[argonaut]

The ability to communicate is a critical skill in any company.

If none of the founders at your startup can write at a basic, clear level - YC applications are no works of literature - and the founders cannot hold a conversation (that tjeu prepared for) in front of a camera (let alone a spontaneous real life conversation), then the founders have no business starting a company that one day might have 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, or 1000 employees.

It is a common misconception that introverts have some fear of holding conversations and give presentations. An introvert is merely someone who doesn't necessarily enjoy those things and for whom those activities are tiring.

[alexqgb]

Actually, introverts can be exceptionally comfortable on stage since they're not there to have conversations. This is often especially true of musicians, who can be very shy and retiring in daily life, and totally at ease in a spotlight with tens of thousands hanging on every note.

If you're bad at presentations, it's not because you're an introvert. It's because you don't know what you're doing. Holding a stage, as any well-practiced performer will tell you, takes attention, skill, and work. Talent helps, but that just makes it easier to develop what's essential: skill.

You wouldn't pay to hear a performer practice scales. Nor (generally speaking) would you pay to hear a performer who hasn't practiced scales. But disagreement about the cause of bad presentations aside, I fully agree; leading (as opposed to managing) an organization demands the ability to tell a story that can bring together a broad range of people and interests to make the thing work as a whole. And that's a skill so important it borders on an art.

[monsterix]

True. Not all the points I am suggesting above would be correct. However, how would you (let's say you're running YC) separate a genuine technology startup with great communication skills from a fake one with great communication skills?

[nowarninglabel]

I think experience has shown that YC is pretty good at that by focusing on the problem the startup is trying to solve as well as understanding the founders well enough to know if they can solve it and exactly how they are going to solve it. Whereas some of the more spectacular startup failures of late have been from companies (like Color) that promise a revolutionary new thing but don't really have a basic problem statement written out.

[argonaut]

Well, unless you lie on your application, your track record (whether it's your academic record, your work experience, things you've built, etc) should speak for itself.