This page is an expansion on our YCombinator Startup School Application: https://www.startupschool.org
more info: https://blog.ycombinator.com/startup-school-2018-curriculum
If you don't know about YCombinator,
it's worth reading: https://www.ycombinator.com/why
and http://foundersatwork.posthaven.com/the-social-radar-what-i-did-at-y-combinator
Our "top three" list of reasons for applying:
We feel that having an "external" mentor who will help us stay focussed and accountable for making meaningful progress on our idea(s).
Startup School is an incredible curriculum of startup-focussed learning. While we have already read much of the "recommended reading", we have not done so "systematically", we feel that following a clear "learning path" will be a a far more effective approach.
Gaining access to the YC / Startup School (social/entrepreneurial) network
could be worth an incalculable amount of value to us
as YC is a "filter" for the most interesting, ambitious and creative people;
exactly the type of people we want living/learning/working @home.
1 home is our
"working title";
we're open to suggestions!
We have discussed crowd-sourcing the name from our community,
but for now, this is easier and it kinda "works" for what we are doing.
There is built-in "brand recognition"
in the common expression "Working from home".
And there's an "emoji" and free "font awesome icon" so we don't need to think
about "branding" and can instead focus on building the community.
Company URL: https://dwyl.com/home
We are a Female Founder-Focussed Co-Living/Learning Home [57 characters]
We have worked in the technology industry
in several roles for the past 10 years,
everything from non-profit and 2-10 person micro co.
to 400k person "mega-corp"
and high-growth startup: 100 >> 10k (people) growth.
We have built MVPs for, advised and trained people in several startups.
We feel we have a grasp of what it takes to run a successful technology startup.
(though we expect to gain significantly more wisdom/experience through
participating in Startup School and possibly YC's "main" program).
We have lived the "digital nomad" (remote working) lifestyle and
know what the biggest challenges are.
Being a female founder, we know it is often more difficult to get ideas off the ground. We have felt the pain of female founders coming to us (@dwyl) to build their MVP because male-dominated "dev agencies" did not take them or their ideas seriously.
We applaud the tremendous work done by Jessica Livingston and other YC partners to organise the Female Founders Conference and aspire to be invited on stage in a few years time. We want to help accelerate the ascent of other female founders by giving them a space to start their journey (before they apply to YC!)
@iteles via: https://twitter.com/iteles/status/928221678139822080
https://standrewsbusinessclub.co.uk/st-andrews-university-enterprise-week-2017-keynote-event
We feel that the "vertical" category that most reflects our project is "community" closely followed by "diversity".
There are 36 options for "Vertical" on the Startup School application form.
home does not "neatly fit" into anyone of them
rather it encompasses several:
-
<option value="7">Community</option>because we are building a community. -
<option value="8">Consumer</option>because our "product" is "consumer" focussed; our customers are "consumers". -
<option value="10">Developer Tools</option>because we will be building several open source tools that will help other developers realise their ideas! -
<option value="11">Diversity</option>because we are focussed on ladies in tech and other under-represented groups. -
<option value="14">Education</option>we are not building an "EdTech" company, however we are giving people access to peer-lead tech learning which, from experience, can be far more effective than traditional schools/university for learning tech skills.
-
<option value="21">Healthcare</option>because we are promoting a sustainably healthy lifestyle and equipping people with strategies to get healthy for people who have poor habits. -
<option value="22">International Market</option>because we intend to be global. -
<option value="23">Jobs</option>we will create jobs (where we employ people directly) and help train people with skills they need to get jobs in tech. -
<option value="26">Moonshots / Hard Tech</option>we feel that building an App to help people engage with their community is solving a "Hard" problem. It's not a "moonshot" but it is difficult to get right. -
<option value="27">Nonprofit</option>we will be profitable but not focussed on profits. And Open Sourcing all our code/systems means that anyone can "copy" our model which means we can multiply the (positive) impact. -
<option value="30">Security</option>We will be building both virtual and physical security systems. We are not "pitching" ourselves as a "security company" however security is at the "core" of everything we do! -
<option value="36">Travel</option>last but not least we definitely qualify as a "travel" company because people will come from all over the world to stay athome. Our aim is for our App to include travel and "what to do/visit" advice. It will transcend the physical locations (operated by us) and be used ubiquitously for human interaction (without data mining and Ads!). Again, this is not the "focus" for MVP.
home is a female founder focussed co-living/learning house
where people live, learn & work on "something people want".
By-product: Mobile App for community, door-access, lights & resource sharing.
