🌈 Borys Musielak’s Post

I just completed my journey through Y Combinator's Startup School, but not because I want to launch a company (at least currently). More so, I was interested in the methodologies of ambition that can be applied to one’s everyday life. While there were a lot of things I disagreed with in principle, here are a few of my takeaways: 1). If you're inexperienced in founding a startup, the best thing to do is to launch one! •This can apply to everyday life as well — for me, it was learning how to code. 2). On building an MVP (minimum viable product) - build something in weeks, not months or years... you want to get your idea out into the world and see if it actually works. •Whether this is launching a product, organizing a political campaign, or writing literature, oftentimes it's extremely beneficial to receive feedback from your audience in almost real-time. 3.) Setting KPIs (key performance indicators) - it's incredibly easy to get trapped into “feeling productive” without actually accomplishing anything. •When delegating your time, constantly ask yourself, “Is this getting me closer to my goal relative to other things?” •My pitfalls are often watching "educational videos" on YouTube, reading nonsensical books, or learning about things that are completely irrelevant. 4.) On pivoting your idea - YC talks a lot about their companies “pivoting” during their batch. Oftentimes, it's about keeping the founding team intact but switching the entire idea of the company (e.g., a company switching from VR to fintech). I think this is completely ludicrous. •Your company should be mission-driven (not for fame, fortune, pleasing others' expectations, etc.). Potentially devoting 10+ years of your life to something that was thought up in a few days is incredibly irrational. Interested to hear all of your thoughts. Thanks for reading. #ycombinator

Y Combinator S23 Demo Day is 2 weeks away - I’ve met 30 startups from this batch & will meet another ~50 in the coming weeks. Trends, highlights, and observations gathered below: · Valuations starting to reflect market conditions; $15M Post-Money Cap most frequent valuation · 77% of startups are raising below $20M Post-Money Cap · Despite pullback in valuations, rounds are not filling fast - the average round is ~35% committed · Founders prioritizing roadmap to Series A raising for~18-24 months runway · Lots of traction - 40% of startups are post-Revenue · Founders thinking big – the mean Total Addressable Market (TAM) is $8.8B · 30% of teams contain at least 1 previous Founder · YC emphasizing founders build fast, go to market, and prioritize customer feedback regarding iteration · Big tech layoffs continue to fuel YC with robust talent · Nearly every founder is incorporating and/or considering AI ramifications · Most rounds being filled by angels – no/low minimum investment requirement · YC Founders are prepared – decks/pitches/demos/process are crisp Key Takeaway: This batch further confirms why YC is the preeminent accelerator – I’ll be deploying capital 💰  

As I wrap up my career at Y Combinator, I'm filled with gratitude for the tremendous learnings and growth I've experienced over these past four years. Now I look forward to staying involved as an investor. I'm often asked certain questions by both investors and founders regarding YC's value. The two most common are: 💸 1. Is YC worth giving up 7%? The short answer is yes, and here's why: - YC's partners are exceptional mentors, but that's no secret. So I'll focus on other key benefits. - YC invests earlier than most, providing crucial capital when other investors won't take the risk or can't properly evaluate such early-stage companies. - YC startups raise subsequent rounds at much more favorable valuations, helping offset that early equity dilution. - Each batch and the growing alumni network serve as an instant feedback group and customer base, rapidly accelerating learning and pivots when needed. 👩💻 👨💻 2. What types of startups thrive at YC? We may take this for granted, so here’s couple points, in case it’s not obvious: - You should strive to build a unicorn over a small "lifestyle" exit. YC backs teams with the ambition and abilities to build huge companies. - You need a technical co-founder, not just someone "semi-technical" using no/low-code tools. The tech co-founder should carry equal respect and influence. While two founders is considered ideal and most common, having more than two co-founders is better than being a solo founder. - Look for a cofounder you genuinely enjoy spending time with, can communicate openly with, and consider a friend. At the early stage, experience matters less than working relationships. It's harder to find personal chemistry than to develop skills. You can always learn and grow together.

To all the founders who are building, talking to users and shipping product, here are some fundamental questions, that i've taken from Y Combinator's Startup School, that will keep your KPI's on track, allow you to move fast and grow the company: - Is the customer understood properly? - Are we talking to users? - Are we building a better product?  - What is the value? What is the experience? What is the hassle free?  - What’s our Growth rate?  - How much runway do we have? - Is churn and retention known? - Are sales known?  - Do we have Product Market Fit? - Do our competitors have structural advantages? - Are we convicted in our vision despite receiving rejections from investors? Are we sending product updates and improvements to investors who said no so that they may say yes?   - Does the unit economics work? Are the numbers conflicting? - Am I getting better at story telling and sales? Is my communication clear and great? Am I excited and impressive enough yet? - Is every additional hire in the company increasing the average IQ of the company? - Is the money being spent on ads and PR useful or is it a distraction? What else would you add?

