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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. 

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