Geoff Ralston: Hi, everyone.
Geoff Ralston: 大家好。
This morning we are going to do something a little different than we normally do on Thursday. We're actually going to have a Startup School lecture by Dalton Caldwell, my colleague and the Head of Admissions at YC.
今天早上，我们将做一些与星期四的工作有些不同的事情。我的同事、YC招生主管道尔顿·考德威尔(DaltonCalwell)将举办一次创业学校讲座。
This is sort of, rather than a conversation that sort of fits in between the cracks of the lecture series that we have organized, this is part of the actual lecture series and is meant to help you understand more about the YC application process. We're just halfway through the course, and the YC application closes on October 2nd, so the timing is about right. A couple of things I wanted to talk about. First of all, as always, if you parked in that lot, move your car or bike. No one seems to have done that.
这是一种，而不是在我们组织的讲座系列的裂缝之间的对话，这是实际讲座系列的一部分，目的是帮助你更多地了解YC的应用过程。我们刚刚完成了一半的课程，YC的申请在10月2日结束，所以时间差不多是对的。我想谈几件事。首先，和往常一样，如果你停在那块土地上，把你的车或自行车挪开。似乎没人这么做过。
That's great. Secondly, just a word about the application and the eligibility for the $10,000 grants, because I think that caused a little bit of consternation. We decided a little bit late in the game that we were going to do a much better job of evaluating those of you who complete the course, if we actually had the information contained in the YC application.
太好了第二，我只谈一谈申请及申请1万元补助金的资格，因为我觉得这令人有点惊慌。我们决定在游戏中稍晚一点，我们将做一个更好的工作，评估谁完成了课程，如果我们真正的信息包含在YC应用程序。
It also occurred to us it would be really good for companies to actually fill that application out.
我们也意识到，对公司来说，实际填写这份申请表是很好的。
A bunch of people cried foul, saying, "Oh my gosh, that's unfair. You're making us do an application." I get that, because it's a new requirement we added on, but a few points. First of all, and this was probably our fault and unclear, the deadline does not necessarily apply to the folks who are just looking to be eligible for the $10,000 grant.
一群人大喊大叫，说：“天哪，这太不公平了。你在让我们申请。”我明白这一点，因为这是我们增加的一个新要求，但是有几点。首先，这可能是我们的错，而且不清楚，这一期限不一定适用于那些只想获得1万美元赠款的人。
It doesn't matter. You can fill out that application any time between now and the end of the course.
这不重要。从现在到课程结束，你可以随时填写那份申请表。
In fact, you can do that even if you are applying to YC.
事实上，即使你申请YC，你也可以这样做。
Although, if you're really applying to YC and you want to get into YC, it's best to apply before the deadline. We take late applications, but your probability of getting in decreases.
虽然，如果你真的申请YC，你想进入YC，最好在截止日期之前申请。我们申请迟了，但你进入的可能性降低了。
It's a good idea to fill out the YC application.
填写YC申请表是个好主意。
It will help you and your company.
它会帮助你和你的公司。
It helps focus your thinking on what's important and what's not important.
它能帮助你集中精力思考什么是重要的，什么是不重要的。
There is no obligation when you fill out a YC application. We're not going to force you to come to Mountain View and work with us.
填写YC申请时没有义务。我们不会强迫你来山景城和我们一起工作。
If you get an interview, you do not have to go to the interview. Frankly, I think that would be strange, because, look, the people at YC sincerely believe that we help you be successful. So if you get an interview, I would advise you to come and get the interview, but you do not have to. We hope that it's not too onerous to fill out the application. Like I said, we believe it's a good thing for your company. We apologize for figuring this out a little bit late, as we went around.
如果你得到了面试，你就不必去参加面试。坦白说，我觉得那会很奇怪，因为，看，YC的人真诚地相信我们会帮助你成功。所以，如果你得到了面试，我会建议你来参加面试，但你不必这样做。我们希望填写这份申请表不会太麻烦。就像我说的，我们相信这对你的公司是件好事。我们很抱歉，在我们四处走动的时候，弄清楚这件事有点晚了。
There's a bunch of things that happened in this version of Startup School that were unexpected.
在这个版本的创业学校里发生了很多意想不到的事情。
It's not unusual for unexpected things to happen.
意外的事情发生并不罕见。
Those of you who are running companies, which is hopefully almost all of you, understand that. So that's what happens. With that, I would with great pleasure like to introduce Dalton, who is going to talk about how to apply and succeed at YC.
你们中那些经营公司的人-希望几乎所有人-都明白这一点。这就是发生的事。在此，我非常高兴地介绍道尔顿，他将讨论如何在YC申请并取得成功。
Thank you.
谢谢。
Dalton Caldwell: Hi there. How's it going? All right. Okay, what we're going to talk about today is how to apply and succeed at YC.
道尔顿·考德威尔：你好。怎么样?好的好的，我们今天要讲的是如何在YC公司申请并取得成功。
In my capacity as the Head of Admissions, I go around the world, and I give talks, and I meet folks that are applying, and I answer lots of questions.
我以招生主管的身份，环游世界，做讲座，会见申请入学的人，回答很多问题。
I think I have a decent internal model of the kinds of questions that people have and the kinds of things that people get hung up on. So I'm going to do my best to anticipate what you're probably thinking about and try to answer those to the best of my ability. All right. Why is it even worth applying to YC? People ask this question a fair amount of time.
我想我有一个很好的内部模型来描述人们的问题和人们被挂在上面的事情。所以我会尽我最大的努力来预测你们可能在想些什么，并尽我所能回答这些问题。好的为什么值得申请YC？人们问这个问题有相当长的时间。
I would argue that the very act of completing the application forces you to think about stuff that you should definitely think about. For instance, what are we building? What is different about what we're doing than other options on the market? Who are your competitors? That's a good one to ask. Here's one that sometimes people don't talk about before filling out the application: what is your equity split? You'd be surprised. People often have never had that conversation. So the very act of going through and doing an application and working with your co-founder to answer all these things, I would argue is an extremely good idea. Regardless of whether you do YC, you should ask yourselves all of these questions.
我想说的是，完成应用程序的行为迫使你去思考那些你绝对应该考虑的事情。例如，我们在建造什么？我们所做的与市场上的其他选择有什么不同？你的竞争对手是谁？这是一个很好的要求。在填写申请表之前，有时人们不会谈论的一个问题是：你的股权分成是什么？你会大吃一惊的。人们经常从未进行过这种对话。所以，我认为，通过一个应用程序并与你的联合创始人合作来回答所有这些问题是一个非常好的主意。无论你是否做YC，你都应该问自己所有这些问题。
If you find a bunch of murkiness, where you can't answer them, that's usually a sign that you should be discussing this more. So right off the bat, I recommend going and answering the questions.
如果你发现一堆模糊，你无法回答，这通常是一个迹象，你应该更多地讨论这一点。所以我建议马上去回答问题。
I think it's a good idea.
我觉得这是个好主意。
Another thing is, if you are watching this very presentation, there is a good chance that YC is a great fit for you, right? There's lots of people that apply, and they don't really know what YC is.
另一件事是，如果你在看这个演讲，很有可能YC很适合你，对吧？有很多人申请，他们不知道什么是YC。
They googled how to get free money on the internet or something.
他们在谷歌上搜索如何在互联网上获得免费资金。
Trust me, I read these applications.
相信我看过这些申请。
It's clear that they don't exactly understand what YC is and what it's all about.
很明显，他们并不完全理解YC是什么以及它是关于什么的。
They just want money, right? That is not you. You are here. You have been participating in this.
他们只是想要钱对吧？那不是你。您所在的位置你一直在参与这件事。
There's lots of context that you have about YC, and so that out of the gate means you're going to be much better prepared to fill out this application and that you're a great fit for the sort of company that we would want to fund, okay? Another thing is, I think a lot about what you should be doing as a founder, in terms of cost-benefit analysis on time.
你有很多关于YC的背景，所以走出大门意味着你会更好地准备填写这份申请表，而且你非常适合我们想要资助的那种公司，好吗？另一件事是，我对你作为创办人应该做的事情做了很多思考，从成本效益分析的角度来看。
There's a lot of things that seem like a good use of time that are not a good use of time, and there's a lot of things that may not seem like a good use of time that are an excellent use of time. So I would argue filling out an application should really only take you, I don't know, two or three hours, and the potential upside is quite huge. Versus other ways you could spend two or three hours, where the upside is not much at all. Let's talk a little bit about how you create luck.
