Singles, Doubles, and Home Runs

This is the first and only post I’ll write about getting into YC (or venture backed startups generally). To use a baseball analogy, it’s all about singles, doubles, and home runs.

To be a venture-backed founder, you have to be able to show that you’re able to hit home runs. Yes, some at-bats will be singles and some will be doubles. Some you might even strike out. But if you can’t hit home runs, it’s hard to believe you can make your company successful. The whole game is 1) how many at-bats you have (shots on goal) and 2) your hit rate.

There are very few people in the world that can hit it out of the park (1-2%), and *a lot* of people that hit lots of singles and doubles. To compete for those venture dollars, you have to show that you’re part of the 1-2% of hitters that can put it into the crowd.

The common riff about YC is that they only take Ivy League founders. Yes, that’s one way to show you’re able to hit home runs, but also not the only way (and also probably a lower signal way). They’ll really take anyone that has a home run on their record, and has a technical team that is ready to make it happen. The home run can really be anything impressive though, you just need to demonstrate you’re part of that 1-2%.