How a Y Combinator startup interview feels like

On February 16, 2025  By tolstoy   Topic: Startup, Venture capital

An entrepreneur writes about his YCombinator 2009 interview headed by Paul Graham. I have highlighted two important questions:

 

Paul opened proceedings and cut to the chase: our market is already very crowded, although most of the players suck; how are we different from the many established competitors? Suddenly, finally, our show was on the road. This was a pleasing, if slightly unexpected opening; we didn’t even need to explain what we were doing or why, just how we’re better than the current offerings. I opened up with a response and was going quite well until things hit a snag. Mid-explanation, Paul pulled me up with his first challenge, saying “surely your competitors can do that”.

 


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