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Answer-by-answer checklist
Question wording changes between cycles; always answer what the live form asks. The advice below comes from public sources, linked on each line.
| Question | What a strong answer does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Describe what your company does in 50 characters or less. | A plain description of the product, ideally with a known reference. No adjectives. | Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC) |
| What is your company going to make? | Lead with the matter-of-fact sentence, then the detail. PG reads this first to have “something to hang the application on.” | Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC) |
| Something impressive each founder has built or achieved. | PG called this the most important question. One specific, big achievement per founder, not the startup itself. | Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC) |
| Why this idea? How do you know people need it? | Your own experience with the problem, plus evidence: interviews, waitlist, pilots, revenue. | Paul Graham, “How to Get Startup Ideas” |
| What’s new? What do people do instead? | Name the substitutes people use today, and what you see that they don’t. | Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC) |
| Competitors, and what you understand that they don’t. | Name them. “Easy to use” isn’t an insight; say what’s structurally different. | Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC) |
| How far along are you? | Numbers with dates: users, revenue, growth rate, retention. Small honest numbers are fine. | Paul Graham, “How to Get Startup Ideas” |
| The time you hacked a non-computer system to your advantage. | A real story with a clear outcome. PG says a great answer can earn a second look. | Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC) |
| How will you make money? | The model and a rough, reasoned estimate of size. | Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC) |
Last pass
Print it out, take a red pen, and cross out every word you don’t need (Paul Graham, “How to Apply to Y Combinator” (hosted by YC)). Then run it through the reviewer.