I sent the YC partners an email saying I was growing increasingly
impressed with one of the startups in the current batch and asking what
they thought of them, and Harj Taggar replied with this brilliant piece of
VC boilerplate.
From: Harj Taggar
To: Paul Graham
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your note and sending ⟨startup⟩ our way,
we really appreciate it and always enjoy meeting with YC founders.
Keep 'em coming!
We loved ⟨founder⟩ and are impressed by both his
background and the progress he has made thus far. It's exciting to
see entrepreneurs tackling "real-world" problems in important areas,
which aligns well with our investment thesis.
However it's currently a little early for us to step in here. We'd
like to see ⟨founder⟩ show a few more proof points
and validate a couple of the core assumptions underlying the business.
We've offered to introduce him to a few value-add partners, within
our network, who we think could really help him work through and
shape some of the strategic issues he'll face in the coming months.
We plan on keeping in close touch and will be circling back once
he's at a more appropriate stage for investment.
On a separate note, I feel like we could be doing more to help YC
companies. We're in awe of what you've built over there at the Y
and we'd love to grab a coffee and talk more about how we could be
helpful to both the companies and you.
Best,
Harj