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YCombinator Gets Record Number Applicants

In Startup on 19 October 2008 with Comments

YCombinator’s winter cycle applications were due on Friday. As Paul Graham explains, YCombinator received “more applications this time than ever, and by a large margin: 10%.” In case you don’t know, YC is an unique fund that focuses on seed investments, usually attracting a younger crowd. They don’t officially disclose actual application numbers, but we can easily assume hundreds. Roughly 20 startups get funded in each cycle.

In tough times, this could be a good indicator that people are still interested in starting businesses. Or, it’s just that YCombinator is becoming more widely known, possibly even international applicants now? Looking at the Compete.com’s YC statistics, the number of visitors to the site rose clearly more than 10%.

All in all, it’s going to be more competitive this year than ever before. However, the startups that will eventually make it are not the ones who depends their entire strategy behind YCombinator. Ask yourself if you have the dedication to keep going even without it. YC will give your the PR, money, and connections, but it will not provide you the execution of the idea. At the foundation, it’s the team that makes the difference. In conclusion, I wish all the applicants the best of luck! I look forward to all the cool ideas on demo day.