Grading CommandBar’s YC software
We went by means of YC within the S20 batch with CommandBar. On the time, we had been engaged on a special startup referred to as codePost. We had been enthusiastic about each concepts and noticed YC as the best way to interrupt the tie. “If we get into YC that should imply the concept is sweet.” On reflection, this isn’t how I feel founders ought to take into consideration making use of to YC.
There are a number of causes for that. Briefly: Stepping into YC is not an indicator that your concept is value engaged on for a whole summer time/winter. It is an indicator that the concept is first rate sufficient to A) again you as a founder and B) let you discover the concept intensely for a number of weeks, or pivot till you discover the suitable product.
YC appears to be like for excellent founders way more than it appears to be like for excellent concepts. Concepts are low-cost. I do know a number of founders who went right into a batch and pivoted in week 2. The truth is, YC encourages pivots. I even know an organization that bought in underneath the categorical situation that they work on another concept however the one they utilized with.
Then why is the YC software so centered round your concept?
For 2 fundamental causes:
- YC needs to see how you assume / how a lot thought you’ve given the concept. They wish to see you’ve bought conviction and perceive why what you’re constructing is a sufficiently big drawback to be solved.
- YC needs to validate that you simply assume huge and wish to construct a billion greenback firm.
I usually function a proof reader for different founders and associates who’re making use of to YC, however I’ve by no means formally graded our personal. So right here goes. The main focus of this put up is on grading our software as an illustrative instance for different founders. I’ll in all probability write a separate one that appears again on what we bought proper and what we bought flawed in our YC software.
In different phrases, that is an ex-ante evaluation of our software (“how good was the appliance given the knowledge we had on the time”), not an ex-post evaluation (”did we become appropriate”).
Describe what your organization does in 50 characters or much less.
Make internet apps simpler to navigate and be taught.
That is nonetheless a principally correct description of what CommandBar’s mission is, despite the fact that we’ve broadened our platform over the previous yr and moved past search. Trying again, I like that we targeted on the ache / drawback we’re fixing, as an alternative of leaping to the answer. I bear in mind the primary model of the appliance stated “a search bar constructed into internet apps,” which focuses an excessive amount of on the answer, not the issue. -James
What’s your organization going to make? Please describe your product and what it does or will do.
Foobar is a searchbar constructed into internet apps that enables end-users to find and really execute instructions – not simply search – straight from the searchbar. It comes as a configurable internet element {that a} front-end developer can begin prototyping in minutes utilizing our internet interface. Foobar makes it a lot simpler for end-users to entry the performance they need wherever they’re in your web site, and configuring Foobar can also be a lot simpler than attempting to construct an ideal UI that works for various kinds of customers (energy customers, new customers, and so forth).
We consider Foobar will enhance onboarding, characteristic discovery, and long-term usability for internet apps, in the end driving higher conversion and retention. In addition to the net element, our device features a internet interface for upkeep (including and updating instructions), personalization (customizing who sees what instructions), and analytics (how Foobar is getting used).
Make sure that your first sentence of every of those solutions is the way you’d reply it if there was a phrase restrict. Think about they received’t learn the remaining. What’s it that you really want them to know as quickly as doable?
Our product was a bit bizarre, within the sense that it was a brand new answer to an outdated drawback (”internet apps are arduous to make use of”). So we targeted on the a part of the concept we felt was novel first (”searchbar for instructions”). I feel this can be a good tactic, given the earlier recommendation about structuring your reply so the very best bit comes first in case the remainder of the reply isn’t learn.
(That is equally true of YC interviews by the best way — possibly we should always do a separate put up about that) -James
How far alongside are you?
Not far.