有很多事情看上去像是很好地利用时间，但却不能很好地利用时间，还有很多事情看上去不像是很好地利用时间，这是对时间的一种很好的利用。所以我认为填写申请表只需要两三小时，而且潜在的好处是巨大的。与其他你可以花两三个小时的方式相比，这两到三个小时的好处并不多。让我们谈谈你是如何创造运气的。
This is sort of like a meta point, outside of the application thing. Great founders create luck, and there's ways that you can create luck in your life that increase the chances that you will get lucky.
这有点像一个元点，在应用程序之外。伟大的创始人创造好运，你可以在生活中创造好运，增加你获得幸运的机会。
The way you get lucky is you set yourself up to be lucky as often as possible. If you can set yourself up so that every single day of your life you have a shot at something really fortunate happening to you, the odds that something really fortunate will happen to you is super high.
你得到幸运的方式是尽可能多地让自己变得幸运。如果你能安排好自己，让你生命中的每一天都有机会看到一些真正幸运的事情发生在你身上，那么真正幸运的事情发生在你身上的几率就会很高。
I would argue applying to YC is definitely one of those things, right? I answer questions, and invariably people will probably ask me questions at the end of this that are some kind of a complicated way of you talking yourself out of why you should do it for some reason.
我认为申请YC肯定是其中之一，对吧？我回答问题，人们总是会在最后问我一些问题，这是一种很复杂的方式，让你说出你为什么要出于某种原因去做这件事。
That is not a great way to create luck.
这不是创造运气的好方法。
The fact is, you're going to set yourself up to be rejected all the time as a founder, right? You get customers. Your customers unsubscribe from your service. Your customers are not happy. You're going to try to recruit people.
事实是，你会让自己一直被拒绝，作为一个创始人，对吗？你能找到顾客。您的客户取消订阅您的服务。你的顾客不高兴。你要试着招兵买马。
That may not work. You're going to be told no all the time.
这可能行不通。你会一直被拒绝的。
If you set yourself up so that you never hear no and that you never get negative feedback, you're not going to set yourself up to actually be successful. This is an example of when I talk to people, when I'm on the road, a lot of the questions or concerns that people have are all stemmed from this, which is they're afraid of what happens if they don't get in. So they don't even bother to take the change.
如果你把自己设置成永远不会听到否定，也不会得到负面反馈，你就不会让自己真正成功。这是一个例子，当我和人们交谈的时候，当我在路上的时候，人们所关心的很多问题都来自于这个，那就是他们害怕如果他们不进去会发生什么。所以他们甚至不愿意拿零钱。
Again, regardless of YC and this particular topic, I really think this is a good trait for you to develop as a founder. We work on this in the program with people, of really encouraging people to not be so afraid of getting told no and systematically trying to set yourself up for good things to happen to you as much as possible, right? So this is just another of those situations. Let's talk about some of the reasons that people don't apply.
再一次，不管YC和这个特定的话题，我真的认为这是一个很好的特点，对你发展为一个创始人。我们在项目中与人合作，鼓励人们不要那么害怕被人拒绝，并系统地试图让自己尽可能多地为美好的事情发生在你身上，对吗？所以这只是另一种情况。让我们谈谈一些人们不申请的原因。
This one is very common: I am too early.
这个很常见：我太早了。
There is no such thing as too early. Sometimes, in the extreme case, people have changed their idea between when they get invited to interviews and when they get the interview.
没有太早的事。有时，在极端的情况下，人们改变了他们的想法，当他们被邀请去面试的时候和他们得到面试的时候。
That's an extreme case.
这是个极端的案子。
That's pretty early. We also fund people that end up pivoting mid-batch. So that means they've been working on their startup a negative number of days, right? That is clearly not too early, also.
太早了。我们也资助那些以中转为主的人。所以这意味着他们一直在为自己的创业工作做负数，对吧？这显然也不太早。
Again, there's a lot of ideas around there that the right way to apply to YC is to wait until you have a certain amount of stuff. Someone asked me a question, "What's the right amount of MRR to get into YC?" Holy cow, the answer is zero. Right? That doesn't mean you will definitely get in every time, clearly, but any kind of roadblock you put for yourself that you're too early, I would argue is your own self-constrained roadblock, not something that's coming from us. Conversely, people think they are too far along.
再一次，有很多想法认为，适用于YC的正确方法是等待，直到你有了一定数量的东西。有人问我一个问题：“多少MRR才能进入YC？”天啊，答案是零。对吗？这并不意味着你肯定每次都会进入，很明显，但是你给自己设置的任何障碍都太早了，我认为这是你自己的自我约束的障碍，而不是来自我们的东西。相反，人们认为他们走得太远了。
This one is great, because there's this ideal point between too early and too late that lasts like a week or something, and otherwise you're too far in either extreme. Most likely you are not too far along. We have folks every batch that come in. We have folks that, man, had over a million dollars in annual recurring revenue, folks that have had 20 or 30 employees, folks that have raised a fair amount of money. Whatever metric by which you think you're too far, and again, maybe you are genuinely too far, because you've got 1,000 employees or something, the odds are though most of the people who ask this question, it's because they are launched or they have a little bit of revenue.
这个很棒，因为在太早和太晚之间有一个理想的点，可以持续一周什么的，否则你就太过极端了。很可能你没走太远。我们的每一批人都来了。我们有这样的人，伙计，每年有超过一百万美元的经常性收入，有二三十名员工，还有筹集了大量资金的人。不管你认为你走得太远了，也许你真的走得太远了，因为你有1000名员工，尽管大多数人问了这个问题，但这是因为他们被推出了，或者他们有一点点收入。
They're like, "Oh, we don't need YC. We've got it all figured out." Again, our data and the folks that we worked with suggest that you are most likely not too far along, depending on your circumstance. So if that is the idea, don't put the barrier into yourself on why you're not going to apply, just because you think you're too far along.
他们说，“哦，我们不需要YC，我们都搞清楚了。”同样，我们的数据以及与我们一起工作的人员都表明，根据您的情况，您很可能不会进展太远。因此，如果这就是你的想法，不要仅仅因为你认为你太过落后就给自己设置障碍来解释你为什么不申请。
I'm too experienced.
我太有经验了。
This is where either you just, oh yeah, I went to business school, or I've done a startup before. Okay, that's fine, but all you're doing is limiting possibilities there.
你就是在这里，哦，是的，我上过商学院，或者我以前做过创业。好吧，那很好，但你所做的只是限制可能性。
There's lots of folks that are super experienced. Justin Khan did YC three times and is now the founder of Atrium. He gets something out of it every time, and clearly he's very experienced.
有很多经验丰富的人。贾斯汀·汗做过三次YC，现在是中庭的创始人。他每次都能从中得到一些东西，显然他很有经验。
I would argue much more experienced that many people that think this about themselves.
我想说的是，更有经验的是，很多人都这样认为自己。
Again, this is just creating barriers for yourself.
再说一遍，这只是在为自己制造障碍。
This is a common one: there's something specific about my company that YC just doesn't get. Usually the way that I answer this is by listing all the types of companies that we fund.
这是一个常见的问题：我的公司里有些东西是YC没有得到的。我回答这个问题的方式通常是列出我们资助的所有类型的公司。
It is too long and too boring to list here, so I will not attempt to list them all. But look, whatever industry you're in, whatever you're doing, most likely we fund something kind of like it or equally crazy to that. We really like crazy and weird things.
它太长，太无聊，不能在这里列出，所以我不会试图把它们全部列出来。但是你看，不管你从事什么行业，无论你在做什么，我们很可能会资助一些类似的事情，或者同样疯狂的投资。我们真的很喜欢疯狂和怪异的东西。
Again, what I mean by crazy and weird, I don't know, we funded nuclear fission and nuclear fusion startups and supersonic jet startups and, I don't know, all sorts of crazy biotech stuff.
再说一次，我的意思是疯狂和怪异，我不知道，我们资助了核裂变和核聚变创业公司和超音速喷气式飞机初创公司，我不知道，还有各种各样疯狂的生物技术项目。
It's unlikely that we are just going to be like, "Wow, that's too weird for us." Maybe you are that one, but most likely this is a barrier you're putting in for yourself. This one is also really common. People think if you do YC, you have to live in the Bay area forever.
