How to Ace the Y Combinator Interview

Believe in yourself, and...

Interviews for the S24 batch are in full swing, here’s the advice I’ve been giving to everyone I’ve referred:

1) Be ready to answer “what do you do?”

This is the first and most important question. Explain in 1-2 sentences: who are your users and what problem do you solve? No jargon, no marketing talk. An average (non-expert) person should be able to understand what you’re building and for whom. 

Ours for Ellipsis: “We’re a developer tool that automatically reviews code and fixes bugs.”

2) Practice the message, but don’t memorize

Other than your answer to “what do you do”, don’t try to memorize words. It’ll just sound awkward, especially when you start giving canned answers to the wrong question. 

Instead, spend some time thinking hard about your business. This is a really good/healthy exercise to do with your co-founder, and can have valuable results outside the interview process. 

The big questions are: how do you know you’re building something people want? How will you make money? How big can this be? Why are you the right team?

Here’s a decent list of detailed questions: https://johnsillings.com/2021/11/26/yc-interview-questions.html 

3) Practice the format

The interview format is unlike most other meetings you’ve had (only 10 minutes), and you want to keep your answers in the 10-15 second range. 

Resist the urge to word vomit! If the partner wants to dive deeper, they’ll ask.

Here’s a convenient website you can use to get in the groove: https://jamescun.github.io/iPG/

4) What will you do if you don’t get into YC?

If your answer is “eh idk just keep my 9-5 job”, maybe re-examine why you’re applying?

The vibe you should be giving off is more: “IDGAF about external validation, I’m building a unicorn with or without you”

There are many paths to startup success. Believe in yourself 🙂

5) Remember, every interview experience is different

Every startup is different, every partner is different. Don’t index too much on what your one friend said their experience was like.

6) Progress > Prep

Don’t spend days on interview prep. You should be building your business.

Don’t overthink things and stress. Get a good night’s sleep. Before the interview, go on a walk to clear your head.

7) Mock interviews!

Doing a mock interview or two can be really helpful. If you have an interview scheduled and want practice, send me a DM! 

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Good luck!!