Before the interview
We only applied to YC – we didn’t think we’d get into any accelerators but if we were to get one, we wanted the big one. We prepared for the first interview much like preparing for a university presentation by doing the PG emulator and agreeing who would take what questions.
Our experience
We had the unfortunate/fortunate situation of getting 2 interviews.
1
Our first interview was 10 min just before lunch. My main memory was being grilled by Sam Altman on our bitcoin knowledge – painful enough to be starstruck but then also the fintech guy asking us about bitcoin pretending to be experts. At the end, we didn’t get a pass or fail, but were told to interview again in 3 hours.
We were pretty bummed but went to eat Japanese down the main strip of Mountain View. Whilst licking our wounds we decided that if we were to go down, we’d go down fighting. Instead of 4 of us speaking, I (as most extroverted person) would lead on answering the questions. If we’d get confronted I would try and meet their energy.
2
Second interview was also 10 min, but now at the end of the day. We were grilled by Justin Kan, Geoff Ralston and Jessica Livingston about whether we understood our market. My memory is that at one point, Geoff said “You don’t know what foreign domestic workers want.” (I’m sure he was nicer but I remember it being jarring). I then remember going into a heated argument with Geoff (it probably was a polite convo for an American) pushing back that we did understand our customer. It felt like an hour. It was in actuality, probably 3 min long and the partner was right – we didn’t know our market in the end coz we pivoted.
We left and I figured, welp, YC didn’t believe anything coming out our mouths. 4 hours later, as I’m sitting dejected in a restaurant downing spaghetti, I get a call. I pick it up. “You’re in and we need you to be here tomorrow”. I remember yelling “F#!k yes!” as soon as I hung up the phone much to the embarrassment of my wife.
Theory
What I think YC looks for (imo)
- Traction – 7% wow growth. That’s the bar
- Market – is your market big enough (e.g. > $1b USD)
- Team chemistry – founder breakup is a big reason why YC companies fail so prove you’ll survive fights, close quarters and years of disagreements
- Unique insight – what do you know that everyone thinks is false but is actually true. I think this is the hardest to articulate but most important given everyone else will have the hygiene factors above
Therefore, prepare
3 takeaways
Pick 3 things that you can’t leave without explaining. You only have 10 minutes to impress when partners have been in interviews all day. So pick the most important things you must convey and learn to answer the practice questions by including these 3 things over and over
Practice
Use this. It cuts you off, it jumps around, it asks you good questions (it’s realistic set of questions and dynamic)
https://jamescun.github.io/iPG/
A note for introverts and passive voice cultures
Be loud – YC is Silicon Valley at its best. For Asians, passive tone is polite but doesn’t convey confidence in the USA. So talk in active voice (takes practice) and be confident
20 seconds is really all you’ll get. So be succinct. Most Asian teams I work with talk for longer and try caveat or be less direct coz that’s polite in our culture. It’s not perceived this way in the US
