<story><title>How I got into YC S13</title><url>http://aelag.com/how-i-got-into-yc</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>nwenzel</author><text>Pretty accurate assessment. I almost certainly would have not gotten in had I not had a chance to talk to a few YC alums.&lt;p&gt;Side Note: Jason was absolutely the reason I got in. YC should do whatever it takes to get him to become at the very least a part-time partner. They and all future YC companies will be better off with him involved.&lt;p&gt;From my own experience, the OP is absolutely right about the no BS part. Just explain what you&amp;#x27;re doing. You don&amp;#x27;t need to sell it or exaggerate (doing so will actually hurt your chances). I think the most important thing to explain is why people&amp;#x2F;companies want what you&amp;#x27;re making. The next most important thing you can do is teach them something. If they are able to learn something new about a market from you, you&amp;#x27;re chances of acceptance go up.&lt;p&gt;The in-person interview day is pretty exciting. It&amp;#x27;s sort of like the first day at the dorms (which for me was in 1995). It&amp;#x27;s perfectly acceptable to walk up to someone, say hi and and just start talking.&lt;p&gt;If you&amp;#x27;re thinking about applying, you should.</text></comment>
<story><title>How I got into YC S13</title><url>http://aelag.com/how-i-got-into-yc</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>soneca</author><text>Great story, fun reading, not exactly good advices for me here. My take from this is, in order to get in YC you must: i) have a successfull exit as track record and ii) have YC alumni in your network to review your application and pitch.&lt;p&gt;Well, turns out I am very far from both situations, so I just read it as a success tale. Which I actually appreciated, as the author sounds like a really honest and nice person.</text></comment>