Ask HN: Is YC really cool with a lifestyle business?

[dfabulich]

Apropos http://paulgraham.com/swan.html#f1n "it's cool with us if the founders want to sell early for a small amount, or grow slowly and never sell (i.e. become a so-called lifestyle business)"

I run a side business that I hope will eventually become a lifestyle business; there must be lots of other HNers in a similar position. I've assumed that since we never intend to be the next Google–or even the next Dropbox–we should never apply to YC.

Is YC really open to applicants like me? How could it be rational for YC to accept me instead of yet another wanna-be billionaire who "radiates 'winner'"?

[mlinsey]

YC is looking for companies that will be home runs. The essay should have made that pretty clear!

The footnote you quote is saying is that if a YC company doesn't turn out to be a home run, but instead becomes a lifestyle business or a small acquisition, YC will be happy for you and supportive of your decision. This is because they are nice people who know that these outcomes are meaningful for the founders, even though they don't really have an impact on YC's bottom line. But that's not the same thing as deliberately looking for founders who are trying to build "lifestyle businesses" from the outset - in fact, that's the opposite of what they're looking for.

[scotto]

No one can predict the future - so my advice would be to not go about limiting your future options. You may be one pivot off from being the next big thing and YC could help find that. At the very least, YC will help you be a better entrepreneur.

[Robby2012]

Many of YCombinator founders have smart but little ideas, in my opinion you should always apply because YC is open to all sort of ideas, you don't have to be a wanna-be billionaire who "radiates" winner, that only happens once in a long time

[sharemywin]

Why are you limited yourself and your goals in the first place? if you had more money to fund your idea could it become bigger? expand into other areas?