A founder answers

Do you need confidence to apply to YC?

No — Satya's view is that you don't need confidence to go for it, because what's the worst that could happen: they reject you. When you have nothing to lose, why not give it a try. They applied with just an idea — no product, no website, not even a name.

The full answer

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Satya Tumati · Socratix AI
EP 16 · Co-founder and CEO, Socratix AI
Show notes ↗

No — Satya's view is that you don't need confidence to go for it, because what's the worst that could happen: they reject you. When you have nothing to lose, why not give it a try. They applied with just an idea — no product, no website, not even a name.

More from this episode

Satya and his co-founder applied to YC with just an idea — "no product, no website, not even a name." Asked what gave them the confidence, his answer flips the premise: "you don't need confidence to go for it because what's the worst that could happen — they would reject you." His saying: "when you have nothing to lose, why not give this a try." He doesn't claim they were special; when the batch started they noticed a lot of teams were in a similar position, with just an idea or similar prototypes. They were prepared to work on the problem regardless of YC because it was a big enough problem.