YC demo video: what to make for your Y Combinator application
Founders searching for "YC demo video" are often mixing up two different things in the Y Combinator application: the founder video, which YC is very specific about, and the product demo, which has its own place in the form. Getting them confused is an easy way to waste the one minute YC gives you.
The founder video: what YC actually asks for
- One minute, founders only. "The video should be 1 minute long and should contain nothing except the founders talking" (Y Combinator).
- What to cover. Introduce yourselves, explain what you're doing and why, and add anything else about the founders or the project (Y Combinator).
- All founders in it. If you can't be in the same room, YC suggests screen recording a video call (Y Combinator).
- No script. "Do not recite a written script: Use bullet points instead" (Y Combinator).
- Not a promo. "This is not the place to submit a demo or promotional video. If you have a demo for your product, there is a separate place in the application for that" (Y Combinator).
So no music, no motion graphics and no product footage in the founder video. A phone on a stack of books, decent light and a quiet room are all the production it needs.
The product demo
YC's video page doesn't set detailed rules for the demo beyond giving it its own place, so check the current application form when you apply. What reviewers are trying to learn from it is simple enough to plan for: does the product exist, does it work, and do you understand what matters about it.
- Show the real product working, recorded from your screen, not mockups or slides.
- Start with the core action. The thing a user does that makes the product worth having, in the first seconds.
- Keep it short. Aim for one to two minutes, one workflow, narrated plainly.
- Use real or realistic data, and say honestly what's live and what isn't.
There's a step-by-step guide to recording a clean demo of your app, and the demo video script guide covers what to show in what order.
Where Teasr fits, and where it doesn't
For the application itself, we'd skip it: YC asks for founders talking in one video and a working product in the other, and a motion graphics promo is neither. Teasr is useful once you're telling the outside world, for a launch post, a Product Hunt gallery or your landing page, where a short branded video made from your website in about 10 minutes, from €19.50, does the job. See how to make a product launch video.