Y Combinator Now Accepting Late Applications

Interesting move by Y Combinator to now accept late applications.

“But it seems too much to expect that everyone who will start a startup in June will have decided to by the beginning of March, so this cycle we’re going to try something new. We’re going to consider late applications right up till the summer cycle starts at the beginning of June.”

A very pro-entrepreneur move and a prudent one, I think, for Y Combinator, as well.  Given the rapidly changing markets that early-stage ventures exist in, it’s certainly reasonable to expect that that a cutting edge idea in April might not be a good fit the following program period.  As a result, YC is making sure that there’s no excuse for them not to be able to take a look at great concepts when it makes sense for the entrepreneur, rather than try to fit them to an arbitrary schedule.  It also seems like another key element to consider in the comparison between graduate school and seed-stage accelerator programs for entrepreneurs.

From Y Combinator’s Posterous.