Ask PG: Application Rating System?

[bharath]

<p>From your latest essay:<p>"Sometimes it literally is software, like Hacker News and our application rating system."<p>This is the 1st time I've heard about you guys using some kind of automated application rating system. Would you be willing to discuss how it works?

[vlad]

To get to the interview stage:

Good college +2

Done with schooling +3

Single Founder -5

No Hackers on Team -4

Mention Lisp +2

Mention Smalltalk +2

Mention Python +1

Zero Hackers Willing to Relocate -5

Past or Recent TechCrunch Coverage +2

Past or Recent Mainstream Coverage +2

Google search finds many top blogs or major news sources linking to current or past project +3

Team of hackers previously founded a web startup +1

Team of non-hackers previously founded a web startup +2

Not drinking age -3

Average age 23 to 26 +4

Average age 30 to 35 -1

Average age 36 to 45 -2

Average age older than 45 -10

Knows idea should be a web app +3

Short and sweet application +3

Estimated scores for some companies at the time of application: Xobni 12 (MIT hackers), Auctomatic 13 (No hackers at time of application), Justin.tv 25 (Lots of pluses, no negations)

I'd say at 10 you have a good chance at an interview, at 13-15 an excellent chance. This is derived from Paul's writings, speeches, videos, and comments.

The actual idea doesn't matter because Paul will either tell you he likes it or recommend changing it during the interview. If you're not done with college, now is the time to say you will focus on the project instead.

Again, this is just a rough guide and I have zero qualifications to even write this. After the interview, only your execution matters.

[imp]

I predict that tomorrow someone will take these scores and turn them into a webapp that rates applications. It looks like ycombinatorrater.com is available...

[euccastro]

"Good college +2" seems counter to some of his latest writings. I guess "No Hackers on Team" would be a way greater penalty. I'm curious: why is the bonus for "founded a web startup" higher for a team of non-hackers?

[yters]

If non hackers created a successful web startup, then they must have some other kind of talent going for them, which is a plus since most others in the YC community have the hacker thing going for them.

[dcurtis]

Yeah, but looking at the Y Combinator funding trends, the majority of their companies that succeed are by founders from "good colleges."

[jey]

Correlation does not imply causation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_caus...

Being a motivated high achiever probably correlates well with going to a good college, and with getting into YC.

[dcurtis]

Right, thus going to a good college = +2.

[falsestprophet]

Well whatever the case, your college didn't teach you statistics.

[alex_c]

>Past or Recent TechCrunch Coverage +2

Does Mashable count? :p

[sharpshoot]

The best applicants get more points ;)

In order to maximise this you need to

a) have a good idea b) have a good team c) be able to execute

I believe this should be sufficient to 'game' the system ;)

[pg]

It isn't the rating part that's automated. It's just a convenient tool for us to read and score applications quickly.

[jey]

What makes you think that the rating software is "automated"? I bet it's just a tool used by the YC partners. It could be as simple as a human-assisted radix sort, so the 1000 applications first get binned into 10 bins, then each of the apps in each bin are further subdivided on a 1 to 10 scale, etc.

[kashif]

I think the application would pull out all news.yc submissions and comments for the applicants and probably even show the top 10 google search results for each founder's name. Additionally, I think all the 4 partners go through all applications and they all probably rate it. The rating system probably binds the end result for easy consumption.