mazumdar

Try “HN” in the next 24 hours ;)

This is a great comment, and I whole heartedly agree that the questions you are asking are along the lines of what most VC's will have in their heads.

I don't see my business as solving any real problems. But I believe you don't need to solve real problems to have a business. I can very well frame my business as one that solves a problem, but that would be marketing speak rather than reality. There are billion dollar companies that don't solve problems and that's esp. true in the apparel industry.

I'm not going to delve any further into my thinking of the 'problem solving' approach because there is a more important point that was possibly misunderstood in my original comment. A lot of the responses to my comment are based around the merits of the idea itself, but YC has been pretty clear that they fund people over ideas. The way I look at it, the idea is just a medium for them to get to know the founder(s). There is no such thing as a 'billion dollar idea'. Most billion dollar businesses did not become that way over a short period of time [1], esp. not in the apparel industry. Every company started with something small and what you do in your initial years is just the stepping stone of creating opportunities to become something bigger.

But back to the point - I believe YC uses your idea to understand the founder, and my point was that one of the traits they look for is the founders ability to clearly articulate what their business will look like in ten years. The emphasis here is on the founder's characteristics rather than the merit of the idea itself. So, while I agree with your thought process on what a VC looks for, I disagree that YC looks for the same thing. That's why they are an incubator rather than a VC firm.

On a less related note: I don't apply to YC for the sake of raising funding. My company generates enough revenues, and we have enough positive cash flow and great credit terms with vendors. The value addition I seek from YC is more to do with better figuring out the business rather than access to capital. The reason YC is the only investor I talk to is a very personal one: My company would not exist without HN. I don't have a background in engineering, but since I started reading HN 5 years ago, I really resonated with the community (although I never participated). Back in those days, there used to be more front page articles about startups and the community seemed more tight-knit. I started learning how to code through codeacademy and that was the inflection point that gave me the confidence that I can actually build things, which eventually resulted in me building YA. I worked with many YC companies and still do business with some of them. So, the real reason I apply to YC is because I've gotten a ton of value from it's community and naturally want to have a closer association to them and the partners that run the organization. The sad part is that as they grow bigger (which is better for the world), the appeal of being in the insider community gets smaller. I just hope I get to participate in a cycle before that feeling goes away all together.

[1] Companies like Uber & Airbnb are exceptions

one of the things that make you feel tired after long flights is noise pollution. we don't realize it because it's something we expect during flights but our mind and body is essentially sitting through hours of loud humming that takes a toll on us.

The solution for me is good noise canceling headphones. If you fly often, invest in a good pair and it will do wonders for you. It has for me.

This is great for comparing cotton or cotton blend shirts. I'd love to see the same data for shirts that don't use any cotton. We make fabrics for our own brand and usually stay away from cotton partly due to the problem of fit variance after wash.

1) I started building this out for myself and for some of my male friends who shared the same sentiment.

2) Men and women shop differently and I feel as if women want more choices so the model does not necessarily work for them. That said, I've received a lot of interest from women for the first product we launched so plans may change in the future.