Young Indian entrepreneurs cannot get enough of it. “It was a dream come true, we never thought we will get there,” says Harshil Mathur, cofounder, Razorpay, an online payment gateway. “It transformed our startup and scale of ambitions,” pipes in Archit Gupta, cofounder, ClearTax, a taxfiling platform. “Think of it as the Harvard for young entrepreneurs,” says Ritesh Malik, cofounder, Innov8, a co-working space.These budding entrepreneurs are raving about the Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator (popularly called YC) and its threemonth programme, often considered the best finishing school for early-stage entrepreneurs. Some call YC a startup factory that produced companies like Dropbox, Airbnb, Reddit and Stripe. Fast Company calls it the world’s most powerful startup incubator. Fortune magazine calls it a spawning ground for emerging tech giants. The California-based YC is what startup dreams are made of. And it seems India, in the middle of a startup boom, is getting some attention.YC was founded in 2005 and focused on startups mostly based out of the US. It was in 2014 that India showed up on the YC radar. Bengaluru-based ClearTax became the first India-focused startup to make it to YC’s three-month programme. Since then, many more Indian startups have joined the gang — Razorpay, Kisan Network (which connects farmers to the market), Justride (self-drive car rental), Meesho (an ecommerce enabler on mobile) and Innov8. “Today, after the US, India is the country that sends us the most applications,” says Kathrina Manalac, a partner at Y Combinator. YC is now reciprocating. Next month, as part of its 11-country tour, partners Tim Brady and Adora Cheung will make their first ever trip to India, the only Asian country on the itinerary.They will stop over in Delhi and Bengaluru, holding “office hours” and “fireside chats” — both interactive sessions — listening to and fielding questions from budding Indian entrepreneurs.YC is also adding some Indian flavour to its team of now 17 full-time partners. Early this month, it announced the appointment of Anu Hariharan, its first full-time Indian partner. Hariharan used to manage the growth stage investments for Andreessen Horowitz (See “Gap Between Silicon Valley & India is Shrinking”).Once upon a time, bright graduates from top Indian colleges took up wellpaying jobs with MNCs or headed to the Ivy Leagues for higher education. That is passé. More and more of them now harbour startup dreams. Big on ideas and high on ambition, these young and inexperienced graduates would do well with some handholding, and a kind of a finishing school to hone their entrepreneurial skills.Successful tech billionaires and companies are rolling out incubator (relatively early stage) and accelerator programmes across the world. The numbers vary wildly but, according to some reports, the US has over 300 accelerator and over 1,200 incubator programmes.In 2011, billionaire Peter Thiel set up a fellowship that gave bright college students $100,000 to drop out of school and work on their startup idea. In 2012, Microsoft launched its global accelerator programme Microsoft Ventures, which is present in many global cities, including Bengaluru, Beijing, Berlin, London, Paris, Seattle and Tel Aviv. It runs a three-tosix month immersive programme, which helps entrepreneurs with the tools, resources, knowledge, expertise, mentoring and even office space to help scale their startups. While most such programmes take equity in the startups they pick, Microsoft Ventures does not pick up a stake or charge a fee.India too has seen a mushrooming of over 50 accelerators and incubator programmes. Some are backed by business houses. For example, TLabs has been set up by Times Internet Ltd (an internet subsidiary of The Times Group that publishes this magazine). The 16-week programme offers mentorship from seasoned entrepreneurs and investors.TLabs invests up to Rs 30 lakh for an 8% equity. The government too is entering the fray. For example, Indian Angel Network Incubator was set up in partnership with the ministry of science and technology. It incubates startups for 18-24 months. Academic institutions like the IITs and IIMs have also set up their own startup programmes. IIT-Delhi has a programme called Technology Business Incubator. IIM-Ahmedabad runs one of the most successful programmes called Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship. It recently launched a $25 million clean-tech fund to focus on startups looking at green energy.But undoubtedly YC remains the oldest and the most sought-after accelerator programme in the world. What makes it so special? How tough is it to get into their programme? What are those three months in the Silicon Valley like? To get some insights and perspective, ET Magazine reached out to the founders of five Indian startups which got through the programme.In May 2015, Razorpay’s Mathur and cofounder Shashank Kumar had just quit their jobs to turn entrepreneurs. By September, they were in their beta launch, with an in-principle approval for bank licence when they decided to try their luck at YC. “The application form had some tough questions. It helped clear our minds,” says Mathur. An IIT graduate, he had worked with MNCs like Schlumberger. Kumar, also an IITian, had studied in the US and worked with Microsoft in Redmond. Over a week, they sought tips from their own and extended network, some of whom were YC alumni like ClearTax founder Gupta.One October night, around 2 am, when the duo were out on a stroll in Jaipur, where they were bootstrapping their startup from home, Kumar got an email from YC that they had qualified for the finals. But Kumar decided to play a prank. “What if we don’t get through?” he asked Mathur, pretending to be downcast. They began discussing the options seriously when Kumar let on that they had got it. “We were on top of the world,” recalls Mathur. Leaving nothing to chance, preparation for the D-Day — which is a 10-minute interview in Silicon Valley, with YC footing the bill — began in earnest. Answering sample questions on the Web was the first step. They also cold-emailed YC alumni. “We would have approached 30-40 folks around San Francisco, who were part of the YC network, requesting if they could do a mock interview with us,” says Mathur.About half of them responded. Eventually, either in person or over