我们不太可能会说，“哇，这对我们来说太奇怪了。”也许你就是那个人，但这很可能是你为自己设置的一个障碍。这个也很常见。人们认为如果你做了YC，你必须永远生活在海湾地区。
That is not true.
那不是真的。
A huge percentage of the people that we fund, you do the program here, but that's three months.
我们资助的人中有很大一部分，你在这里做这个项目，但那是三个月。
Then you go and do whatever you want, right? If you're super worried about, "Wow, I just love New York City.
然后你就去做你想做的事，对吧？如果你非常担心，“哇，我只是喜欢纽约市。
That's my home.
那是我的家。
I want to be in New York City." Okay, that doesn't preclude you from wanting to apply to YC. Okay, there's more.
我想去纽约市。“好吧，这并不排除你想申请YC。好吧，还有更多。
I'll go through these quicker.
我会更快地看完这些。
I'm a solo founder. Okay, that's not a reason not to apply.
我是个独创者。好吧，这不是不申请的理由。
It's just, again, maybe you're afraid of rejection or you know that we encourage you to have co-founders.
也许你害怕被拒绝，或者你知道我们鼓励你有联合创始人。
That's not a reason to not apply to YC.
这不是不适用于YC的理由。
I've already applied to YC once before.
我已经申请过一次YC了。
I'll address this later, but just because you didn't get in once in no way means that you won't do it again.
我稍后会讨论这个问题，但仅仅因为你一次都没进去，这并不意味着你不会再做一次。
That's not a good reason.
这不是个好理由。
I've already raised some money.
我已经筹到了一些钱。
I don't know the stats off the top of my head, but a huge percentage of last batch had already raised on the order of six figures.
我不知道我头上的数据，但在最后一批数据中，有很大一部分已经提高了六位数。
There's definitely some seven figures as well. So in no way does it preclude you from applying to YC.
当然也有七位数。所以这并不妨碍你申请YC。
In fact, it's extremely common. Finally, there's competitors. Sometimes, if you're doing a self-driving car startup or a scooter startup or something, there's other folks that we funded in the space. We fund folks in the same space all the time.
事实上，这是非常普遍的。终于有竞争者了。有时候，如果你做的是一家自动驾驶汽车初创公司，或者是一家摩托车初创公司，那么还有其他一些我们在这个领域提供资金支持的公司。我们一直在同一空间为人们提供资金。
This does not preclude us from funding you, nor is it a good reason to not apply. Okay.
这并不排除我们资助你们，也不是不申请的好理由。好的。
There's not many, but I do think there is a couple of good reasons to not apply. One is you have the kind of business that is either not anticipated to be fast-growing enough, nor in your ambition is something that ever makes sense to raise venture capital for.
人数不多，但我认为有几个很好的理由不申请。其一，你拥有一种既没有预期到的足够快的发展速度，也不会在你的野心中有意义地筹集风险资本的企业。
If that does not make sense for you, then yeah, you probably shouldn't apply to YC. You should not raise any venture capital. You should make the growth rate work for you and make the business model that works for you, and that's a-okay, right? No sweat.
如果这对你来说没有意义，那么是的，你可能不应该申请YC。你不应该筹集任何风险资本。你应该让增长率对你有效，让适合你的商业模式，这是-好的，对吗？不客气。
That's a good reason.
这是个很好的理由。
The other thing is, you're just not sure you want to work on this very long.
另一件事是，你只是不确定你想要花这么长时间。
All right, that's also a valid reason. We're used to working with people that are working on something for a very long time. So if you just want to do something for a few months or put this on your résumé, then, yeah, that's a fair reason to not apply. How to apply. Okay, this is really straightforward.
好吧，这也是个合理的理由。我们习惯于和那些长期从事某件事情的人一起工作。所以，如果你只想做几个月的事情，或者把它写在简历上，那么，是的，这是一个不适用的合理理由。如何申请。好吧，这真的很简单。
There's a website. You go to the website, and you follow the instructions.
有个网站。你进入网站，然后按照指示进行操作。
It's okay to apply early or late, depending on your circumstances, as Jeff said.
根据你的情况，早晚申请是可以的，就像杰夫说的。
It's slightly harder to get in early or late, and that's just because that's not our primary time to be cycling through things. But if those are the circumstances you're in, you should definitely apply.
早晚进场有点困难，这只是因为那不是我们骑自行车的主要时间。但如果这是你所处的情况，你绝对应该申请。
This is a very common email question we get is, "Hey, it's two weeks after the deadline. Can I still apply?" Guess what the answer to that question is? It's a very quick yes. But people want to ask.
这是我们收到的一个非常常见的电子邮件问题，“嘿，已经过了两个星期了，我还能申请吗？”猜猜这个问题的答案是什么？很快就可以了。但人们想问。
They want permission. Again, this is a recurring theme about founders. You need to learn, you don't have to ask permission for everything. You don't need our approval to do everything.
他们需要许可。再一次，这是一个关于创始人的反复出现的主题。你需要学习，你不需要任何事情都得到许可。你做每件事都不需要我们的批准。
There's a website.
有个网站。
If there's a button where you can apply, you should totally apply, right? You don't need to email us, have us say yes, and then do it.
如果有一个按钮，你可以申请，你应该完全申请，对吗？你不需要给我们发电子邮件，让我们答应，然后再做。
That is an unnecessary step, right? So just keep that in mind. You can just email us, and again, most of these questions are just people asking should I apply? Our answer almost invariably is yes, but if you want to ask us, you can.
这是不必要的一步，对吧？所以记住这一点。你可以发电子邮件给我们，而且这些问题中的大多数都是人们问我是否应该申请的问题。我们的回答几乎总是肯定的，但如果你想问我们，你可以。
There's the email address. Let's talk about what makes a good application.
这是电子邮件地址。让我们来谈谈什么是一个好的应用程序。
The first one, I promise this is not redundant.
第一个，我保证这不是多余的。
It matters, and it's because I read so many applications.
这很重要，因为我读了太多的应用程序。
I have a very good idea of what they actually look like.
我很清楚他们的长相。
I realize that this talk will go on the internet, and many of the things that I say will be reflected back.
我意识到这次演讲将在网上进行，我所说的许多话都会被反映出来。
I'm creating a feedback loop for the things that I read. So things I'm putting in here are actually meant ...
我正在为我读到的东西创建一个反馈循环。所以我在这里放的东西实际上是指.。
I want these ideas to get dispersed, of people knowing what makes a good application, because I think that will make my job easier, right? This is very intentional.
我想让这些想法分散开来，让人们知道什么才是一个好的应用程序，因为我认为这会使我的工作更容易，对吗？这是故意的。
The first thing is that you would be shocked how many people don't actually fill out the dang thing properly. Like sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
第一件事是，你会感到震惊的是，有多少人实际上没有正确填写这件事。就像马虎，马虎。
There's whole areas where they don't answer the question whatsoever.
在很多地方，他们根本不回答这个问题。
They don't put in URLs.
他们不放网址。
They don't fill out their bio.
他们不填写他们的简历。
I don't know.
我不知道
Again, it's not a very long application. You'll see yourself. But it is shocking to me what a high percentage of the time people just don't fill the dang thing out, or put in lots of errors.
同样，这也不是一个很长的应用程序。你会看到自己的。但令我感到震惊的是，很多时候人们都没有把这些错误填空，或者说犯了很多错误。
It's just like not great.
就像不太好。
Think about applying for a job or any other kind of professional thing. Lack of professionalism here, not equated with success. So just fill it out.
考虑一下申请一份工作或其他职业方面的事情。这里缺乏专业精神，并不等同于成功。那就填了吧。
It's that simple, and that's why I'm leading with this, is you would be shocked how few people follow this direction. Maybe they think it's like a lottery ticket, where if they put in an application, even if it's a bad one, they might get in. No. Humans read these things.
就这么简单，这也是我领导这个问题的原因，你会感到震惊的是，只有很少的人会遵循这个方向。也许他们认为这就像一张彩票，如果他们递交了一份申请，即使这是一张糟糕的申请，他们也有可能被录取。否人类会读这些东西。
I read these things, and I appreciate it if you fill out the application. Second thing is the founder video. You would be shocked how many people don't follow the dang directions.
我读了这些东西，如果你填了这份申请表，我会很感激的。第二件事是创建者的视频。你会感到震惊的是，有多少人没有遵循唐突的指示。
There's directions on how to do the founder video; i.e., it should be a minute long, all the founders should be in the video. People don't do that. We get the 20-minute spirit journey video, where I don't know even know what they're ... You know? It's, yeah. I've seen an hour twenty.
