Sometimes people think Y Combinator has big ideas about themes. But really, we just fund the best startups.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
One of the things we urge Y-Combinator companies to do is to have profitability in grasp. If you need to get profitable before your A round of money, you ought to be able to do that.
Our biggest single theme is trying to make the NIH work better with the same amount of money.
I don't consciously go out looking for themes. They attach themselves to me.
It's so important for startups to get their culture right at the start. They need to feel unique and that they are on their own important mission in the world.
Every poor designer can go with things that are popular at the moment.
Those projects most successful on Kickstarter - those that receive funding completely and quickly - do so largely because the creator has a strong social network and invites people to be engaged.
Pay attention to the big themes because that's what will help you earn ten times your money.
The problem with themes is that writers don't realise they are themes until someone points them out.
I actually made a website called Y2 Combinator, which was the Y Combinator that starts Y Combinator clones. There's a very clear difference in the quality between the companies that come from YC and the companies that don't.
I do think that in order for a company to be interesting to the investment community, there needs to be a plan; there needs to be a bigger retail footprint. There needs to be this idea - DNA, lifestyle, words I hate.