We initially determined to construct Foobar as a characteristic for a special internet app that the three of us had been engaged on (https://codepost.io). Whereas constructing it, we determined to show it right into a product — a element that may very well be used throughout websites and configured through an internet interface — as an alternative of only a codePost characteristic. Whereas constructing our prototype, we’ve pitched Foobar to 4 apps: Kapwing (https://www.kapwing.com/), StdLib (https://stdlib.com/), Plan (https://getplan.co/), and Meetingbird (acq by Entrance) (https://meetingbird.com/). All 4 have dedicated to piloting Foobar (at no cost).
We’re about 2-3 weeks away from having our prototype able to go stay in these internet apps. If that goes nicely, we’ll look to broaden to 10-20 extra apps (sourced from individuals we all know and our community).
I’d now possibly change the final paragraph to go first (and reply the query right away). However I like that we addressed up entrance that we weren’t attempting to overstate our traction. It is a method referred to as anti-selling that I feel is tremendous efficient in lots of types of life (and particularly B2B SaaS gross sales).
We made a mistake right here that I see in a TON of YC purposes: we touted “firm is dedicated to utilizing us” as traction. Generally that “dedication” will get formalized right into a LOI. (If you happen to watch YC demo day you’ll see loads of firms citing “3 LOIs” or “70k of ARR underneath LOI”. It’s very pure to do that whenever you don’t have any precise clients or income, however the actuality is that these kind of “commitments” are not often actual. In our case, solely a kind of 4 firms ended up ever even making a Foobar account.
The silver lining of this reply is that it exhibits we had been targeted on the suitable issues: getting clients and pace.
I’m undecided the way to make the reply higher, although, as a result of we didn’t actually have anything to point out. So I suppose the recommendation is: for those who really feel compelled to say your LOIs, then it’s best to strive as arduous as doable to get precise customers, even when they aren’t overtly spectacular logos (for B2B). Some utilization is best than hypothetical utilization from higher sources sooner or later. -James
How lengthy have every of you been engaged on this? How a lot of that has been full-time? Please clarify.
3 weeks, full-time. Earlier than that, the three founders labored on a special challenge for the previous 12 months, full-time: https://codepost.io, an internet app utilized by CS academics (principally at universities) to evaluate scholar code. The three of us constructed the product and scaled it to 60 universities. (NB: we utilized to YC with codePost as our concept in 2016, however didn’t begin engaged on the challenge till early 2019). Once we realized Foobar had the possibility to be a much bigger firm than codePost, we determined to pivot to it full-time.
YC doesn’t shrink back from founders who’re mid-pivot/have pivoted previously. Constructing an early-stage startup requires that (most occasions). Be real about your solutions and the extent to which you’ve been targeted on the concept you’re making use of with, whether or not that’d 3 years or 3 days.
I’m glad we talked about our historical past as a founding unit, since that confirmed we had been dedicated to one another as founders and had been dedicated to doing one thing in startup land. I find yourself seeing a variety of YC founders deal with YC as summer time camp (or winter camp). Do YC, understand startups are arduous, piddle alongside for a number of months or possibly a yr after YC after which bail (giving again any cash they raised that’s left over).
YC actually isn’t in search of that sort of founder, as a result of it limits the anticipated worth of the corporate they’re engaged on. Loads of YC firms have labored in obscurity with little progress to point out for years earlier than breaking out. If the founders hand over after solely a yr, it prevents this situation from enjoying out. So the repeatable recommendation I’d give right here is: in case you have indicators of your seriousness about doing a startup (not essentially this concept) share them. -James
Are individuals utilizing your product?
Sure
Grade: N/A
I feel by this we meant codePost was utilizing CommandBar, which may be very obama-awarding-obama however okay. -James
What number of energetic customers or clients do you’ve gotten? If in case you have some notably worthwhile clients, who’re they? If you happen to’re constructing {hardware}, what number of models have you ever shipped?
4 firms have dedicated to piloting Foobar: Kapwing (https://www.kapwing.com/), StdLib (https://stdlib.com/), Plan (https://getplan.co/), and Meetingbird (acq by Entrance) (https://meetingbird.com/). An alpha can also be stay in our outdated firm’s web site (codePost).