有关于如何制作创建者视频的指导，也就是说，它应该有一分钟长，所有的创建者都应该在视频中。人们不会那样做的。我们得到了20分钟的灵魂之旅视频，我甚至不知道它们是什么.你知道是的，是的。我见过一个小时二十五分。
I've seen some weird stuff.
我见过一些奇怪的东西。
The 20 minute spirit journey video, not super helpful.
20分钟的精神之旅视频，没有超级的帮助。
It's really hard to sit there and watch something for 20 minutes. One minute is a perfect amount of time. We give you examples.
坐在那里看20分钟的东西真的很难。一分钟是一段完美的时间。我们举几个例子。
Those examples are great videos. Be like that video.
这些例子都是很棒的视频。就像那个视频。
It's also really good to have the entire founding team in the video. People are always like, "Hey, I'm here, and I'm in the airport. My co-founder isn't here, so here's my video." I think that's fine if that's what you have to do, but maybe just waiting a couple of days until you can be with your co-founder to do the video would be a good idea. Because my theory is, a lot of times when people don't follow the directions, it may be because their co-founder doesn't know they're applying to YC.
在视频中有整个创始团队也是很好的。人们总是说，“嘿，我在这里，我在机场。我的联合创始人不在这里，这是我的视频。”我认为如果这是你必须做的，那就好了，但也许等几天你就能和你的联合创始人一起做这段视频是个好主意。因为我的理论是，很多时候当人们不听从指示的时候，可能是因为他们的联合创始人不知道他们在申请YC。
There's all these things under the hood, where the lack of the co-founder in the video speaks volumes. So maybe you have a great reason why your co-founder isn't in the video, but I would suggest it, right? And it's in the directions.
在这个引擎盖下面有所有这些东西，视频中的联合创始人的缺乏充分说明了这一点。所以，也许你有一个很好的理由，为什么你的联合创始人不在视频中，但我会建议你，对吗？在方向上。
I'm not telling you anything that's not in the directions.
我不会告诉你任何不在方向的事情。
I'm just letting you know, yes, we watch these things, and yes, it's valuable.
我只是让你知道，是的，我们看这些东西，是的，它很有价值。
If you just follow the directions, then we're going to be super happy. When it's like either there's no video or the video is weird ...
如果你按指示行事，我们会非常高兴的。当它不是没有视频，就是视频很奇怪的时候.
Another thing that people do a lot is they put in an unrelated video of a product demo that they made with one of those free tools, where there's no humans in it.
人们经常做的另一件事是，他们把一个不相关的视频放进了一个他们用这些免费工具制作的产品演示视频中，里面没有人。
It's like, I can't even describe it.
就像，我甚至无法描述它。
Anyway, there's a whole genre of things that people put in there that are not remotely following the directions. So please follow the directions.
不管怎么说，有一种类型的东西是人们放进去的，根本就没有按照指示走。所以请按照指示。
I swear, it matters. Clarify of thought.
我发誓这很重要。澄清思想。
A good application is easy to understand what they're talking about, and it doesn't mean you write tons and tons of words.
一个好的应用程序很容易理解他们在说什么，这并不意味着你写了大量的单词。
Tons of words definitely has a diminishing return, where we don't know what you're talking about, and I just can't understand what the application is saying.
成堆的单词肯定有一个递减的回报，在这里，我们不知道你在说什么，我只是不明白应用程序在说什么。
Also clarity on who's building the product.
也清楚谁在制造这个产品。
It's remarkably obfuscated to even figure out what's going on and who's even building the thing. You'll see who the founders are, and you'll kind of see what they're working on, but it's really hard to tell who's building it. So just having it be very crisp of who's building it.
甚至搞清楚到底是怎么回事，甚至是谁在建造这个东西，这都是令人费解的。你会看到创始人是谁，你会看到他们在做什么，但很难分辨是谁在建造它。所以让它非常清晰地说明是谁在建造它。
Again, this would put you way better than average, if you just do these things.
再一次，如果你只做这些事情，这会让你比一般人更好。
It's so simple, right? So good applications do these. Let's talk about clarity, because this is definitely something that is worth talking about. Great applications that I read ... When I read an application and I know when I read it they're going to get in, they're super easy for me to read.
太简单了，对吧？所以好的应用程序做这些。让我们谈谈清晰，因为这绝对是值得一谈的。我读过的很棒的应用程序.。当我读到一份申请时，我知道当我读到它时，他们会被录取，这对我来说是非常容易的。
It does not require a lot of work.
这不需要做很多工作。
It doesn't feel boring or painful.
它不觉得无聊或痛苦。
It just reads with no effort whatsoever.
只是不费任何力气就读出来了。
It's because I understand.
因为我明白。
There's no jargon, and everything just adds up.
没有行话，所有的东西都加起来了。
It's a great narrative, and it's like, wow, what a great application, and you move on.
这是一个很好的叙述，它就像，哇，多么伟大的应用，你继续前进。
It's very quick. Weak applications obfuscate.
非常快。弱应用程序模糊。
They obfuscate everything. What is your idea? Obfuscated. Who is on the team? Who's writing the code? Obfuscated. Who does it work? I have no idea. What is the state of the company? Are you launched? Do you have users? You have revenue but you're not launched? What is that? Basically it's like a puzzle. When I'm reading one of these applications, it's like a brain teaser, where I'm trying to figure out what's going on. I promise, this doesn't help.
他们把一切都搞糊涂了。你的主意是什么？混淆了。谁是队里的人？谁在写代码？混淆了。是谁起作用的？我没有头绪。公司的状况如何？发射了吗？你有用户吗？你有收入但还没启动？那是什么？基本上就像个谜题。当我阅读这些应用程序之一时，它就像一个大脑戏谑器，在那里我试图弄清楚到底发生了什么。我保证这没用。
I think a lot of the times, the people obfuscate because they think that that's what we want to read or we like buzzwords or we like this stuff, or they're trying to hide something, where the revenue is actually their personal salary but it's not revenue for the company, but they're putting it in there because they think they should have revenue. Stuff like that. So we'll ask questions sometimes to figure this out, but there's such a clear delineation for me as an application-reader about someone that is clearly communicating in a very crisp way, versus where it's this brain teaser and I'm trying to pull out, or it's just tons of work for me to pull out the key facts from the application. Okay? I think this is broadly applicable.
我想很多时候，人们会混淆，因为他们认为这是我们想读的，或者我们喜欢流行词汇，或者我们喜欢这些东西，或者他们试图隐瞒一些东西，收入实际上是他们的个人工资，但这不是公司的收入，而是他们把收入放在那里，因为他们认为他们应该有收入。像那样的东西。所以我们有时会问一些问题来解决这个问题，但对于我来说，作为一个应用程序的读者，有一个非常清晰的人的清晰的描述，相对于这个大脑的挑逗者和我试图退出的地方，或者我需要大量的工作来从应用程序中提取关键的事实。好吧我认为这是广泛适用的。
If you're trying to convince someone to buy your product, or you're trying to convince someone to work with you, or you're trying to convince and investor to invest in your startup, and they don't even understand what you're talking about, you have already lost. Simply going for coherent understanding should always be the first thing you do, before you're trying to sell someone, right? If I don't understand what the heck is going on in your application, it doesn't even get to the point where it's like, "Hey, should we fund this company or not?" We just don't know what's going on. You will notice that other people will check out.
如果你试图说服某人购买你的产品，或者你试图说服某人与你合作，或者你试图说服和投资者投资于你的创业公司，而他们甚至不明白你在说什么，你已经输了。在你试图推销某人之前，你首先要做的就是简单地进行连贯的理解，对吧？如果我不明白你的申请到底是怎么回事，我甚至连“嘿，我们是不是应该资助这家公司？”我们只是不知道发生了什么。你会注意到其他人会退房。
If you're trying to pitch your thing to someone and they can't follow you, there's no way you're getting them to yes. So I just think this is such a broadly applicable skill, and something that we work on a lot in the batch, is simply being clear and making sure the other party knows what you're doing first.
如果你想向别人推销你的东西，而他们却跟不上你，你就不可能让他们同意。所以我只是认为这是一项广泛适用的技能，我们在这批中做了很多工作，就是要弄清楚，确保对方知道你首先在做什么。
Then selling them comes second, once they actually understand what you're doing.
