Late Applications

What are Late Applications?

Late applications are those submitted after the application deadlines (typically late March and mid-October). If you submit an application after the deadline, your application is automatically tagged as “late”.

Do you get penalized for submitting late applications?

No. Your application will be reviewed on the merits of its content and not on its timing. You lose out on i) responsiveness – it will take us longer to get back to you since we received your app outside of the dedicated time set aside for application processing, ii) coverage – fewer partners review late applications which means there's a greater chance they'll miss your value prop, and iii) acceptance rate – late applications are generally competing for fewer slots, so it's harder to be accepted the later you apply.

What happens when I submit a late application?

Late applications will be processed ad-hoc, based simply on the availability of the partners to read and review it. We review all late applications with the same criteria as on-time applications, the only difference is that it will take a little patience to get your results.

When will I get a reply if I submit a late application?

While we do our best to process late applications as soon as we can, it depends on the availability of partners and the time they need to read and review the late applications. Partners are busy helping the startups we've funded so it may take anywhere from a couple of days to a few weeks before you'll get a reply.

If you haven't heard from us, be patient. All that silence means is that we haven't reviewed your application yet. As soon as we do, we'll email you.

How do we get our late application results?

We'll email you the results of our app review just like we do for on-time applications. You'll either receive an invitation to interview that contains details of our in-person meeting, or you'll get an email to say that we won't be interviewing you right now. If you aren't invited to interview, we hope that you don't get discouraged and that you continue with your pursuit to build something great.

Do you give feedback on application results?

We don't provide feedback on application results. If we did this, we'd spend all our time providing feedback and doing nothing else due to the volume of applications we have to process. Read this for more info about feedback.

When do you hold late applicant interviews?

It's impossible to provide a specific date. Sometimes the timing of late applications lines up with the standard apps we get so you'll interview with the on-time applicants. We'll also hold a late application interview day before the batch starts, so maybe you'll interview then.

If your application is compelling enough, we'll even interview you after the batch starts. We won't know the specific date of late interviews until we've reviewed your application (and everyone else's).

What is the deadline for submitting a late application?

There is no hard deadline. We'll keep allowing teams to submit late applications even whilst a batch has commenced. Again, the later you submit your application, the harder it is to get into YC.

Can I submit a late application after an on-time one?

No, please don't do this. If you submit a late application after already having submitted one on-time for the same startup, your application will be flagged as suspicious and won't get reviewed by partners. Please refrain from doing this and wait for the next application cycle to submit a new application.

I have a great reason for why my application is late - can you mark it as on time?

No, sorry. But don't worry! Just get it in as soon as possible.