Skype, they managed over 10 mock interviews. That’s why they arrived at Silicon Valley a week before their interview. They got some practice and learnt some dos and don’ts: speak slowly, stick to the 10-minute limit, give crisp answers but with enough context, and divide questions evenly between the founders.True to Silicon Valley culture, the interview wasn’t a formal affair. Casually dressed in tees, jeans and sneakers, the Razorpay cofounders were grilled by four partners: What do you do? What are you building? Why is it needed? What is the Indian problem you are solving? “They also check for founder chemistry,” says Mathur. At sharp 6 in the evening, they got a call to say they had got through. “It was like getting through IIT. Maybe even better,” he says.It was different for ClearTax cofounder Archit Gupta, who did not even get an interview call in his first attempt in 2012. “It was a good thing. It was a half-baked idea,” he reflects. In 2014, two days before the deadline, Gupta applied without even telling his cofounders Srivatsan Chari and Ankit Solanki. He sat for eight hours straight, filling up the form. YC reverted later, asking for a video of the cofounders. All three of them in different cities then, they somehow recorded a video on Google Hangouts and sent it.“It is often difficult to judge how the interview went. The panel’s faces offer no clues,” says Vidit Aatrey, cofounder, Meesho. He thought he had messed up as they had spent almost eight minutes dwelling on one question. “Later I was told that whenever they like something they go deep into it. And they understand that you may not have all the answers right now,” he says.Once on board, each startup gets $120,000 in its account in exchange for 7% equity. Ideally, YC expects all cofounders to come to the US for the three-month programme. The founders use their own funds, including YC’s seed money, to meet their living expenses. Founders work out of their residence. The programme is loosely structured except for a few fixed events like Tuesday dinners where a successful entrepreneur joins in for a frank chat about what it took to build her startup.Each batch (the most recent one had 107 startups) is split into four or five groups and each group is further divided into two subgroups. Each group is assigned two mentors and, every alternate week, one subgroup gets to spend time with their mentors in what are called group office hours, discussing issues, asking questions and seeking help. “It helped us draw insights from the mistakes, issues and learnings of other startups,” says Sanjay K Agarwalla, cofounder, Kisan Network.There are also weekly one-on-one sessions that entrepreneurs schedule to spend time with a mentor, discussing their progress and exploring ways to tackle a range of issues they may be facing. For example, Aditya Agarwalla of Kisan Network recalls how his mentor helped him analyse not just what he did wrong but also what he did right to draw traffic to the platform. Thanks to one of those sessions, he also realised that instead of offering discounts they should focus on delivering a high-quality product and delivery convenience. “It worked. We saw customer satisfaction and repeat purchases go up,” he says. Malik of Innov8 says he has come away with many learnings. The first thing YC helped him do is get clarity on his goals and visions. They often asked him about the one big problem he was facing. “I was automatically forced to think of one answer. It helped me prioritise,” he says. As a result, instead of the earlier 17-18 tasks on his to-do list, he now has just two-three at a time.“They also push you to think big, build a good pilot, bootstrap and not chase funding. Funds will come, they say,” says Malik. It is an advice he has taken seriously. So instead of 5,000-6,000 sq ft co-working spaces in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, he is now looking at 25,000 sq ft large campuses in big cities. “They helped release my brakes. I started thinking big and global. I feel a lot confident now. Somehow, even my publicspeaking skills have improved,” he says.However, it is not just work that YC focuses on. Malik and others say it pushes founders to inculcate good personal habits and focus on health, sleep and diet, which entrepreneurs often ignore. “Their constant refrain was: you are in the business of running a marathon, not a sprint,” says Malik. He has now begun to work out and find some time for personal relationships, which he was ignoring earlier. Vidit Aatrey of Meesho says YC lays emphasis on building the right culture. “From the outside, you get the impression that all top entrepreneurs are like Steve Jobs or (Uber’s Travis) Kalanick, who are super arrogant and do not respect others,” he says. The first thing YC told them was that contrary to popular opinion, most successful entrepreneurs are nice people and that’s the only way to build great teams and good companies.One piece of advice that was useful for the Kisan Network founders was: “Don’t dwell on something too long. Try something else if it isn’t working.” YC helped them refine and improve upon their user engagement model. Initially, they thought, YC would bring little value to a rural-focused startup. “I was wrong. The only way to disrupt a business is through technology. And they are great at that,” says Sanjay.The best thing about the YC programme, all five entrepreneurs admit, is that it gives them an entry into that haloed, powerful and connected world of YC alumni. Estimated at 2,400, many of them steer some of the most exciting startups in Silicon Valley. These entrepreneurs gain entry into a closed social network called Book Face. It dramatically opens up possibilities — of funding, connections and expert advice.This is available not just for those three months but lifelong. For example, when Malik was grappling with a few real estate issues, a YC partner connected him to somebody at Cushman & Wakefield who helped him understand the nuances of real estate better. And when Aatrey was grappling with a few issues on a social media platform, he reached out to the network and got a reply within 24 hours from a seasoned executive in the Valley.Gupta of ClearTax recalls sitting with a YC batchmate and grappling with an issue around Google Analytics. A partner introduced him to an expert in the area and within three hours he got a response.The three-month programme ends with a Demo Day on which each startup gets 2.5 minutes to make a pitch to a high-profile gathering of 500-odd serious investors. Most founders have got investors on board after the YC tag. “It is perhaps the best day to raise funds,” says Mathur. That’s exactly what he did. He exchanged cards with about 100 investors and, over the next two weeks, took it forward, finally getting 33 angel investors (over half of them based in the US and the remaining in India) on board, even before he returned home. To help entrepreneurs, YC has a standard term sheet as a public document called YC Safe, which means the only thing founders have to negotiate is the valuation and equity stake. One month after the seed round, Mathur even got a Series A round through the YC network; a YC investor connected them to Tiger Global and things just fell into place.