What Y Combinator Looks For In A Startup
Energy and determination, intelligence and a sense of design, in exponentially decreasing order, said founder Paul Graham, who once wrote a book, "Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age." But being a little crazy helps too. "If we get people who seem smart, and describe an idea that on the face of it seems crazy, there's a possibility that it's something crazy because it's new -- not that it's actually crazy," he said. "When stupid people describe ideas that are nutty, they usually are nutty. But when smart people describe crazy ideas, we consciously turn off our skepticism filters." Energy and determination were plentiful in Mountain View yesterday at Y Combinator's semi-annual Demo Day, a graduation-like ceremony for entrepreneurs who've completed the incubator's three-month summer camp.
