- Founders should include a demo of their product on their application
- Many applications only have ideas with no progress made
- The quality or completeness of the demo does not matter
- Having something built, even if it's basic, shows seriousness and ability to execute

Every year, the YC admissions team reads tens of thousands of applications. Here are some of the things we wish more founders would include in their applications:

Apply to be a part of YC W22 by September 8th at ycombinator.com/apply.

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that provides seed funding for startups. We've backed companies like Airbnb, Coinbase, DoorDash, Reddit, Inc. Razorpay and more.

1 thing that I wish more founders would include on their application is a demo of their product.

So many applications we get are ideas someone's been thinking about for a year with nothing done.

We don't care if you're still running it locally or if it's just a CSV right now.

The difference between nothing and something is actually huge to us.

It shows us that you're serious and that you can get something built.


Speaker 0: 1 thing that I wish more founders would include on their application is a demo of their product. So many applications we get are ideas someone's been thinking about for a year with nothing done. We don't care if the demo is unpolished. We don't care if you're still running it locally or if it's just a CSV right now. The difference between nothing and something is actually huge to us.

It shows us that you're serious and that you can get something built.

See all Y Combinator transcripts on Youtube

Tips on Applying to YC: A Demo