Yep lol -James
Do you’ve gotten income?
No
Grade: N/A
Not a lot to this one. -James
Why did you decide this concept to work on? Do you’ve gotten area experience on this space? How have you learnt individuals want what you make?
We initially determined to construct Foobar into codePost as a result of we had been going through some UX challenges. codePost is a comparatively advanced internet app. A lot of our customers are energy customers; some spend 20+ hours every week utilizing it to evaluate scholar code. We discovered it tough to create a UI that made performance simply out there to those energy customers in a method that was additionally accessible for brand new customers. We had been impressed by different elements we’d seen within the wild — in Superhuman and Google Docs — that enable customers to really execute instructions through textual content. We favored the concept of creating performance accessible with out matching GUI components, and empowering customers to simply discover what they wish to do as an alternative of churning, wading by means of assist docs, or messaging us through in-app chat.
We determined to work on this full-time once we realized that (a) many internet apps face the identical issues that Foobar solves, and (b) there was a variety of performance we wished to construct into our Foobar that we thought could be very worthwhile usually however tedious for others to construct. Particularly, performance for straightforward configuration and upkeep, by-user personalization, and information mining. (Foobar generates actually worthwhile information, as a result of customers use it to precise their intent round your web site.) The three of us (the founders) have area experience in constructing internet apps, having spent the final 12 months constructing and scaling one full-time. We additionally know individuals, different internet app builders, who want it: we’ve pitched 4 thus far, and plan to pitch extra.
A theme of this evaluation is that almost all questions within the YC software have two components: a literal query and a meta query.
The literal query right here is asking for a story about why this concept is thrilling, and possibly YC will use that to evaluate the concept. However the meta query is: how do you determine what to work on?
In my expertise, the very best founders are obsessed about their drawback house. By that metric, what you wish to present on this reply is credible obsession — present why you’re so excited in regards to the concept. DO NOT attempt to give the “proper” reply by speaking about issues like moats, “capturing a small piece of an enormous market”, TAM, and so forth.
Utilizing this framework, I feel we smashed this reply. The story was very particular and referenced non-obvious observations (like the purpose round consumer intent). We might have simply spent the entire time speaking about our credibility (”area experience in constructing” apps), however as an alternative we confirmed that we had been specialists with the reply itself. Good job us. -James
What’s new about what you make? What substitutes do individuals resort to as a result of it would not exist but (or they do not know about it)?
Foobar’s job is to make internet apps simpler to be taught and navigate. The most typical substitute for Foobar is to attempt to design a UI that works for your entire customers, resorting to patterns like nested menus and panels of buttons to deal with complexity. Getting this proper is clearly actually arduous. One other frequent method to assist customers navigate a web site is search, both home-grown or supplied as a service by distributors like Algolia. Search surfaces content material, so doesn’t work nicely in internet apps that aren’t structured round hyperlinks or stock.
Internet apps may additionally resort to “buyer success” instruments. These embody assist facilities, in-app chat, and in-app product excursions. Intercom is a vendor that provides all 3. Foobar would not substitute these instruments. Relying on the question, the very best path for the consumer to observe is likely to be to execute the command inside Foobar, execute a associated command inside Foobar, learn a assist doc, or provoke a chat. Regardless, we expect Foobar is the very best place for a consumer to start out their “how do I do that” journey. In our expertise a consumer doesn’t assume “I actually wish to learn a assist doc proper now”: they simply wish to do one thing. Beginning with Foobar means a consumer can shortly discover the following steps that will get them closest to their objective.
This was a stable reply. We referenced a variety of partial substitutes (which reinforces that we’ve thought lots about this drawback). I do assume the reply might have been enhanced with a bit extra emphasis on they “why now”. Why hasn’t this product been made earlier than? Had been we simply the primary to have the concept? Or are there causes it received’t work? -James
Who’re your opponents, and who may change into opponents? Who do you worry most?
