Skip to content
Surprising Science —

No Idea? No Problem. Start a Company!

The famous start up incubator Y Combinator, which is responsible for products like Reddit and Dropbox, is now accepting applications from teams and individuals who don’t have an actual business idea. 
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

What’s the Latest Development?

The San Francisco start up incubator Y Combinator is now accepting applications for its next funding round and has opened the applicant pool to groups and individuals who—wait for it—have no actual business idea. Groups and individuals who are nonetheless passionate about starting a new business are encouraged to apply for the summer funding cycle until March 28, when the application deadline expires. “We’re not sure if this will work,” says a statement from the Y Combinator brain trust, “but if it does we’ll do it from now on.”

What’s the Big Idea?

Y Combinator is a new way of starting businesses that relies on generous seed funding, an extensive network of successful alumni and a commitment to an open and free exchange of ideas. It aims to create the Silicon Valley of technology start ups. The incubator is responsible for success stories like Dropbox and Reddit, which according to the incubator’s staff, began as an idea for a cell-phone food ordering service. It goes to show that the source of a great business idea can look very different, practically unrecognizable, from the end result. 

Photo credit: shutterstock.com

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people
Related
Surprising Science
Business Model innovation for the Health Insurance Provider
Our idea offers a solution for how the for-profit health insurance provider business model can be innovated on to not only allow for active participation and collaboration by policyholders in the creation of value, generate additional revenue and help finance the cost of health plans, but also provide for the realization of an improved, and invariably more productive alignment of interests and strategies across the entire healthcare value network.
Surprising Science
Business Model innovation for the Health Insurance Provider
Our idea offers a solution for how the for-profit health insurance provider business model can be innovated on to not only allow for active participation and collaboration by policyholders in the creation of value, generate additional revenue and help finance the cost of health plans, but also provide for the realization of an improved, and invariably more productive alignment of interests and strategies across the entire healthcare value network.
Up Next