On: The “Interview” with Y Combinator That’s Not

[chrischen]

Thanks for the advice. I was under the impression that the demo would be unimportant, and since I'm in school right now, I thought I'd go slow at it unless I am accepted.

I can whip up something in two weeks easy (even with school), but I didn't submit a demo in the application because I didn't think it would be necessary, so I focused on developing the idea instead.

[wheels → chrischen]

Trevor talked about this in the comments to my article on applying to YC:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=854088

[chrischen → wheels]

I guess what my situation was that I could balance school and the application, or school and the prototype. While I had an urge to work on the prototype I always felt guilty because frankly the application has a deadline, the prototype does not. Actually after the application deadline I was able to get back to the prototype.

[jlees → chrischen]

If you get an interview, unbalance school to get the prototype ready - 'don't worry be crappy' - for the interview.

[chrischen → jlees]

Oh definitely. In fact I did that the last time I prototyped a site and not only was I not doing it for any investors, I had finals the same week.