking a very specific question about some issue. Relax, is a good sign but
still you got nothing. Here the email we received just to show you how it looks
like:
Once you
respond, they not necessary write you back. Is just an “in between” moment
before moving forward or stopping there.
If you pass
for the next stage (interview) you will receive a message, if not you will also
be informed of this decision. Until now, all the process is being handle like
this, messages come and goes. No big deal, no drama. Nothing that cannot be
handled from a comfortable position!
THE INTERVIEW
Ok, now
what we have being waiting for, the “famous interview”, that very special place
and moment for the “pre-chosen ones” (literally: getting into the matrix).
After a
couple of weeks of total silence, if they consider you have “something” then
this message will arrive to your inbox: (and drama will start).
At his point you are like: “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. You feel like you are touching the sky because, hey, is YC, best place to be in this kind of programs. But the real thing is you just show “something” interesting, and yeah, is good to move forward and read and hear the social network trending about the projects that move to this interview stage, and be part of that. But still there is a huge road to cover.
Now the
interesting and dramatically part of this stage, the one that will make you
almost collapse and put your head to dance at a speed you probably never had
before.
Spoilers:
Make room for 1 or 2 days to recover after that, you will need them. Don’t
blame yourself for whatever happens, is not your fault, it’s just an experience
to learn from (like any other in life).
So finally,
day of the interview. Internet: good to go, headphones: good to go, Glass of
water: good to go, Notes with important info (that you won´t use because you
will be in a race at 88mph almost traveling in time): good to go, and waiting
for a green button to appear and get into the unknown.
We were set
for a 10 minutes call (and actually you only have that time, not even one more
minute) and to be aware to click the button 10 minutes before also.
First shot:
We entered into the Zoom room. I was 10 minutes early and when faces start to
appear a guy told me: “Hey, you are late, and your cofounder haven’t show up also”.
And I was like: “Late, but I´m 10 minutes early”, and the guy: “No you are
not”. First moment of collapse, so I was like: “ok, we are dead, well done, we
couldn´t even were going to be able to hear what they were going to ask to us.
All this time waiting for nothing”. But quickly I clear my mind and told him: “Look,
I´m going to copy and paste the message where it says the time”. And the guy:
“ok, go head”. And when I sent the message through the chat, he said: “Oh, you
are right, the thing is we have a meeting with another Daniel” hahaha. “See you
in few minutes then”. I was like: “Only shi… this guy almost killed me”.
Second
shot: We enter again to the room. 3 people: 2 guys 1 girl. Just like in most
meetings, there is always a person who leads the exercise, let’s call him, The
“Alpha”, kind of serious but very ok (the one that told me I was late), the
other guy super friendly, the girl friendly in a normal way. First question:
“Ok, tell us what are you working on?”. At this very first moment I was like:
“Do I need to tell them what I already wrote in the application form or start
from where?” The question was so open that I didn’t knew from where to start. If they had read the
application with every detail and I start talking from the beginning what they
already knew I will be wasting my time, and if I start talking from a not
starting point at all without context, it will probably stand as a nonsense
talking. All this in milliseconds. So I just drop a very short pitch line, and
then I start to tell them what we were doing for this days. One important thing
here, any idea, situation or whatever you mention, they are going to ask you
back about that thing you just mention. So be sure to have all the information
related to whatever you are talking about. Your own mouth can kill you, and
they will play with whatever you bring to the table, nothing more (No questions
about anything I didn’t mention). We pass from One question right after
another, asking about features (because I mention some of them), when we were
going to launch. And then, final question: “How are you going to get this out,
what are your plans?”. The
thing here is we covered that issue in the application form with a series of
activities and the question didn’t point to a specific one, so I pick one and
share it for them. I told them we were going to the Chamber of Commerce of our
city and present the product to the people that make part of Entrepreneurial
programs (instead of going one by one) so that way we can show them (in a same
moment to a large group of people) what the product is about and how it could
help them build their startups. What I didn’t say explicit was that we were
going to replicate that exercise in other cities and countries later. I assume
they will get it (maybe that’s the problem when you assume something). Even
making a Partnership with Accelerators like YC will probably work (+10.000
applications for each batch), let’s say offering through them (accepted and
rejected StartUps) between some perks, the use of our tool to help them create
their products as an alternative (I didn’t mention this by way, but it was in
the application form). This going to market plan that we shared there was actually
the reason they found to reject us, and the point that still (writing this) causes
me a little confusion. But I will get back to this in a minute. Just wanted to
make a mark here. Finally, the “Alpha” told us: “Ok pay attention to your email
just in case we need to clarify something or ask for another interview. This
will happen today”.
At the end, and almost about to collapse, we felt like those 10 minutes were only 3. Really. And our heads feel like they just went through a high-level sprint race, where at the end you don’t even remember what they have just asked you, and worst, what you have just answered them. It’s crazy. I start remembering the day after.
THE ANNUNCIATION | Odyssey, Houston standing by
First you
feel like a big truck just hit you, after all that preparation and being at the
last stage before getting accepted, not being part of such an icon obviously
hurts but at the same time you tell yourself something like: “Well, at least it
is finally over…”. And later, when you re read the message and flashback the
whole process again with a clearer mind, you start to analyze: “So, the product
was ok, the team ok, the problem was scaling” … and internal thoughts start
emerging: “Actually we haven’t go into execution, talking about this plan, and actually
we can change/modify/adjust it (or be a little bit more explicit about it). Could
we have figure this out inside the program with a little help from our friends?
Maybe. But well, it’s also true that we don’t have all the elements of the
formula to see how they make their math in this decision making.
Quick short Lessons that might help:
“Do that
and your men shall live… Do it not, and every one of you will die today” -
There is a
saying that when you give an advice, is like you were giving it to yourself in
the past. Wish I have heard it, so that way we probably would have perform
better. So here they are, from what we experienced:
• Every stage is a different game with different
players. It’s not like a “To be continue…”. The only difference is that in the
First one you have more space to talk about. In the second one you have to "compress" all that information in a 10-minute moment. But have this in mind all the time:
Build your story from zero for each stage. It will help you a lot specially in
the interview stage where you have to use every millisecond for the right
thing. Concentrate on valuable topics (growth, solution problem, very special
features… and a more specific go to market billion dollar scale plan).
• At the interview, you actually can take full control
after they ask the first question. Remember, is your story what you are about
to tell, not theirs. And all you bring in, will be the main focus, nothing more
(they will not touch an outside topic). Use that power wisely. Play your game,
pull your cards, think fast, answer fast, be totally on the game those “3
minutes” (I swear the conception of time changes there, you will experience an unfold
reality, and all the physics laws will break there) and don’t lose or give back
control, you have to be the pilot there all the time.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Some
friends just asked me If we were going to apply again for a future batch, based
on this experience and the lessons learned, and the answer is: I don’t know.
Super great experience, and as I told you at the beginning, I totally recommended
it, you will enjoy the ride and learn few things during the journey. Things
that you won’t learn anywhere else for sure, and probably will help you in
future scenarios. But the thing is next year we will be probably executing
other type of activities around. We will see.
We are very
ok (after we took those 2 days off I told you before), happy to have had the
privilege to “navigate” through the stages of this great Accelerator program
process, were we could say now: “We were there, and it was AWESOME!”.
Until our
next adventure!
P.S: Share this
if you think it will probably help someone around ;)
A real pleasure! I hope it has been helpful ;)
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