As a more generic rule for life, always apply for every opportunity that is even mildly intriguing. You can always make the actual decision if and when you get accepted, and there is nothing wrong with saying "No" at that point and staying on your current path. But you remove those choices from your life if you don't even apply.

First, I do not understand the reason for the fear of applying. Your BigCo employer should not treat it any different than your applying to another BigCo. They are not going to care (much), people explore other opportunities all the time.

But acceptance to YC is an all or nothing deal. They fund teams and would generally not fund a company that lost a key cofounder between acceptance and attendance. That's why they ask you to commit. Thus you should be upfront with your cofounders that you might not attend, which will likely void the acceptance (which, I guess, would greatly demotivate them). My 2c.

Thanks for the answer! With other BigCos, I know that they do not publicize people's application. But with YC, I see that it lists the funded companies at each batch in its website. My fear is if my name is shown there. Or if it's shown somewhere else even earlier in the process.

I am okay on the case that I am accepted and I choose to go for the batch. My fear is if I am accepted but choose to stay, but my name is listed on the YC website

Are you applying with other cofounders? Deciding not to go will affect them, too.

My point is that if you pull your name will not be listed. And your cofounders will probably not be listed either, as YC will likely pull the invite if a cofounder chooses not to accept. I would make sure your cofounders know you are undecided.

And what is the thing about YC posting acceptances? I was not aware they do it.

Yes, I am applying with other cofounders. They are aware of my situation and encouraged me to apply. There would be a 50-50 chance that I join the batch if we are accepted.

They won't fund you unless you quit your job.

YC Partner: "I see you're working at X company, why aren't you full time on X startup? If we were to fund X startup and accept you into the batch, are you going to quit your job at X company?"

You would be shooting yourself in the foot in you stumbled over this question.

Speaking from personal experience here.

>> My fear is if I am accepted but choose to stay, but my name is listed on the YC website

I don't know who you work for, but frankly it sounds to me like you're over-thinking this.

You're suggesting that BigCo routinely searches the YC website, or perhaps the whole web, and then name-matches that against an internal list of employees? I guess maybe they do, but as an employer this sounds bonkers. Quite apart from names not being unique, it sounds like a colossal waste of time. Why stop at YC? I should do this for all incubators...

Plus, they're gonna fire you preemptively? For looking elsewhere? Geez man, what kind of place are you working for?

Perhaps his company doesn’t need to search the whole web when they already have an index of it…

You already know the answer. This isn’t for you.

Applications aren’t posted anywhere. If you were accepted, you wouldn’t likely be able to sell your share since it’s not really worth anything at this stage.

Make sure you only start something with people you trust and are all on the same page.

And make sure that other people can trust you.

We just applied and we were wondering the same thing too! As others mentioned here, it looks like the applications aren’t posted anywhere even if you get accepted.

As others have pointed out, you are overthinking this.

If applying for YC has you this fearful, how do you think being a cofounder of a startup will make you feel?

Yeah, the people I've worked with at startups never said things like "I'm worried I'll get in trouble", they just did shit

Thanks in advance for anyone with similar experience that could shed light into this, or alumni from any past YC batch