[kamikazi]

Disclosure: Indian W'15 applicant here. Very pleasing to my ears. Few days back @sama also mentioned in one of the interviews to local print about wanting to make inroads into India and I welcomed it. Done properly YC can get nice response here.

Some of the challenges or differences about Indian start ups which you might have to address are:

a) Visa related issues: This is taken for granted by applicants from EU and other visa-on-arrival countries but it's a huge Qn mark for Asians. eg: I still don't know if we're selected for interview will I have to arrange for a B1 or B2? Will we be able to get it within a month? (There's an elaborate application process with long waiting periods - US embassy is notorious for rejecting on flimsiest of reasons). If we get selected, I'm still bit unsure what visa will be applicable for the 3-4 months of incubation period. To what extent YC will be involved in visa process. What happens after that? Some of these things are not laid out upfront in YC FAQ as of now.

b) Incorporation: The more you branch out into Asian territories the more likelihood that for many startups it won't make sense to incorporate in USA. Or maybe have a dual structure with HQ + subsidiary in USA/$home country (Ours might be dual). On the other hand there are some SaaS cos who have a Delaware co just for ease of seting up merchant a/cs and ease in collecting recurring payments (We still don't have Stripe here).

I know this comes later in the picture but I think some of the uncertainty around these Qns would keep many an Asian startup from applying.

For someone in Boston, if he doesn't make the cut, he can always go back to his home and figure our whatever he wants to do after 3 months. He loses just 3 months of his time. For many of us it's not easy to decide to upend your roots/family everything for that one chance of making it big only to realise all the wind is out of your sails after 6 months due to some stupid visa/IRS issues or for that matter even FDI/tax guys back in our home countries (eg even huge cos like Amazon India with billions of dollars investment in their Indian arm, are still caught in Indian tax/FDI redtape - they're facing an ongoing struggle against authorities as well as entrenched local retail community. They are forced to operate as marketplace and still have to dance as music changes). There's a reason why we're #134 in ease of doing business and #179 in Starting a business (out of 189).

So I think a clearly thought out YC roadmap on visa/incorp in itself would be a huge bump to smart founders.

b) The type or quality of startups in India is slightly different than the typical SV co. The typical SV startup goes: Stanform/MIT grads, batchmates, started building a SaaS/app2.0 product in final-year from dorm -- where you first figure out how to get millions of users and then sometimes after SeriesA maybe think about monetisation. Many of them get acquihired, defensive acquisition before making a cent in revenue. The good startups here in India that I like are mostly revenue generating from day one. Enough to have founders earning 3x+ of his erstwhile salaried job. They might not have hockey-stick growth in millions within months. A hockey-stick chart of nonpaying users is as good as 1/3rd of same chart of solid profitable paying users I reckon.

c) The way you do due diligence has to be slightly different. Yes there are lot of smart founders but just due to our sheer numbers you'll also find more shady characters (which in absolute nos would be a huge jump from what you might encounter in SV, even if %wise same - so a perception problem), so you'll have to gradually build up your sniffing skills in other vectors and also set your internal founder-meter accordingly. Plus there's a lot more diversity here in social/living conditions hence the founder diversity that goes with it. Which also means the good founders might be disproportionately outliers on the map which YC or SV references. eg: IIT gets a huge mindshare in SV but I see more startups from non-IITians here.

There are lot of similar subtle things from an Indian founder's perspective. I know coz I've grappled with some of these until I studied and organically warmed up to an idea so strong that made me jump through all the hoops and decide to go for it.

Would be glad to discuss any further - my email is in profile. (or in person alongside YC interview :-)

[davidglauber]

I'm not related to YC in any way, just an applicant like you. I'm a US applicant, even-though I'm an immigrant and wasn't born here. I'll try to answer some of your questions from common knowledge + my understanding:

1. Getting a US visa may sometime be difficult or take time. My best advice is to get the visa anyway when you can. This way you're ready to come to the interview if and when you're invited. Visa is just a way of getting here. Serious candidates are up for promoting their startup in any possible way. Many of these ways go through the US and especially SV (angels, VCs, acceleration programs, the big US market, tech giants, etc). Get it anyway if you can, regardless of YC.

2. I think you actually have a huge advantage as an Indian founder - you have a native access to a huge talent pool and a huge market. Since the ease of doing business in India is at the bottom of the global rank, this advantage is even bigger.

3. No Stripe in India? Difficult place to do business? Difficult place to start a startup? These are real problems. It sounds like a source of many GREAT startup ideas. And Indian founders are, again, in advantage here.

3. As for incorporation, I think it's about what makes sense to your company. Every place has it's advantages - many big US VC firms fund only companies with a US office while having an R&D and support site in India is cheaper than in most other places. I'm sure the that folks in YC have good advice about what's right for your company. If you must incorporate already - I don't think that getting incorporated in India will disqualify good candidates from YC.

4. From what I know and read on YC's formal posts, they can't get you a visa. Tourist visa should be enough to get here (it gives you the equivalent of what EU visa-on-arrival gives you, but for 6 months instead of 3). When your company will get US funding over some threshold you should be able to get a working visa. I used to have a tourist visa in the past (wasn't born in a visa-by-arrival country). My co-founder will soon be on a tourist visa, so I know what you're facing. One of the HackerRank (YC S11) founders didn't get a visa eventually. So his co-founder attended YC in SV and he stayed in India. They kept working hard & on remote during YC. They are very successful today. DONT let any visa stop you.

5. About your difference from a guy from Boston - you and I are not that different at all. Each of us will leave his place and life if accepted to YC. For you the opportunity may just be bigger and more important, because it gives you full access to the best place in the world to start a startup.

7. Forget about a 'Typical YC applicant'. Be the best applicant and founder you can be, regardless of YC. Their application is built to find great hackers. Graduating from a top US school/IIT can help to demonstrate your abilities, but it's ONLY one way and doesn't necessarily mean you're a successful applicant. Get a founding experience, keep hacking, contribute to open-source projects - all of these help and matter.

Read this blog post by a recent YC grad: https://medium.com/theli-st-medium/hi-im-a-mom-and-a-start-u.... Forget about typical applicant. She made it while having two little girls in LA. Read her words: Grits, Perseverance, Passion. Not visa, IIT or anything like that.

Msg me if I can be helpfull in anything else. Best of luck with your YC application!

[kamikazi]

Thanks for your perspective David.

On re-reading maybe I personalised those comments a bit too much or it comes out as litany of excuses which was not what I intended. Just wanted to let Kevin know what makes the Indian/Asian mkt different since he specifically asked for it.

1) Yep, that occurred to me & I started that process before YC results. (got rejected by YC btw)

2) Talent yes. Bottom ranking in start/ease of doing biz more than overcompensates for the talent part IMO.

3) Not necessarily. Our RBI/customs/payments by design at govt policy itself is screwed - much of it I don't understand. So yeah if you are a veteran in finance/payment domain with ministries in your rolodex and money to plough in for years - maybe. High risk, decade-long timeline, but ultrahigh payoff kind of bet if one can pull it off.

4) Working visa & HackerRank. This is exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks. PG has said multiple times that they insist on entire team to be physically there. And I can understand why from YC's pov.

5) Agreed. I overshot on that remark.

7) Yes, read her story. Very inspiring. That's what keeps us going.

Thanks again for your response and hope you got in for the interviews? Don't see email in your profile. Can you ping on mine?