The best of the best is not unreachable

Here’s how to get into a global startup accelerator, told by an actual alumni.

If you are in this startup journey, you must have heard about startup accelerators; and you must know that there are several categories within this space. YCombinator is one of the best, no doubt. But, as you might know, it is one of the most competitives.

Tuto Assad, Vitau Cofounder and YC S19 alumni, had a talk with Nova Orion and Orion Startups companies to talk about his own path towards being selected, as well as recommendations we can follow.

Tuto started with a very point blanc statement:

this size of accelerators are not unreachable.

Your stage is not that relevant

I mean, it is. But, as said above: YC is not unreachable.

Yes, you heard that right, he actually stated that, in the summer 19 batch, there were some startups that were not selling enough yet — some not even selling at all.

Venture capitalists for early stage startups are more flexible, mostly focused on the future: is this particular startup with this particular team going to make this particular product successful?

“Describe your startup in 50 characters”

This is the single most important question. “There are around 12 thousand startups that apply for each cohort, do the math!” If you can make it clear and impactful enough, you are good to go.

Moment of truth: the call

They will try to hit you on your weaknesses. Make sure you are not emotional with your responses. Instead, try to turn it around and argue you have stronger strengths.

“But never forget to be humble and bold.”

These are three main learning, but, feel free to visit the talk recording to learn more.

Orion Startups is a venture capital firm for early-stage tech startups located in Chihuahua, Mexico.