Y Combinator with Anand: Essential Tips for Founders

Crafting a standout application for Y Combinator(YC) is a dream for many. With 30000+ startups vying for a spot in the accelerator program, how do you make sure your application rises to the top?

Sep 04, 2024

At Razorpay Rize, we spoke with Anand Krishna (YCS17) to gain insight into what many founders overlook when crafting their YC applications.

Anand is the Founder & CEO of Inkle, a US Tax & Compliance Automation platform. A 3x founder, he was accepted into the 2017 batch of YC for LotusPay (acquired by Juspay), a recurring payment solution for Indian businesses.

Anand sharing insights at a mixer hosted by Brex x Inkle

Cross the Chasm

Y Combinator (YC) welcomes you whether you're at the idea stage or already have paying customers.

For most startups, three months at YC can translate into two things: being able to ship products faster without compromising the quality and raising funds from qualified investors.

Each year, the application process attracts over 30,000 applicants worldwide with an acceptance rate of just ~1%. Today, we’ll cover factors that can increase your chances from 1/100 to 1/10 — a significant leap many founders overlook.

Your only goal with this application is to maximize your chances of securing an interview. And cracking the interview? That’s an entirely new ball game.

Craft an in-depth application

Brevity is key: Craft your message to be concise and easily understandable by someone outside your industry. Don’t use technical jargon to get your point across.
What? Who? Why? How?: Take a minute to understand the question. Pay attention to the operative word; have you answered it precisely and correctly?

‘How big is your TAM?’ They’re looking for a number (Tourism is a $10B market), not a generalization (B2B enterprise companies operating globally)
‘Who are your competitors?
What do you understand about your business that they don’t?’ Name your competition & showcase the findings no one else has.

Don't be Deck-Dependent: YC isn't a big fan of decks at this stage. Even after the enriching experience at YC, demo day only allows 60 seconds and 3 bullet points. You need to eat, breathe, and live your product so it shows.

Back insights with metrics: Showcase stories, examples, and data snippets. Emphasize quantifiable results and your domain expertise. Show them, don’t tell them.

Use a grammar check: Poor grammar can indicate a lack of attention to detail. Your responses reflect your ability to communicate your ideas effectively - Don't let simple mistakes overshadow the substance of your message.

Establish a Clear Path to a $100 Million Run Rate

Y Combinator and other potential investors seek a solid rationale for your venture. They want to back founders and ideas that have the potential to lead the market—look at Stripe, Airbnb, Razorpay, and the other 80+ unicorns in YC's portfolio.

For example:

In 2010, pet care in India was not considered a promising market. Many consumers didn’t have the disposable income for non-essential pet products. Fast forward to FY2023, and India’s pet care market is now valued at USD 9.95 billion.

If you were able to demonstrate a decade ago that the pet care market had significant growth potential and that your startup, with the first-movers advantage, could capture a substantial market share of a rapidly growing market, it is more likely that key investors would have supported you from the start and helped you pave the way to capture major market share.

Film the Perfect Founder Intro

Remember, YC is trying to get a sense of who you are. In the video, introduce yourselves and explain what you’re doing and why. Some pointers:

The video should be only 60 seconds long and contain nothing except the founders talking. Sitting in the same room makes a huge difference.
Do not center the video around your product; YC wants to see how you, as founders, communicate. Show passion and enthusiasm about your work and its potential.
Simple is better. YC does not expect you to invest in a studio or camera; recording this through your phone is fine. Make sure you sit in a well-lit room with sufficient natural light - focus on the content, not the medium.
A great video with lousy audio does more harm than good. Make sure your audio is crisp and clear, and speak slowly throughout.
Most importantly, avoid reading from the screen—YC frowns upon it. Instead, have a friend stand behind the camera and speak to them. Treat it as a conversation.

Crack the Product Demo Video

Whether you’re building a consumer product or a B2B SaaS platform, show what your product can do!

Take 2 minutes & give an in-depth view of your product.
Here are some talking points to get you started:
- High-level introduction of what you do and a showcase of your product.
- Stress on the product’s primary & secondary value props.
- Close with upcoming features on your roadmap & tagline.

Use tools like Loom to walk the reviewer through your product.

Check out some of the successful demo videos- here!

Get a Technical Co-founder!

Yes, even in the age of no-code product suites - having a technical co-founder dramatically increases your chances of acceptance. If you’re a non-tech founder applying alone, your chances of getting accepted are even lower than 0.6%!

If you found yourself a co-founder(s), have a fair split between founders. YC wants you to think beyond 3/6 months; much of your journey is yet to come. This startup may define the next 10 years of your life, and it is highly likely that you will pivot.

Are there two founders in the picture? Try keeping it as close to 50:50 as possible. Anything that seems like an unfair split (70:30/80:20) is a big red flag!

Irrespective of how many founders join you later, YC still expects a fair split. These numbers showcase how much value you place on each other.

Note: It is not recommended to have Co-CEOs. Clearly define a CEO & CTO from the start!

Alumni recommendations

Keep it simple. Reach out to 2-5 YC alumni with whom you have interacted in depth. The recommendation should showcase their personal faith in you as a founder and in your idea.

If you don't know any alumni, try to reach out to them well before the deadline and make a connection. At the least, they can help you with the preparation.

Build Traction

Many teams apply with no traction and still get in. Historically, showing some traction in any form was always considered advantageous. That being said, half of the companies do not have revenue when they apply. Today, YC accepts just ideas.

Get a Letter of Intent, paid/unpaid pilots, and waitlists on a simple landing page. It's anything that shows you that you actually made an effort to get the ball rolling.

For example, Fampay Founders Sambhav Jain & Kush Taneja got 20,000 children to participate in an online spin-wheel game within 48 hours. Their product targeted schoolchildren, and through this experiment, YC was sold on their idea.

Speak to customers

‘Speak to customers during the day & code all night!’

This was the core of Anand's success long after YC; regularly speaking to customers improves your application by 100x.

“What do you understand that your competitors do not?” The answer to this comes from your customers, not you! And, every reviewer wants to know just that.

Keep re-applying!

Got rejected? No problem! On average, it takes 3 applications to even get an interview. In the long run, it’s a game of perseverance. So, apply again & use the same YC / Hacker News account on every application (even if your email ID changes, keep the same account).

Showcase your progress and learnings over time; they want to see your growth and faith in your idea as it evolves.

Lastly, apply well in advance! It’s a first-come, first-serve cycle, so applying early has major advantages. Leave a few weeks before the deadline, just enough time to get some traction or data points, and then apply. Do not leave it to the last few days.

Conclusion

Getting into YC is just a small part of your startup journey. Preparing helps you work towards bringing out the best version of yourself as a founder and of your product. Best of luck!

Through our Rize for YC program, you can get more valuable insights from industry experts like Anand. Our program offers personalized tips and insights from those who've been in your shoes.

Want to learn more about the program? Click below!

This edition is co-authored by the Inkle team. A huge thanks to Anand, Ananya Khare, and the team!

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