The following doc will provide answers to common questions by the YC partners during the interview process. This doc is meant to act as a refresher for the founders around the business esp. working remotely and async
The interview is essentially an abbreviated version of office hours. Every founder and every business is unique, so the experience will be somewhat different for everyone.
That said, the first thing I seek to establish when interviewing someone is whether or not we are able to communicate. A founder who can't communicate will have trouble raising money, talking to users, selling to customers, etc. Furthermore, if we are not able to productively communicate with the founders, then the YC experience will be mutually frustrating and unproductive for both us and the founders, so we avoid those situations. Unfortunately, many people, especially those who have spent a long time inside of big companies, are stuck in BS mode and are either incapable of or unwilling to give direct answers. If I have to ask the exact same question five times, that's a bad sign for you. See the video of PG's office hours at last year's Startup School for some examples of communication failure.
Beyond communication, I also want to know why the founders believe the things that they do. Too many people simply repeat what they've been told or read somewhere. If you're really going to innovate and produce exceptional outcomes, you need to see past the noise and groupthink. So the question becomes, can you actually see the truth, or are you just repeating what you've been told?
YC Office Hours is a good example of how an interview process goes for YC applicants. Here is Ryan from Flexport (val. $3.2B) doing office hours with PG and SA
https://youtu.be/syoqjYLDs48?t=1169
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