ASK PG/HN: Questions before interview for S11 batch | Hacker News Reader

ASK PG/HN: Questions before interview for S11 batch

16 pointsthroaway_s116 comments

1. How much time to accept if we get an offer? If PG calls does the answer have to be on the spot or do we have some time to discuss the terms internally?

2. Is DST investing in all the start-ups again? I know that DST has nothing to do with YC but YC has a link on the home page to the techcrunch article from a few months ago and I was wondering if they know what DST is upto. Knowing this is very important for us to be able to make a decision.

3. Has anybody negotiated different terms than what were offered by PG?:)

I think that this thread can useful to others as well who want to ask questions anon.

ps: Anon only because we avoid all publicity abt funding and alerting competition abt status of such things.

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1. Since we show you all the paperwork in advance, the only thing you don't know before I call is how much stock we'll ask for. Usually groups can decide about that on the fly, or even in advance. So most people either tell me yes or no when I call them, or call back a few minutes later. But we don't have any deadline for replying, so if groups have some reason they need more time to decide, we always give it to them. E.g. there was once a startup that we offered to fund that got an acquisition offer that weekend. They needed weeks to see if the acquisition was going to happen. (It did.)

2. It wasn't DST but the Start Fund, which is a separate thing. I believe those guys are going to invest again, but I can't promise anything, because it's not for me to promise. A lot of people don't realize this, but YC was not a party to that deal. It was just between Start Fund and the individual startups. (We were in favor of it, certainly, but we didn't have any agreements with anyone.)

3. In years past I caved a few times when people tried to negotiate with me, but I haven't recently. I realized I was just doing it out of fatigue at the end of a long day of interviews. I've also learned from experience that there is near zero correlation between groups' tendency to negotiate and how well they end up doing. In fact come to think of it, possibly an inverse correlation. So it's easy to say no.

Thanks. 1 more question. How do you decide how much equity you would expect for YC's investment? I was on wompt and conovore the other day when all of this was going down and people were sharing their startups and many seemed very far along.

They way I see it YC adds the following value:

1. Operational Help (incorporation, UX, UI etc)

2. Strategic Advise (PG/JL/HT and others)

3. Cohort Batch (fun,fun,fun, we we we so excited)

4. Alumni Network

5. Demo Day and Access to Investors

Anything else? Thanks.

We usually ask for 7%. If a startup is unusually far along, sometimes less. We might ask for more if the group seems super risky (e.g. undergrads, and we suggest the idea).

Press and instant credibility into tech community (early adopters) Ability to attract talent Not just access to investors, but active selling to investors Access to silicon valley startup community

Thanks for providing this level of insight!

I'm not PG but I remember some of these answered last year:

1. You should be ready to accept/decline when you receive the call. You're not going to get any new information at that point, so your mind should be made up. (Unless you're under special circumstances that require more time, but you should let them know about that.)

2. I don't know.

3. Terms are not negotiable. (I remember this being written somewhere but I can't find it right now.)

Please correct me if I'm wrong. I figure unofficial answers are better than no answers in case the real thing doesn't come along.

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