&U Selection Criteria

Essentially, the main question is do I like you a lot and trust you profoundly.

&U is a good fit for:

• first-time founder, under age 25
• wants to get into YC
• wants to make lots of money
• no prestigious credentials
• not from nor living in USA (yet :)
• has no money, is broke, in debt, or financially constrained
• deep compulsion to help people (your family, friends, country, etc)
• humble
• has time or can make time
• has skills: can code, built something nontrivial, done research, likes writing
• self-guided & independent, will eventually succeed, keeps trying
• voracious consumer of information, books, podcasts, youtube, blogs, etc
• people around you don't understand you, or you do things in secret from them

Don't need me / bad fit if:

• you can raise $200k+ on your own
• already won $50k+ in awards
• you're at Harvard or have some name brand credentials already
• you have strong relationships with well-connected people supporting you
• already built profitable companies in the past
• never built anything yourself
• you think you're hot shit
• not interested in learning from the internet or other humans
• not interested in writing or sharing or teaching others
• your family supports you

Talk to me anyways if:

• don't know how what you're doing ever makes money
• passionate about what you do, ambitiously creating your art
• you're a hacker, builder, tinkerer of things, engineer (systems thinker)
• not sure!

Apply here.