然后，一旦他们真正了解你在做什么，他们就会把他们卖到第二位。
I put in a few examples here. Here's some examples of really great descriptions from real YC applications, from real YC companies, that got in. Here's a company called Remix.
我在这里举了几个例子。这里有一些来自真正的YC应用程序，来自真正的YC公司的非常好的描述的例子。这是一家叫Remix的公司。
This is the entirety of their answer to this question.
这是他们对这个问题的全部答案。
There's not more.
没有更多了。
This is it.
就是这个
I don't know.
我不知道
I'm not going to read it out loud, but it's, what, three sentences? I read that, and I know exactly what they do.
我不打算大声读出来，但它是，什么，三句话？我读到了，我知道他们是怎么做的。
I know who wants it, and that's it. Great. Seems valuable, right? This requires so little mental effort to pull out what Remix is and what they're doing and who it's for, that I'm like, "Great." It takes two seconds to read. Okay? Here's another one, for a company called TetraScience, also excellent. "We're a software platform that connects scientific tools to the cloud.
我知道谁想要，就这样。太棒了很有价值对吧？这需要很小的脑力才能弄清楚Remix是什么，他们在做什么，为了谁，我就像，“太棒了。”读起来要花两秒钟。好吧这是另外一个，对于一个叫做TetraScience的公司来说，也很棒。“我们是一个将科学工具与云连接起来的软件平台。
It allows scientists to access their lab device from anywhere." Blah, blah, blah. "We make a small hardware module which connects those labs to the web." That's it.
它允许科学家从任何地方访问他们的实验室设备。“Blah，诸如此类。”我们制作了一个连接这些实验室和网络的小型硬件模块。
That's great.
太好了
That's what we want to read. See? Super crisp, understandable, no jargon, answers all the key questions. Notice they're not trying to sell us on any of this.
这就是我们想读的。看见超级清脆，易懂，没有行话，回答所有关键问题。注意他们不是想在这件事上出卖我们。
They're just explaining what it is.
他们只是在解释它是什么。
That's why this is so great, is it's super coherent, super clear. Here's another example from GitLab, when they applied to YC.
这就是为什么这是如此伟大，它是超级连贯，超级清晰。这是来自GitLab的另一个例子，当他们应用于YC时。
They explain exactly what it is, the history of the company.
他们确切地解释了公司的历史。
They also add in really impressive facts right at the top. "Over 100,000 organizations use it, including thousands of programmers at Apple." All right.
他们还在最上面添加了令人印象深刻的事实。“有100，000多家公司使用它，包括苹果公司的数千名程序员。”好的
That's good. Glad they put that in there, right? And it's right at the top. Super crisp, right? When we read these applications, it's very clear what they do, and we're like, "Wow, tell me more.
那很好。很高兴他们把它放进去了，对吧？它就在顶端。超级脆，对吧？当我们阅读这些应用程序时，很清楚它们是做什么的，我们会说，“哇，告诉我更多。”
I understand what you're doing." Here's an example of a bad one, and I didn't pull this from a real application.
我明白你在做什么。“这是一个糟糕的例子，我并没有从一个真正的应用程序中提取出来。
I wrote this myself, and I wrote this based on many of the applications I read. You know what I'm saying? I didn't have to think too hard to write what a bad description is.
这是我自己写的，我是根据我读过的许多应用程序写的。你知道我在说什么吗？我没必要想太多才能写出糟糕的描述。
It keeps going.
它还在继续。
I couldn't fit it on the slide.
我不能把它装在滑梯上。
It keeps going for pages.
它一直在翻页。
This isn't even an exaggeration. This is what a lot of applications are like.
这一点都不夸张。很多应用程序都是这样的。
I understand.
我明白
I have empathy for the people that apply with stuff like this, because I think that they think that this is what we want. Or they think that if they use enough jargon or buzzwords, that we will get confused and fund them, or something.
我对那些申请这样的东西的人有同感，因为我认为他们认为这是我们想要的。或者他们认为，如果他们使用足够多的行话或流行语，我们就会感到困惑，资助他们，或者什么的。
It's like stunning us. Like, "Oh, I don't know. Blockchain? Okay, yes." Instead, this is arduous work that makes me want to go take a break.
就像让我们惊呆了。比如，“哦，我不知道。区块链？好的，是的。”相反，这是一项艰苦的工作，让我想休息一下。
I'm like, "Okay, well, I'm done." I read one of these, and I need to go get a breath of fresh air.
我说，“好吧，我受够了。”我读了其中一个，我需要呼吸新鲜空气。
This is really hard to read.
这真的很难读懂。
It's really hard to understand what's going on.
很难理解到底发生了什么。
I still don't know.
我还是不知道。
I read this, and I've learned nothing.
我读过这个，什么也没学到。
I still don't know what this company does, even after reading the application. So please don't apply with stuff like this. It's not helping. Make sense? Yeah. Do you see the crisp difference between this and the good examples? Yeah. Okay. Great applications tell a story. Here's the things that I would want to pull out of an application that I was reading. Who is on the team, so this is who we are.
我还是不知道这家公司做什么，即使在看了申请之后。所以请不要申请这样的东西。帮不上忙。讲得通嗯你看到这个和好例子之间清晰的区别了吗？嗯好的。伟大的应用程序讲述了一个故事。下面是我想从我正在阅读的应用程序中提取出来的东西。所以这就是我们的身份。
This is what we're working on.
这就是我们正在研究的。
This is why we're working on it, i.e., how we got the idea. Something like that. This is what we've accomplished thus far. Even if that's, hey, we haven't done much. That's okay.
这就是为什么我们要研究它，也就是我们是如何得到这个想法的。差不多是这样的。这就是我们到目前为止所取得的成就。即使是，嘿，我们没做什么。那好吧
I still want to figure that out.
我还是想弄清楚。
This is why we're going to make this work.
这就是为什么我们要把这件事做好。
That's pretty much it.
差不多就是这样。
These are the things, when I read an application, that I'm trying to pull out of it.
当我读到一个应用程序时，这些都是我试图从其中提取出来的东西。
There's nothing fancy here.
这里没有什么花哨。
If you make me work really, really hard to figure this out, that's a sign of not a great application.
如果你让我真的，真的很难弄明白这一点，那就是一个不太好的应用程序的迹象。
If this just flows out without taking any effort whatsoever, then that's a good application. Nothing fancy here, right? If you've ever hired people and read resumes before, it's kind of the same deal, right? You just look at a résumé and you're like, okay, cool.
如果这只是在没有付出任何努力的情况下就流出来了，那么这是一个很好的应用程序。这里没什么特别的，对吧？如果你以前雇过人看过简历，那也是一样的，对吧？你只要看看简历就会觉得，好吧，酷。
There are some key things you're looking for, and then you're like, sounds good, and you move on.
有一些关键的东西，你在寻找，然后你会觉得，听起来不错，你继续前进。
A résumé that takes tons and tons of work to make sense of is probably not a great résumé. Okay, here's my number one tip to applicants on what would help. Make it clear that there's at least one person on the team who can make the thing that you are working on. Notice I'm being a little vague in that language, because this is not just software. This means any kind of technology that you bring to bear, right? If you are building a cure for cancer, you clearly are not going to have any programmers on that team, nor would you be expected to do so. But it would certainly be good, if you're working on a cure to cancer, to have some sort of scientist on the team. Does that make sense? Same thing, hardware. Our nuclear companies, there were no programmers that were the founders of the nuclear companies, but you would hope to see a couple of folks with PhDs in something related to the nuclear field, right? So some sort of domain expertise.
一份需要大量工作才能理解的简历可能不是一份很好的简历。好吧，这是我给申请人的第一条建议。明确地说，团队中至少有一个人可以做你正在做的事情。注意，我在那种语言中有点模糊，因为这不仅仅是软件。这意味着你所使用的任何一种技术，对吗？如果您正在构建治疗癌症的方法，您显然不会在该团队中有任何程序员，也不会期望您这样做。但是，如果你正在研究癌症的治疗方法，有一位科学家在这个团队里，那当然是件好事。这有道理吗？同样的东西，硬件。我们的核公司，没有程序员是核能公司的创始人，但你会希望看到几个拥有博士学位的人从事与核领域有关的工作，对吧？所以某种领域的专业知识。
The reason is, why fund lots of startups, and if you have these great ideas and no one on the team can actually do it, you're going to have a hard time. Just having a really good sense, both in the application and in general, I would recommend having someone on the team that can do it is highly recommended and changeable. Sometimes there's folks where the team is not ... Say you are working on something in software, and there aren't folks that have the credentials or background where they're known software experts.
