Did anyone find this conference useful? Like I said in [1] yesterday, I am always interested in creating a startup myself but at this stage I haven't decided on exactly which idea to pursue. What's the selection process? How's my answer on the application going to be used?
But if streaming is available, is it worth the money to travel? Also, any plan for Startup School @NY?
I attended the first one, I believe in 2013 or so? I don't regret that I attended, but it wasn't life changing either.
The talks ranged from a little bland and cliché to insightful - but none of them gave me a "man, so glad I'm here - wouldn't have thought of this otherwise" feeling.
The network is whatever you generally feel towards networking. I tend to dislike it, so it wasn't for me, but if you really want to meet tons of people who are into startups and YC, then it's a good place to be.
> What's the selection process? How's my answer on the application going to be used?
The selection process is YC people doing whatever they want to select who'll attend. Who knows what the actual criteria are besides what they publicly say on the website. It could be that names will be picked out of a sorting hat, or that only participants who have an even number of characters in their essay get picked, or who knows what else. I would answer it truthfully without stressing too much about it.
> Is it worth the money to travel?
Probably not, unless you have other things to do in the Bay Area the surrounding days. Otherwise, if you're a startup founder, that money and time are probably better spent either a) implementing your product or b) talking to your users.
> I am always interested in creating a startup myself but at this stage I haven't decided on exactly which idea to pursue.
Seems like you might be putting the carriage before the horses here.
