[danr4]

It baffles me that some people put so much into the video but don't actually put effort to read or adhere to the guidelines [1] for it. They clearly ask - no script, no background music, no postproduction.

Good luck to everybody though!

[1] http://www.ycombinator.com/video

[tprophet]

We found out about this at the last minute, already had the video, and didn't have enough time to make new demos and videos. So, YC got the same video we submitted for TC Disrupt.

Note that startups apply for a _lot_ of stuff, and we have seen a pattern that teams that look more professional are more likely to be selected (regardless of stated criteria). We're also based in Hollywood, so the kind of video stuff we just make ourselves in a weekend project tends to end up looking reasonably professional.

At the end of the day, startups are rarely successful based on careful adherence to all guidelines, and we think our business is a lot more exciting than our demo and founder videos. Hopefully the YC reviewers think the same.

[rdl]

Not true of YC, in my experience. A 1 minute video, done with ~5 minutes of preparation, is much better than a video from something else with high production values.

Spending hours on the video is probably worse, too. The peak is maybe around 15-30 minutes, from the videos I've seen of YC teams. Talking points, decent lighting, decent audio (phone headset is fine), not a memorized script, maybe a couple takes if you really fuck up.

[ingenieros]

Maybe the are just trying to be disruptive! ba dum tss

[rajington]

I tried it doing it a couple of different ways and in the end the one I did with talking points felt the best to me, it wasn't scripted but it definitely was hard to have a natural one-way conversation (solo founder).

I wish I could've covered everything I wanted to cover naturally but in the end I felt a disconnect between what I wanted to say and what I was able to say. Then again maybe that makes me a worse candidate, but I hope I get a chance to show I'm not in interviews.

[MathsOX]

Agree with this. The best videos I've seen, and the ones listed on the page, are just the founders chatting naturally.

[kurtybot]

I admit that we didn't follow the rules totally, but there are so many others that completed missed all the parameters. Yeah good luck to you too.