原因是，为什么要资助大量的创业公司，如果你有这些伟大的想法，而团队中没有人能真正做到这一点，你就会有一段艰难的时光。无论是在应用程序中还是在一般情况下，只要有一个非常好的感觉，我就会建议在团队中有一个能够做到这一点的人，这是强烈推荐的，也是可变的。有时候有些人的团队不.假设您正在从事软件方面的工作，而且没有人拥有他们所熟悉的软件专家的证书或背景。
That's a-okay. We still fund folks like this. But the burden of proof is on them to prove they can do it.
这是-好的。我们仍然资助像这样的人。但他们有责任证明自己能做到这一点。
I can think of an example of a company where it was like a self-taught programmer that was so excited and wanted to do their idea so badly that they went and built the prototype themselves.
我可以想到一个公司的例子，它就像一个自学成才的程序员，非常兴奋，非常想完成他们的想法，以至于他们自己去建造了原型。
It was in the application, "Here, I built this myself." Great! They got in, right? It's because the burden of proof, not just let me take your word for it, but you were able to show, even though you don't have a background of an established software engineer, you built a prototype, and you brought it to market, and you proved it. So that's a good way to think about, if you're in this status of having a currently non-technical team, of just simply backing up the fact that you can bring the product to bear. Whether that's from a team, whether that's you learning it for yourself, whether it's a friend helping you with the prototype. Just some evidence that you can bring the product to market is highly recommended. Last note here, is obfuscating this doesn't help. Sometimes people make it very vague who built the product, where the prototype came from, or who's going to build it.
在应用程序中，“这里，我自己建的。”太棒了！他们进来了，对吧？这是因为举证责任，不只是让我相信你的话，而且你可以证明，即使你没有一个成熟的软件工程师的背景，你建立了一个原型，你把它推向市场，并证明了它。所以这是一个很好的思考方法，如果你现在有一个非技术团队的话，你只需要简单的备份一个事实，你就可以让这个产品发挥作用。不管是来自一个团队，还是你自己学习，或者是一个朋友帮助你完成原型。只是一些证据，你可以把产品推向市场，这是强烈推荐的。最后一个注意，是混淆了这一点没有帮助。有时人们会变得非常模糊，谁制造了产品，原型从哪里来，或者由谁来建造它。
I don't recommend obfuscating this.
我不建议混淆这件事。
I think having it be super crisp on who is making the thing that you're working on is highly recommended. Okay.
我认为，让它是超级清脆的谁正在做的东西，你正在做的事情，是强烈推荐的。好的。
If you have an application that actually follows the directions really well and is well written and does the video stuff correctly, and you have one or more folks that can build the thing that you want to build, and there's some evidence that you're serious about it ... What I mean by that is, a lot of times people apply and it's clear they did it kind of on a whim and they're not actually serious about it whatsoever.
如果你有一个应用程序真的很好地遵循方向，并且写得很好，并且正确地处理视频内容，那么你有一个或多个人可以构建你想要构建的东西，并且有一些证据表明你是认真的.我的意思是，很多时候人们都会申请，很明显他们只是一时兴起，而且他们对此并不是认真的。
It comes across.
它会出现的。
If there's just some evidence that you really want to do this, that's recommended.
如果有证据表明你真的想这么做，那是建议的。
If you meet those things, you get about a four times higher odds to get an interview.
如果你遇到了这些事情，你获得面试的几率要高出四倍。
If you're doing this stuff, getting an interview is not that crazy hard.
如果你在做这些事情，接受面试并不难。
If you fail all these criteria, then, yeah, the odds are pretty slim.
如果你不符合所有这些标准，那么，是的，几率很小。
It's as simple as this, that this is what it looks like to get an interview, is that you meet these criteria.
就这么简单，这就是面试的样子，就是你满足了这些标准。
Again, it's pretty straightforward and transparent. Okay? Let's talk about applying more than once. Okay, about a third of last batch were companies that applied already in the past and didn't get in.
再说一遍，这是非常简单和透明的。好吧让我们谈一次不止一次的申请。好吧，上一批中大约有三分之一是过去已经申请但没有进入的公司。
The reason I say this is, it's not bad to apply and not get in.
我说这个的原因是，申请和不进入并不是坏事。
That doesn't ruin your odds.
这不会毁了你的胜算。
If anything, it helps you.
如果有什么帮助的话。
The way it helps you is that your next application shows progress.
它帮助您的方式是，您的下一个应用程序显示了进步。
If you apply and don't get in and then you apply again and you show progress, I look at that when I'm reading the applications.
如果你申请而不进入，然后你再次申请，你会显示出进展，我在阅读应用程序时会看到这一点。
I know we all do. We're like, "Wow, way to go! They really went and did it.
我知道我们都知道。我们说，“哇，干得好！他们真的去做了。
I'm so psyched.
我太激动了。
They went from an un-launched idea, and then the next application, they launched it. Wow. Great job." You know? We're impressed.
他们从一个未启动的想法，然后下一个应用程序，他们推出了它。哇干得好。“你知道吗？我们印象深刻。
This is another thing to think about, is as application readers, we're on your side. We're not looking at reasons to pick something apart. We're looking for evidence that you're serious and that things are going well and you're trying really hard. When you see someone expend real effort and make real progress application to application, that's such a strong signal, right? This is why you see such a huge percentage of the folks that do YC are folks that have applied in the past, is because it is such a strong positive signal. One thing I wanted to mention is that it's basically impossible to network your way into YC.
这是另一件需要考虑的事情，作为应用程序的读者，我们是站在你们这边的。我们不想找什么理由把东西拆开。我们正在寻找证据，证明你是认真的，事情进展顺利，而且你正在努力。当你看到有人花费了真正的精力，并对应用程序进行真正的进展应用时，这是一个很强的信号，对吗？这就是为什么你看到这么大比例的做YC的人是那些在过去申请过的人，因为这是一个很强的积极信号。有一件事我想提到的是，它基本上是不可能把你的方式网络进入YC。
The whole reason YC was created was to make it easy for people that had no network to start a startup and get help and raise money. The idea of having this website where you can apply and then you do a 10-minute interview and then you get funded was really out there and weird.
YC成立的全部原因是为了让没有网络的人更容易地创业、寻求帮助和筹集资金。有了这个网站，你可以申请，然后你进行10分钟的面试，然后得到资金，这个想法实在是太奇怪了。
I remember when YC launched.
我记得YC发射的时候。
I was not working here. So we don't expect anyone to have a network. We don't expect anyone to network with us. One note on this is I get the sense it's not a lot of people, but some people attempt to cold email us a lot or do other things that are sort of stalker-ish a lot.
我不是在这里工作。所以我们不希望任何人有网络。我们不希望有人和我们建立联系。关于这一点，我觉得不是很多人，但有些人想给我们发很多邮件，或者做一些跟踪狂的事情。
That does not help. We don't expect you to have done that, and the vast, vast, vast majority of people that get in are complete strangers we have never met before.
这没什么用。我们不希望你这么做，而绝大多数的人都是我们从未见过的陌生人。
That's the entire system here, is funding complete strangers. My guess is you're time is better spent actually making your startup better, than trying to do some weird stuff to get attention. We always have these really crazy attention-seeking things that happen, and I can assure you we don't enjoy those things.
这就是这里的整个系统，是为完全陌生的人提供资金。我的猜测是，你的时间更好地花在实际上使你的创业更好，而不是试图做一些奇怪的事情来吸引注意力。我们总是会有一些非常疯狂的事情发生，我可以向你保证，我们不喜欢这些事情。
Again, what do I mean? People, they physically mail us weird stuff sometimes.
再说一遍，我什么意思？伙计们，他们有时会给我们寄些奇怪的东西。
That's not great, right? Some people put a lot of effort into this. Not a lot of people, but some people do.
这不太好对吧？有些人为此付出了很大的努力。不是很多人，但有些人有。
I'm just letting you know that this is not a good use of time, nor expected in any way, and that's not how YC is set up.