We have no distinctive benefit that stops another person from constructing a Foobar clone. We fear most about search distributors and buyer success distributors, who’re fixing an analogous drawback to Foobar. Additionally, no-code growth instruments like Webflow may be capable of disintermediate us if internet apps are constructed utilizing their device. Clearly we wish to differentiate from potential clones by constructing an ideal product. We additionally assume we will construct an accumulating benefit in opposition to clones (see beneath).
One other potential “competitor” is that apps will attempt to construct one thing like Foobar themselves: a easy command-line-lite GUI with a number of actions. To compete in opposition to this competitor, we expect we’d like to verify Foobar is best than a home-brewed model may very well be. We’re doing this by making Foobar straightforward for engineers and non-engineers to configure (including and sustaining instructions), personalize (present totally different instructions to totally different customers based mostly on personas), combine with third-party providers (like assist facilities or APIs like Sendgrid’s), and refine based mostly on consumer information (e.g. A/B check totally different instructions). We predict getting these steps proper is vital to unlocking worth from Foobar, they usually in all probability exceed the purchase vs. construct threshold for many firms exterior of very massive ones.
The primary sentence is nice – it acknowledges that our “moat” was our concept. Lots of people assume this can be a drawback for YC, and it’s completely not. Think about this thought experiment. You inform 100 founder groups about your concept, and make them actually enthusiastic about it. All 100 groups, and also you, begin engaged on the concept on the similar time. Do you’ve gotten some particular sauce that makes you more likely to succeed? Now re-do the thought experiment, however as an alternative of founder groups, sprinkle in incumbents in your house.
Very, only a few YC founders have this sort of inherent benefit. (Perhaps the exception are some actually technical merchandise that require information that just a few individuals have, like a database or {hardware} product). If you happen to’re in SaaS, it’s exceedingly unlikely you’ve gotten a bonus like this from the beginning. Your benefit is your conviction that your concept is value exploring, your execution pace, and your capability to deal with nothing however this concept. And that’s completely wonderful. The subsequent query pokes at this idea. -James
What do you perceive about your small business that different firms in it simply do not get?
We didn’t invent the concept of a searchbar that may execute actions. Some examples exist within the wild, most notably Superhuman. Our distinctive perception is that this element must be a product that’s purchased as an alternative of a characteristic that’s constructed.
We don’t assume others get this for 3 causes.
(1) A searchbar that may execute actions will be helpful in lots of, many internet apps. Far more than have constructed their very own model thus far.
(2) To get essentially the most out of Foobar, you want customers to have the ability to depend on it, identical to search. That implies that they get used to pulling it up and discovering what they need (or one thing that works) on 90%+ of searches. To make this occur, you want to have the ability to add a lot of instructions to Foobar, take away ones that aren’t working, and personalize responses so customers see outcomes which can be most probably to be related to them. This performance is difficult to construct right into a home-grown characteristic.
(3) It could appear arduous to construct a moat round an organization that sells a “searchbar that may execute actions”, however we expect there is a chance to construct a defensible enterprise right here with a sturdy aggressive benefit. When an app makes use of Foobar, it creates a map of intents (“clear calendar for right now”) to actions (code that truly updates consumer information), which is actually an API. We might make it doable for companies utilizing Foobar to reveal instructions they’ve constructed to different companies utilizing Foobar. This performance enjoys community results: extra clients means extra potential integrations. We might construct a cross-site “meta-Foobar” that centralizes instructions from all apps that use Foobar, utilized by customers. Extra customers utilizing meta-Foobar means Foobar is extra worthwhile for apps, which makes meta-Foobar extra worthwhile for customers, and so forth.
This reply will get a bit carried away on the finish (which is the suitable place to get carried away — bear in mind, finest stuff first!).
