Personally, as a YC W19, first-time founder of Wanderlog [1], I didn't do any fundraising before Demo Day. But I heard from friends in the batch about cold emails, "informal" dinners, and all kinds of shenanigans to get ahold of founders earlier.
Demo Day helps even things out by giving attention to all startups in YC, and not just the companies with connections. Everyone's given the same amount of time on stage, and off stage (in any other year), everybody's milling about in a huge hall. You can't tell who's the recent college dropout, and who's a former co-founder of a co. with a billion-dollar exit.
I can totally see investors really taking the coronavirus/lack of an in-person Demo Day [2] as an excuse to double-up on their outreach, leading to an even more imbalanced process. Good work on the YC Partners' part for short-circuiting this and helping the first-time founders and the traditionally disadvantaged
[1] A trip planner for vacation itineraries: https://wanderlog.com
[2] https://blog.ycombinator.com/yc-w20-online-demo-day-now-on-m...
I don’t understand - why do you care if another company fundraises or not? What’s it go to do with you? YC isn’t some kind of competition is it?
2) Herd Mentality: There is subtle signaling if a company being presented right beside you already has 50% of their round closed, vs a company that hasnt received this early interest.
These are not my ideals (I'm a fan of self-funding and sustainable growth), just the reality.
Also - the first thing many investors asked us at demo day was "who else is investing?" - hard to answer this when you've specifically been instructed not to fundraise yet.
I know your point wasn't entirely literal but it made me curious as to how many YC founders are in this position...Kyle with Twitch and then Cruise is the only one that comes to mind.
4 days ago I commented here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22506013
“I think YC should add a sheet for us to write our comments/ratings and decision” I shared my experience on how I get bored and excited.
Many people reached out since then asking me to share my spreadsheet. This sheet will be very helpful.
Whether YC partners read my comment or not I’m so grateful for this feature.
THANK YOU YC<3
> Founder WorkRamp (YS S16). www.workramp.com
I’m not sure what’s your source because the first paragraph contradicts what you are saying “Over the last few days, a large number of investors have accelerated their outreach to our current batch of founders. They are moving quickly to make investment decisions, and we’re going to match their pace and accelerate our schedule by one week. YC W20 online Demo Day will now be on March 16.”
(I have no inside info; in fact I just found out about this from the HN submission.)