3 reasons you should NOT apply to YC 🚫 1. Be featured on TechCrunch 📰 There are more effective ways of doing that and won't cost you 3 months of your life. 2. Get started with startup ⚒️ Often times I've seen founders hinge their companies on magical outcomes. Not saying YC acceptance is magical, but close to it. The further along you are in "building your startup", the less magical and more real it gets. If you get into YC or not shouldn't stop you from building your company 3. Talk to investors 🤑 This one is meta. YC does Demo Day and you do get access to 100s of investors. But getting a meeting ≠ investment. And if you think your startup is ready for taking the next round of investment, then talking to investors shouldn't be hard for you. Ping me if that's the case and I'd be happy to help YC W24 deadline is around the corner. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gzuFGEjX Give me your 3 best reason for applying

Here's the 3-minute demo video we submitted for the Y Combinator Summer 2024 Cohort. Yes, we used the Y Combinator site to demo our product, and yes, it's far from perfect 😀 . With a 1.5%-2% acceptance rate (lower than acceptance rate at Harvard University), Y Combinator is the dream accelerator for any tech startup founder. But I've spoken to many founders recently who backed out of applying, considering the slim chances of getting in. But here’s why I think they're missing the point: # Your odds of getting into YC aren't just 1 in 100. Depending on the problem or pain point you're addressing, the traction your product has (i.e. are people using it?), and your team's, your chances might be much better than you think. # In the early stages, a lot of things will likely be in our heads rather than on Confluence pages. The application process itself can offer invaluable insights. It pushes your team to refine your business pitch and strategy. Applying forces you to articulate your business plan clearly and may reveal areas for improvement that you hadn’t considered before—something that was definitely true for us. I think there's no point in me talking about the successful companies that have gone through the accelerator (household names like Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe) and the benefits if you get through (like $500K in funding and access to a billion-dollar network—seriously, this is more valuable than the investment itself), as it’s general knowledge for any tech founder. My only advice is to any founder who thinks about odds, Be like Han Solo ! Never let anyone tell you the odds of success! The last date to apply for the Summer '24 cohort is today (8 PM PT) so give it a go! #Ycombinator #HanSolo Dalton Caldwell Michael Seibel Garry TanJerome Anthony Nicolas Dessaigne Brad Flora Pete Koomen David Lieb Surbhi Sarna Harj Taggar

I still watch most of Y Combinator's videos in my pastime. Most people who have done YC or follow YC closely have heard that a lot of the advice they give is “common sense” or “simple advice”. It’s totally true - there’s no magical advice out there - and I realize the only thing that makes a difference is executing on the simple advice. For me I’ve noticed that it helps when I hear the same things over and over again, from different mediums, until I internalize it. Over the past weekend I was listening to YC’s new video on doing things that don’t scale. That it’s important to optimize for learning when you’re doing the 0 to 1 and eventually you earn the right to deal with scalability issues and tech debt. It’s funny to think back on some of the things we were doing that don’t scale: 👉 We had to share a Google sheet with our first few customers so they could list out all the tables they wanted us to sync.  👉 We then had a UI where customers could add tables, but all it did was send us a Slack message to actually kick that off in the backend. For the most part we did this fast enough so it would seem automated. What’s some really simple advice you’ve received that you value a lot? #ycombinator

The application deadline for participating in Y Combinator is April 22nd⏳ This is your opportunity to transform your innovative idea into a successful global business. Don't delay! 💡We've prepared a quick, 5-minute read on Medium. A must-read for anyone interested in applying to aiming to apply to YC. This piece compiles advice on application submission discussed with YC alumni during our previous online event, "Pathway to YC: Ukrainian Edition". 👉🏻Follow the link to read more on Medium: https://lnkd.in/dkbzVhuH 📌Subscribe to our Medium blog and stay updated to find more tips for early-stage founders.

🚨 Breaking News: If any of us have a great idea, now is the time to show it to the world. Your idea can make a significant impact on people's lives. 🌍✨ Y Combinator has just extended their deadline from April 22 to late June. If you're wondering why you need Y Combinator, here are some reasons: 💡 We put founders' interests first. 🚫 We don’t take a board seat. 📉 We don’t demand 20% of your company. ⏱️ We don’t take weeks/months to decide to invest. 💸 We don’t charge fees. 📄 We don’t require decks, business plans, or MBAs. 👥 We don't tell you what to do; we only offer advice. Apply now! 🚀 https://lnkd.in/eBkkT366