The meta objective of this query is just like “How did you decide this concept to work on” query. You wish to display that you’ve thought of this greater than anybody on Earth — that’s what demonstrates that you’ve the conviction wanted to be a profitable founder. This issues far more than whether or not the observations you’ve gotten about your house are ironclad. Bear in mind, it’s a lot simpler for the YC software reader to evaluate “had been they observations nuanced and non-obvious” than “are these observations proper”, as a result of the appliance reader may be very unlikely to have adequate context in your house to know in case your concepts are (a) appropriate and (b) broadly identified. -James
How do or will you become profitable? How a lot might you make?
(We understand you may’t know exactly, however give your finest estimate.)
If Foobar creates worth for internet apps (through higher conversion and retention) and is straightforward to configure, then we should always be capable of seize a few of that worth through a subscription price.
The largest doable marketplace for Foobar is all web companies, since any web site may gain advantage from Foobar. The important thing query we have to higher perceive is: for what sorts of internet apps is Foobar considerably worthwhile? We predict the reply is: most. Our heuristic is that any internet app that’s advanced sufficient to have a assist heart can in all probability profit from Foobar. Even a comparatively easy ecommerce web site may gain advantage by making it simpler for customers to entry necessary actions like “add to cart” or “transport estimate.” We plan to reply this query by pitching Foobar to a bunch of various internet apps and seeing the place it sticks. If we will match the worth proposition of incumbent “buyer success” distributors (like Intercom) then we might cost on the order of what they cost: $100 to $1000 {dollars} per thirty days.
What YC needs to know with this query is TAM (Whole addressable market), so in hindsight, we’d in all probability attempt to provide you with a quantity that appears at this at scale. No matter it, YC needs to see that you simply, as a founder, have thought of your concept being one thing that may change into a billion greenback enterprise. They wish to be sure to’re excited about constructing one thing that can be utilized by lots of people and change into greater than only a interest or life-style enterprise. -James
How will you get customers? In case your concept is the sort that faces a chicken-and-egg drawback within the sense that it will not be engaging to customers until it has a variety of customers (e.g. a market, a courting web site, an advert community), how will you overcome that?
First, we’ll proceed to do what we’re doing proper now: implementing our prototype Foobar in our personal internet app (codePost) and pitch our friends (different internet app builders we all know or can get linked to) to have them strive it out.
This implies “excessive CAC” initially nevertheless it additionally means we will uncover the niches during which Foobar resonates most strongly and focus our engineering efforts on these niches. The early-adopter area of interest is likely to be outlined by end-user-type (e.g. a lot of energy customers), app sort (e.g. excessive complexity), or some attribute of the event workforce (e.g. a workforce that likes to ship a lot of new options).
The powerful occasions imposed by COVID-19 might make it more durable for us to get customers as a result of companies are much less more likely to have spare engineering cycles to implement it, and could also be hesitant to spend on a brand new device. To fight these forces, we plan to deal with making it doable for non-developers to configure Foobar, and to construct case research demonstrating the ROI an internet app can obtain with Foobar. The shortage of spare engineering cycles might play to our benefit too: firms will in all probability be much less enthusiastic about constructing their very own Foobars in the event that they see worth within the idea.
We do have one concept to scale Foobar sooner. We’re constructing a chrome extension to permit end-users to construct a fundamental Foobar for themselves on high of any app. Utilization information (who’s utilizing Foobar for what apps, and the way they’re utilizing it) ought to assist us perceive our early adopter area of interest. It additionally offers us a robust gross sales pitch: “look how many individuals are already utilizing Foobar on your web site!”
It’s all the time good to name out issues right here. The very best solutions to this query convey some kind of distinctive acquisition channel. “My brother is a product guide and works with tons of firms that might use Foobar” would have been an incredible reply. This reply is mainly: “we don’t know however we all know this is a vital matter and we’re excited about it”. Which is okay. -James
Conclusion
Whether or not stepping into YC is one thing you’re striving for or not, filling out a YC software is likely one of the finest workouts you are able to do as an early-stage/pre-PMF founder.
Good luck! 🍀