Y Combinator is now accepting applications for the summer 2010 funding cycle. It will take place in Mountain View, CA from June through August 2010.

1. If you want to apply, please submit your application online by 10 pm PT on March 3, 2010. Groups that submit early have a significant advantage because we have more time to read their applications.

2. On March 13, we'll invite the groups that seem most promising to meet us in Mountain View on the weekend of March 26-29. We'll reimburse up to $600 per group for travel expenses.

3. We decide who to fund that weekend. Yes decisions will include the amount we'll invest and the percent of the company we'd want for it. We usually invest $11,000 + $3000n, where n is the number of participating founders, up to 3 (i.e. 2 founders get $17,000, 3 or more get $20,000), in return for between 2% and 10% of the company. The average is 6-7%.

4. If we invest in you, your group is expected to move to the Bay Area for June through August 2010. (You can of course leave afterward if you want, but it's a good place for a startup to be.)

5. After you're accepted, we'll immediately get to work helping you set up all your company paperwork, including getting you incorporated.

6. As soon as your company exists, we'll write a check to it for the investment. You can spend the money however you want.

7. Y Combinator is not an incubator. We have space you can use if you need to, but we expect you to work out of wherever you find to live. It is no coincidence that so many successful startups have started this way; it's the ideal setup for the initial phase.

8. From June through August we'll have dinners every Tuesday for all the founders. At each dinner we'll invite an expert in some aspect of startups to speak.

9. We have regular office hours year round for startups who want to talk about what they're building, or get advice on dealing with investors. We also have occasional events at YC in the afternoons.

10. In addition to the speakers, we introduce startups individually to people we feel will be able to help them. The founders of other YC-funded companies tend to be especially helpful. There are now over 400 of them, and they're usually very willing to give advice or make introductions.

11. About 10 weeks in, we'll organize a pair of investor days at which you can present to later stage investors. You can of course seek additional funding from any investor whenever you want.

12. YC doesn't really end after 3 months; only the dinners do. We continue to give advice and make introductions as long as founders need—and so does the informal network of YC-funded companies.

How do we choose who to fund? The people in your group are what matter most to us. We look for brains, motivation, and a sense of design. Experience is helpful but not critical.

Your idea is important too, but mainly as evidence that you can have good ideas. Most successful startups change their idea substantially.

We're more likely to fund people we know are smart from their submissions and comments on Hacker News. In fact, that was one of the main reasons we wrote it: so that we could get to know people before they applied.

The ideal company would have two or three founders. We'll consider those with four or five. We're reluctant to accept one-person companies, though we have funded a couple.

We don't expect you to have a formal business plan yet. All you have to do is fill out our application.

$11,000 + $3000n is not a lot, but it turns out to be enough. It will usually cover at least 4 months' living expenses, and that is enough time to build something nontrivial. It's in your interest to take little money in the earliest stages, because you give up less control for it.