我只是想让你知道，这不是一个好的时间利用，也不是预期的任何方式，而且这不是YC的设置方式。
Another thing to think about is sometimes there are people that you know are in a network, say alumni or other people, and they will give you well-intentioned, bad advice. For instance, "Oh, don't apply until you have 5k MRR." Or, "Oh, I'm really tight with the YC partners, so let me put in a good word for you." You should be very skeptical of this stuff. Self-appointed people that are giving you well-intentioned advice that's essentially putting up barriers between you and the process, I would just be really wary of that.
另一件要考虑的事情是，有时候你认识的人，比如校友或其他人，会给你善意的、不好的建议。例如，“哦，在你有5k MRR之前不要申请。”或者，“哦，我和YC的合伙人关系很好，所以让我为你说句好话吧。”你应该对这件事持怀疑态度。自我任命的人给你善意的建议，实际上是在你和过程之间设置障碍，我只是对此非常谨慎。
I'm sure it's coming from a good place, but again, a lot of times when I answer questions for people that are applying, some of the weirder ideas come from people that are vaguely in the network. So if someone's telling you you're too early or too far along or something, something, something, I would be fairly skeptical, right? Again, you don't need a network to get in, so expecting the network to give you all the perfect advice is not always great. Real quick point.
我相信这是来自一个好地方，但是很多时候，当我回答申请的人的问题时，有些更奇怪的想法来自于网络中模糊的人。所以如果有人告诉你太早或者太久了，我会相当怀疑的，对吧？再说一遍，你不需要一个网络进入，所以期待网络给你所有完美的建议并不总是伟大的。非常快的观点。
This is not about YC, but this last topic made me think of it. Watch out for predatory advisors.
这不是关于YC的，但是最后这个话题让我想到了它。小心掠夺性顾问。
In the entertainment industry, there's lots of people that want to be famous.
在娱乐业，有很多人想出名。
There's lots of people that want to be a recording artists, or they want to be actors, or directors.
有很多人想成为一名录音艺术家，或者他们想成为演员，或者是导演。
There's a huge supply of them. One of the things of starting out in the entertainment industry is you meet all of these people that claim to have great connections and they somehow are going to extract value from these poor naïve people, and it's really sad.
他们有很大的供应。从娱乐业起步的其中一件事是，你遇到了那些自称有着很好关系的人，他们不知何故要从这些天真的可怜人身上榨取价值，这真的很可悲。
This exists, for sure, in the tech industry, where there are people that will just ask for equity or cash compensation and claim all this stuff and promise you the world.
当然，这也存在于科技行业，在那里，有些人只会要求股权或现金补偿，并要求所有这些东西，并向你承诺整个世界。
It's kind of a drag to see this exists, and so I just want to encourage everyone to be very wary of people like this and to do research.
看到这种情况的存在有点累人，所以我只想鼓励每个人对这样的人保持警惕，并进行研究。
That means googling them.
这意味着搜索他们。
If they claim fantastic things, look into that. Due diligence on other people they have worked with in the past.
如果他们声称拥有神奇的东西，那就去看看吧。对过去与他们共事过的其他人进行尽职调查。
There's just a whole variety of people that claim to help you break into Silicon Valley that I think is pretty dubious.
有各种各样的人声称要帮助你进入硅谷，我认为这是相当令人怀疑的。
There are some legit things in there, but just like in the entertainment industry, for every 10 people that claim they can get you a meeting with the head of all the labels to get you a record deal, nine out of those are probably lying, you know? Keep in mind, the best way to have great things happen is to build a great startup and then great folks will find you, and to be a little wary of some of the folks that are looking for people just like you that are trying to break in.
有一些合法的东西在那里，但就像在娱乐业一样，每10个声称他们可以让你和所有唱片公司的负责人会面以获得唱片交易的人中，有9个人可能在撒谎，你知道吗？记住，让伟大的事情发生的最好的方法是建立一个伟大的创业公司，然后伟大的人们就会找到你，并且对那些正在寻找像你一样想要进入的人保持警惕。
All right. So let's talk about interviews.
好的我们来谈谈采访吧。
If you get invited to interviews, they last 10 minutes.
如果你被邀请去面试，他们会持续10分钟。
The interviews are in person. We expect the full founding team to be there.
面谈是亲自进行的。我们希望整个创始团队都在那里。
There's usually three to four people from YC in the interview.
面试中通常有三到四个来自YC的人。
The questions are usually very basic. What we're trying to do is just understand the nuts and bolts of the business.
这些问题通常是非常基本的。我们想要做的就是了解企业的具体情况。
It's nothing fancy. Just like I was saying about the application process, people are surprised to learn that there's nothing too fancy here.
没什么花哨的。就像我说的申请过程一样，人们惊讶地发现这里没有什么特别之处。
There's no trick questions.
没有诡计的问题。
There's no really expert stuff. We're just trying to understand really basic things, like, "Oh, are you launched? Well, how are you getting users? Okay, what is the next step for the company? How do you see this getting big?" These are all very, very basic questions. We're simply trying to understand this stuff.
没有真正专业的东西。我们只是想了解一些最基本的东西，比如，“哦，你启动了吗？那么，你是如何获得用户的？好吧，公司下一步是什么？你是如何看待这件事变得更大的？”这些都是非常基本的问题。我们只是想了解这些东西。
Actually, let me go to the next slide.
实际上，让我看下一张幻灯片。
There's a lot on the internet about how to prepare for interviews.
网上有很多关于如何为面试做准备的事情。
I think a lot of it is a little wrong.
我觉得很多事情都有点不对。
The reason it's wrong is I think it sets up the mentality that a YC interview is this adversarial thing that it's your job to beat, right? It's like the interviewers are your opponents, and your job is to go in there and stun them and confuse them.
错误的原因是我认为它树立了一种心态，那就是YC面试是你的工作去击败的对抗性的东西，对吗？就像面试官是你的对手，你的工作就是进去让他们目瞪口呆，把他们搞糊涂。
Then if you fool us good enough, then we will fund you.
如果你骗得我们够好，我们就会资助你。
I think that that is wrong.
我认为这是错误的。
Again, I read this whole genre of blog posts, because they're entertaining to me.
再一次，我读了一整篇博客文章，因为它们对我来说很有趣。
I think it's usually people that didn't get in that write that, and so I understand how it can feel adversarial if you didn't get in.
我想通常是那些人没能写出来，所以我明白如果你不进去的话，它会有什么敌对的感觉。
It's also more exciting to write a blog post about this real exciting interview and it's like, they were grilling me so hard, and I had to think on the fly.
写一篇关于这个真正令人兴奋的采访的博客文章也更令人兴奋，就像，他们对我进行了如此严厉的拷问，我不得不马上思考。
That's more exciting than, yeah, we had kind of a boring conversation about my business, right? This is a good thing for any kind of working with investors.
这比，对，是的，我们就我的生意进行了一次无聊的谈话，对吧？对于任何与投资者合作的人来说，这都是一件好事。
I want you to put yourself in the shoes of the person on the other side of the table, which is, what are we trying to get out of the interview? Imagine you were interviewing a company. What would you be looking for? You'd be looking for basic answers to your question, and you'd be looking for having a pleasant conversation, that this is someone that you want to work with and that you're excited to embark in their journey with them, right? A lot of what I'm looking for in an interview is can I have a productive conversation with this person? If someone goes in there and spits out this memorized paragraph of text about AI something, that's weird.
我要你把自己放在桌子另一边的人的鞋子里，也就是说，我们想从面试中得到什么？想象一下你在面试一家公司。你要找什么？你会寻找你的问题的基本答案，你会希望有一个愉快的谈话，这是一个你想和你一起工作的人，你很兴奋能和他们一起踏上旅程，对吗？我在面试中想要的是，我能和这个人进行一次富有成效的谈话吗？如果有人进去说出这段关于人工智能的背诵文字，那就太奇怪了。
That's not an organic conversation of someone you might want to work with.
这不是你可能想要合作的人的有机对话。
That's someone going in there that clearly read way too many blog posts and spent way too much time preparing and is kind of not understanding the context of the conversation, which is, hey, let's have a conversation about your company. Instead, they're just spouting nonsense at us, okay? I feel like that's a consequence of people reading too many blog posts about this adversarial process.
那个人显然读了太多的博客文章，花了太多的时间准备，而且有点不理解谈话的背景，那就是，嘿，让我们谈谈你的公司吧。相反，他们只是在对我们胡说八道，好吗？我觉得这是人们读了太多关于这种敌对过程的博客文章的结果。
The fact is, when we fund a company, we are now working really closely with that company forever.
