Summer Founders Program
This was the original announcement of
Y Combinator.
Our focus has changed slightly since then. We don’t encourage
people to take starting a startup quite so lightly. We also
do two batches a year now.
In How to Start a Startup, I said there
could be ten times more startups than there are. A lot of people
who could start successful startups never do. When you’re young
the prospect seems too intimidating, and as you get older you lose
the flexibility you need in your life to start one.The most intimidating part is starting. So I decided I should offer
something more encouraging than words.Like a lot of guys who got rich from technology, I’ve been meaning
to give seed money to new startups. But almost seven years later
I still haven’t. The reason was that I didn’t want would-be startup
founders deluging me with pitches. I said so explicitly in the
talk I just gave. But afterwards I felt guilty.
So I’ve figured out a solution to the problem.Some friends and I have started Y Combinator, a new venture firm that
specializes in funding
very early stage startups.
Our first project is the Summer
Founders Program, an experimental replacement for the
conventional summer job.The SFP is like a summer job, except that instead of salary
we give you seed funding to start your
own company with your friends. If that sounds more exciting than
spending the summer working in a cube farm, I encourage you to apply.