[197 chars]
Getting this down to 200 characters is hard...!!
Had to cut:
We intend to use Wifi/BLE beacons to give location-contextual UI
to the users so they get relevant info through the home
e.g: light switches, curtains, teleconference room bookings
and kitchen/bathroom availability.
People will share recipes (public or private)
and meal plans (house-specific) inviting others to partake in meals!
home is what we wish we had when we started in the tech industry.
A place to meet, live and learn with peers
and a mentoring/support network throughout our career.
We are passionate about fostering the next generation of tech
workers & founders.
Options available:
<select class="select required" name="company[commitment]" id="company_commitment">
<option value=""></option>
--
| <option value="full_time">Full Time (40+ hours a week)</option>
| <option value="part_time">Part Time (20+ hours a week)</option>
| <option value="other_commitment">Other</option></select>If there was an option for "double-full-time" i.e. 80+ hours/week,
we would pick that.
For the foreseeable future, home is our life!
<select class="select required" name="company[stage]" id="company_stage">
<option value=""></option>
--
| <option value="nothing">Nothing Built</option>
| <option value="idea">Idea/sketches</option>
| <option value="mocks">Mocks/Renderings</option>
| <option value="prototype">Prototype/pre-launch</option>
| <option value="private_beta">Private Beta</option>
| <option value="public_beta">Public Beta</option>
| <option value="preorders">Taking Preorders</option>
| <option value="launched">Launched</option></select>The <option> that most accurately reflects
the progress of our App is "Idea".
Given that our project involves a physical building
which is still "under construction",
and there isn't an <option> in the list for "building site",
the best description at this stage is "idea".
We intend to use the Startup School time to start building the Mobile App (PWA)
which will be used by the people staying in home.
We expect the building works to be done by the end of September
and the first "MVP" members to join us in October 2018.
We are able to "Alpha UX Test" the app with friends & co-workers before we open
the physical home.
We have a team of professional construction workers and tradesmen taking care of the physical building so we feel that part is "on track".
The first home building is 65% construction-complete.
(Architect designs & progress photos on website)
We have built several components of our Mobile App (PWA)
but do not yet have an MVP we can test with users;
we plan to make it during Startup School. [249 chars]
For the purposes of the "Co-living" project,
we do not have a dedicated company for home.
Until now we have been funding it through operating cashflow/surplus
from our existing company (@dwyl) as well as personal equity.
We are open to advice whether we should form a new company (we are leaning towards a new company...) we have a "four-letter-dotcom" domain: dwyl.com and the corresponding "social accounts" e.g: https://twitter.com/dwyl which we feel would be a "waste" to abandon.
If our advisors think we can "pivot" (repurpose) the @dwyl brand
we'd be happy to do that.
There is some "overlap", given that home is helping
people discover and do what they love.
We like to think of home as a "Pre-YC"
place to learn creative/coding skills,
discover like-minded people and focus on solving big problems.
home is not a "coding bootcamp" like "FullStack Academy" (YC S12)
and it's not an AirBnB (YC W09) it's
more akin to a Recurse Center (YC S10) https://www.recurse.com/
(self-directed learning)
meets cost-effective "high-end co-living",
with privacy and plenty of space to think, exercise and get work done.
Our aim is to help people have a solid foundation to launch their career in tech either as an engineer or co-founder!
We believe that having a female-founder-focus is essential for achieving "balance" in the tech industry and is congruent with YC's mission.
We are planning to have a "hack space" or "Design & Technology Lab" which is a 50m2 filled with prototyping tools/machines including a Laser cutter, CNC machine, 3D printers and wide range of tools for making furniture, electronics projects and other "hardware hacking".
Please YC decision-makers, give us a space on Startup School so that we can benefit from mentorship and be part of your incredible network.
Thank you!
This is what "rejection" looks like:
And this is what it looks like when someone realises
that "the software" made a "mistake":
We don't know if this was a "fluke" (we slipped through the net)
or if the YC partners really loved our application ...
but we'll take it!
Now we "just" need to make the most of their time-investment in us!
The beauty of storing this document in version control (Git) is that anyone can see the "state" ("snapshot")
of our Startup School application at the point that the YC decision-makers saw it.
i.e. you can "judge" for yourself if there was "substance" to our proposal.
see: https://github.com/dwyl/home/tree/b792d4e66414d67b87ec05c62c43e213aff9afb0
We agree that the snapshot is far from "finished", but we felt it had "enough content" for an "elevator pitch" and "enough supporting evidence" to show a YC Partner that their time-investment in mentoring us would not be "wasted".