It’s that time of the year again. Lucky applicants who got selected for an interview with three Y Combinator partners will pitch their startup starting tomorrow. Founders will have exactly 10 minutes, so they shouldn’t waste time with small talk. It might be a good idea to learn everything about the partners beforehand, and especially what they look like. A page made by designers Jeremy Le Van and Pierre Valade will help you with that.
From Tuesday to Saturday, Y Combinator partners will spend hours at a time selecting the Winter 2013 class. Due to Hurricane Sandy, the application deadline was slightly delayed and founders had until November 2 to apply. Everything is back to the normal schedule now. But the incubator accepts late applications from time to time.
For the Summer 2012 class, 75 startups graduated and presented their startup in front of the press and investors. As a reminder, accepted companies receive between $11,000 and $20,000 of funding, three months of advice, support and connections, and make a presentation during the demo day. More importantly, startups join the Y Combinator alumni network.
But before all that, teams have to present a compelling idea and in the proper way. Applicants can browse the unofficial YC list, powered by Seed-DB and CrunchBase, and get in touch with recent graduates. Some of them will be there in the waiting area before the interviews. They may provide helpful advice. But you shouldn’t forget as well to study a face book in order to know who you are talking to and what their area of expertise is. It will definitely be an asset.