“At IIT you get technical education. Think of YC as a compressed MBA where you get real-life experience on management issues,” says Mathur.Earlier this month, Y Combinator (YC) appointed Anu Hariharan as a partner in its Continuity Fund to focus on growth stage investments. She will be the first partner of Indian origin. She joins from Andreessen Horowitz and has a good perspective on the India market. In a telephone interview with Malini Goyal, Hariharan shares her perspective on YC, India, Indian entrepreneurs and the startup ecosystem here. Edited excerpts:The first startup we funded that focused on building for the Indian market was ClearTax in 2014. The Times of India wrote a story about ClearTax being in YC - and after that we started seeing more Indian founders applying to YC. The increase in Indian companies in YC is likely reflective of the fact that we're seeing more applications from India. After the US, India is the country that sends us the most applications.India has many unique problems. What is the depth of understanding YC has on India. For us, India is a relatively new initiative. Our focus and efforts will increase as we scale and evolve here. We will learn over time and will continue to iterate as we grow.We started tracking application numbers in 2007, and back then we got just over 400 applications. Now we get well over 6,000. The first batch of YC, in summer 2005 had 8 just companies. There are 107 companies this summer, about 30% from outside the US. One of the reasons we fund more companies now is that we're seeing an increase of great applications coming from all over the world.YC's motto is: "Make something people want." Most companies that fail end up failing because they didn't accomplish that. During YC we tell our founders that the only two things they should be doing while at YC are coding (building product) and talking to users. That's the best way to start down the path of building something people want.Our biggest fear is missing great companies.We would advise them to continue to focus on solving the problems relevant to India as they are doing today. There are two types of problems one can solve in India - real problems and tackling inefficiencies. Quite a few of the startups are focused on solving both these days which is great. Unlike developed markets, these are not easy problems to solve. For example the shipping and logistics infrastructure in India is still not developed and e-commerce companies in India have to come up with many creative ways to get the package delivered reliably in a reasonable time. Therefore it is important to focus on solving both real problem and inefficiencies and not just inefficiencies.My other advice to entrepreneurs is to focus on building a great product from early on. Since there is so much talent available in India, it can be tempting to throw more people to solve a problem rather than using technology to solve the problem, but in the long term "people heavy" solutions may not be that easily scalable and can prove to be costly. If you look at revenue per employee in India by vertical it is quite low when compared to the rest of the world. Therefore it is important to right size the company from early on.At YC we commonly say - build a product that 100 customers love rather than 1 million people kind of like.There is no doubt that India will be the fastest growing economy in the world for the next 10+ years. We will see many more $100M in revenue businesses being built in India. The key change I have seen in founders these days is their ambition. It is inspiring to see that entrepreneurs don't want to just build companies for India, but for the world from early on. I think Indian companies have the potential to build products, services and solutions for the 4 billion consumers who are outside of the US, Western Europe and China. A lot of the pain points in India are relevant in these other markets and you are seeing entrepreneurs expand fairly early on to other parts of the world.If you are a startup you have to be innovative. Even if you are considered a clone, you need to have localized innovation to be able to win your market. It is heartening to see that many of the startups in India are innately familiar with the current trends (machine learning, artificial intelligence). And even if they have not implemented it yet they are focused on building it as part of their long term roadmap. The gap between the Silicon Valley and India is shrinking. Now we have a flight between Delhi and San Francisco and it is less than 18 hours away! Entrepreneurs travel back and forth often - both to share knowledge and learn as well as recruit top talent. There are lots of Indians in the valley who are quite excited about the startup ecosystem in India and would be willing to move back if they find the right opportunity.Firstly, I am impressed by how much this government is motivated to do for the Indian startup ecosystem.I think the private ecosystem in India is well capable of fostering innovation. What would be helpful from the government is to remove any regulatory uncertainty and friction from the path of innovation. There will be old economies that will be disrupted as a result but that is how the innovation takes its course.I think the government can really invest in moonshot innovation - big hairy problems like solving for pollution, clean water and electric vehicles - just the way ISRO is doing a fantastic job of enhancing the small satellite low cost launch service in India