事实是，当我们为一家公司提供资金时，我们现在正在与该公司长期密切合作。
The founders and your group, they get your cell phone number.
创始人和你的团队他们会得到你的手机号码。
They call you all the time. They text you all the time.
他们总是给你打电话。他们总是给你发短信。
These become people that are a really important member of your life, and the people that I fund, this lasts a long time.
这些人是你生命中非常重要的一员，也是我资助的人，这会持续很长一段时间。
I just want you to know from our perspective, we're just trying to get a feel of, okay, are we ready to really work with this company and get super involved? Have that compassion for the people on the other side of the table, versus making it really like a strange situation where it feels unnecessarily memorized and painful for us, on the other side of the table.
我只想让你知道，从我们的角度来看，我们只是想了解一下，好吧，我们准备好和这家公司合作了吗？对桌子另一边的人要有同情心，而不是把它变成一种奇怪的情况，在桌子的另一边，它会让我们感到不必要的背诵和痛苦。
Again, I think sometimes people try to manipulate the process.
再一次，我认为有时人们试图操纵这个过程。
If we get any hint that you're trying to do something weird, again, that doesn't engender trust.
如果我们得到任何暗示，你想做一些奇怪的事情，再次，这不会产生信任。
I think that's the word. We're looking for trustworthiness and a sense that we're getting to know the real you in those things. Let's talk about a successful interview.
我想就是这个词。我们正在寻找值得信赖的人，并有一种感觉，在这些事情上，我们正在了解真正的你。让我们谈谈一次成功的面试吧。
Interviews do go really fast, and they're intense.
面试确实进行得很快，而且很激烈。
The reason they're fast and intense is we're trying to pull of the information out of you quickly, and there's not a ton of time.
它们快速而强烈的原因是我们试图快速地从你身上提取信息，而且没有太多的时间。
It's not an attempt to trip you up.
这不是想把你绊倒。
It's simply that that's how much time we have, and we're trying to learn as much as we can. Successful interviews, the founders demonstrate a mastery of their own business.
很简单，这就是我们有多少时间，我们正在尽我们所能去学习。成功的面试，创始人证明他们掌握自己的业务。
They can talk about what they're working on.
他们可以谈谈他们在做什么。
They know their own numbers.
他们知道自己的号码。
They know how many users they have.
他们知道他们有多少用户。
They know what their plans are.
他们知道他们的计划是什么。
They know what their equity split is.
他们知道他们的股权分割是什么。
All the things that were in the application, they are like, "Yeah, I can talk about that." Oh, I have a question. When you said this about that in your application, what did you mean? "Oh yeah.
应用程序中的所有东西，都是这样的：“是的，我可以谈谈。”哦，我有个问题。当你在你的申请中这么说的时候，你是什么意思？“哦，是的。
I have an answer to that." We're just looking for you to clarify things that we may not have understood in the application.
我有一个答案，“我们只是想让你澄清一些我们在申请中可能不明白的事情。
There's no such thing as a correct answer, right? This is not a quiz show.
没有正确的答案，对吧？这不是智力竞赛。
This is not a beat the interviewers at their own game.
这不是面试官在他们自己的游戏中的一次打击。
This is a legit we're just trying to understand what you're doing.
这是合法的我们只是想了解你在做什么。
Another thing is, we know how risky this is. We know how slim the odds are in an interview are to succeed.
另一件事是，我们知道这有多危险。我们知道面试成功的几率是多么渺茫。
If you come in there being like, "Everything's great. Everything's perfect.
如果你进来说，“一切都很好，一切都很完美。
I have it all figured out.
我都想通了。
I am confident. We're definitely going to be successful.
我很有信心。我们一定会成功的。
I promise." Okay, that's not actually good.
我保证。“好吧，这不是好事。
It denotes a lack of self-awareness.
这意味着缺乏自我意识。
Again, if you over-practice for these things and you think your job is to come in there and tell us how you have everything figured out and you're a genius and your whole team is geniuses and it's like you cannot lose, not a great sign in an interview, right? A good idea of what is hard about the business and what the challenges are is expected and recommended, versus the things where you do know what you're doing. Does that make sense? So yeah, overconfidence not necessarily a great ... You don't see this in successful interviews. You see self-aware founders.
再一次，如果你在这些事情上过度练习，你认为你的工作就是来到这里，告诉我们你是如何解决所有问题的，你是一个天才，你的整个团队都是天才，就好像你不能输，在面试中不是一个好兆头，对吗？一个很好的想法，什么是困难的业务，什么是挑战，是期待和推荐，而不是那些事情，你知道你在做什么。这有道理吗？所以是的，过度自信并不一定是一个伟大的.。你在成功的面试中看不到这一点。你看到的是自我意识的创始人。
If you are interviewed and not selected, we send an email with some feedback. Usually the feedback is focused on a single thing, which is what we are most concerned about or not convinced about in the interview.
如果你是面试，而不是被选中，我们会发送一封电子邮件与一些反馈。通常反馈都集中在一件事情上，这就是我们在面试中最关心或不相信的事情。
It's pretty transparent and straightforward.
这是相当透明和直截了当的。
If you take that feedback and you go work on it and you apply next batch and you show how you either disproved the feedback or addressed it, that is highly recommended.
如果你接受了反馈，然后你去处理它，然后你申请下一批，然后你展示了你是如何反驳反馈的或者是如何解决的，这是强烈推荐的。
That's totally a great way to get into YC. You see what I'm saying? Sometimes people get these emails and then you never hear from them again, or they get really angry or something and argue with you. You can either prove it and show that the feedback is invalid, like, "Hey, we're worried about your growth strategy, blah, blah, blah." Well, go prove it. "Yeah, we did grow. Here's what we did." We love that. We love to be disproven. Or, Hey, you were right about the growth strategy, and so here's the changes we made. That's great things to hear, too.
这绝对是进入YC的好方法。你明白我在说什么了吗？有时人们会收到这些电子邮件，然后你就再也不会收到他们的来信了，或者他们真的很生气，或者和你吵了起来。你要么证明这一点，然后证明反馈是无效的，比如，“嘿，我们担心你的增长策略，诸如此类。”去证明吧。“是的，我们确实成长了。这就是我们所做的。”我们喜欢这样。我们喜欢被否定。或者，嘿，你对增长战略的看法是对的，这就是我们所做的改变。听起来也很棒。
That's a great way to take this feedback into account, is demonstrate either why it was not valid or that you've addressed it.
这是一个很好的方法来考虑这些反馈，要么说明它为什么无效，要么说明您已经解决了它。
Applying to YC is actually really straightforward and well-documented, and intentionally so.
对YC的应用实际上非常简单，而且有很好的文档记录，而且是故意的。
There are not a lot of secrets, and we're not looking for people to do too much tricky stuff. The more you can just make it super clear, tell a super clear story like I talked about earlier, then you're going to do great.
这里没有太多的秘密，我们也不想让人们做太多棘手的事情。你越能把事情弄清楚，就像我之前说的那样讲一个非常清晰的故事，然后你就会做得很好。
I would also argue that the skills you need to successfully apply are broadly applicable to what it takes to be a great founder, right? If you're going to talk to reporters, if you're going to be talking to other investors, if you're going to be talking to employees, you're going to be talking to customers, having all the skills that we mentioned earlier, that you would want to see in an interview or an application, I think are extremely useful. Okay? Then final point, if you have questions and the question is in the form, "Should I apply ..." Most likely the answer is yes. Just always think about and reflect on if you're being the barrier to setting yourself to being lucky or having fortunate things happen to you and optimize towards saying yes to things like this. I think it'll help you in general as a founder. Great.
我也认为，成功应用所需的技能广泛适用于成为一位伟大的创始人所需的技能，对吗？如果你要和记者谈话，如果你要和其他投资者交谈，如果你要和员工交谈，你要和客户交谈，你拥有我们前面提到的所有技能，你想在面试或申请中看到，我认为是非常有用的。好吧最后一点，如果你有问题，问题的形式是，“我是否应该申请.”答案很可能是肯定的。只要想一想，并思考一下，你是否成为了让自己成为幸运的障碍，或者幸运的事情发生在你身上，并优化着对这样的事情说“是”。作为创办人，我觉得这对你有帮助。太棒了
Thanks so much.
非常感谢。