Q&A with YC Partners at Startup School SV 2016

TL;DR

YC partners advise starting a startup immediately if you have an idea, focusing on passion over impressing others, and applying to YC regardless of stage or previous rejection. They emphasize action-oriented evidence (shipping product, getting customers) over polished applications, and warn against binary thinking (e.g., product vs. growth) – founders must often do both.

Key insights

• The best time to start is now if you have an idea; within 1–2 years you must become the domain expert, even if you start as a non-expert.
• If you lack an idea, join a hot startup for a few years to learn how a well-run startup operates.
• Generate ideas by looking for problems in your own life, family, community, and work, or by asking what you want the first line of your Wikipedia article to be.