Great you already cut your normal 15 minute one to this. But honestly, it’s still quite long.
Of course, context matters and the context of a YC interview is an elevator pitch.
In that setting, the “tell us a little about yourself” question should probably be one or two sentences.
I’d probably answer. “My name is Tim, from the Netherlands living in Berlin with my long time partner. Second time founder in the tech space. I have a computer science background and enjoy playing the guitar.”
My name is Mettamage, from The Netherlands. Living in Amsterdam with my girlfriend. I studied: psychology, business informatics -- both bachelors -- and computer science and game studies -- both masters. I have worked as a teacher/bootcamp instructor and programmer. I enjoy running.
When I'm reading it, I think I see this working better in some situations but not in others as my profile simply invokes a lot of questions. And when it does invoke a lot of questions, then my way of talking about it saves time.
People are going to ask: why did you study so many things? With my answer they don't. More importantly, I don't like that question. I can't stand it. I've heard it too many times over in my life. I'm a bit burned out with people their tone on that question. I'm fine with if you're surprised. But a lot of people simply find it weird in a negative sense, and I'm tired of hearing it.
My profile in what I did as work is rather broad, which leads to questions. Interviewers, being the conservative munchkins that they are, they can't pigeonhole me into a role. In my particular answer I pre-empt the most important one which is: why did you do so many things in such a short amount of time? Oh, you did it as side jobs during your study for fun. And now you're looking for your first long-term job.
And most importantly, it's all true. Or at least, I believe it is.
Also, I don't want people to know that I enjoy running. I want people to know that I'm a curious fellow that loves to use his imagination and if you understand the essence of that you can kind of infer a lot about who I am (in one of my other comments there's an example of this).
A good education helps you to understand the state of the art. My education helped me to do this with security, especially when it comes to reverse engineering binaries and hardware security.
Ideally, it should do it for a lot more topics but that's where reality sets in.
I can't stand people that feel negative towards curiosity and taking ownership of your education. That's what I hear in a good chunk of people their tone.
Of course, context matters and the context of a YC interview is an elevator pitch.
In that setting, the “tell us a little about yourself” question should probably be one or two sentences.
I’d probably answer. “My name is Tim, from the Netherlands living in Berlin with my long time partner. Second time founder in the tech space. I have a computer science background and enjoy playing the guitar.”
As always, YMMV.