Accelerator Interview Questions: A Rehearsal List for First-Time Founders

For a first-time founder, rehearsal should mean knowing your own company well enough to answer plainly, not memorising a script. YC’s published interview guide provides a useful set of prompts for that preparation, but they are YC-specific and should not be treated as a universal checklist for every accelerator.

The questions YC says it asks

YC says its interviews do only two things: “we ask you questions, and we look at what you’ve built so far.” Its questions cover the company, its users, performance, unresolved obstacles and the alternatives it faces.

1. What is the company working on?

The typical first question is:

> “What is your company working on?”

YC asks founders to explain what they are doing “in a few simple, jargon-free sentences.” For rehearsal, focus on making that explanation understandable without relying on specialist language. The purpose is not to compress every detail into the opening answer, but to give the interviewers a clear starting point for the conversation.

2. Where do new users come from?

YC’s next listed question is:

> “Where do new users come from?”

This is a question about how users reach the company. Rehearse an answer that you can substantiate rather than a general claim about the market. If the source of users is unclear, do not fill the gap with a confident-sounding assumption; saying that you do not know yet is acceptable.

3. What is the growth like?

YC separately asks:

> “What is your growth like?”

Keep this distinct from the question about where users come from. One concerns the source of users; the other concerns the pattern of growth. Review the figures or observations available to you and be ready to explain them directly.

If you state numbers during the interview, YC says it may ask for verification afterwards. That makes accuracy and familiarity with your own figures especially important.

4. How much are users using the product, and do they stick around?

The guide combines two closely related subjects in one question:

> “How much are your users using the product, and do they stick around?”

Rehearse both parts. Be ready to discuss the extent of product usage and whether users remain, rather than addressing only one half of the question. YC does not require founders to pretend to have every answer; it expects them to respond candidly when the answer is not yet known.

5. What are the unit economics?

YC also asks:

> “What are your unit economics?”

Do not replace this prompt with a broad claim about commercial potential. Rehearse the explanation that you can support, and be prepared to say “I don’t know yet” if a necessary figure or conclusion is unavailable. The guide explicitly rules out creating detailed financials for the interview, as well as making claims beyond what you know.

6. What makes new users try you?

The next question moves from growth to the reasons behind adoption:

> “What makes new users try you?”

A useful rehearsal check is whether your answer explains the product as you understand it, without unsupported claims. If you cannot yet articulate the answer, acknowledge the uncertainty rather than presenting a guess as a finding.

7. Why do the reluctant ones hold back?

YC follows adoption with the question:

> “Why do the reluctant ones hold back?”

This asks founders to consider the reasons users hesitate. Do not assume that every prospective user should become a user, or turn the answer into a dismissal of those who remain reluctant. The guide’s wider message is candidness: founders are not expected to have every answer, and acknowledging an unknown is preferable to pretending otherwise.

8. What are the top things users want?

YC asks:

> “What are the top things users want?”

Rehearse what you know about user requests and keep the answer connected to your company rather than an expansive market forecast. The guide provides no universal scoring method or required format for this answer; the central task is to respond to the question YC has asked.

9. What has surprised you about user behavior?

The related behaviour question is:

> “What has surprised you about user behavior?”

Review what has genuinely surprised you and what you can explain about that behaviour. Do not manufacture a polished surprise for the interview. If there is no clear answer, it is acceptable to say that you do not know yet.

10. What obstacles are in your path?

For challenges, YC says:

> “It will also be useful to think about obstacles in your path.”

YC adds that its interviewers “tend to be more convinced by candid discussion of difficulties than glib dismissal of them.” Rehearsing this area should therefore help you discuss difficulties directly, not train you to conceal them. An unresolved obstacle does not need to be disguised as a solved one.

11. What is specifically wrong with existing products?

YC’s competition guidance is direct:

> “You should be intimately familiar with the existing products in your market, and what, specifically, is wrong with them.”

The key word is “specifically.” Be ready to explain what you see as wrong with existing products, not merely that they exist. This is also where the prohibition on arrogance and dishonesty applies: familiarity with alternatives should inform a factual discussion rather than become an attack.

Know the interview format

YC interviews are 10-minute conversations over Zoom. Expect 2–3 YC Partners to be on the call, and all founders should be present.

The interviewers will have read the application and have it open during the conversation. YC says there is no time for small talk or a formal presentation. Its stated agenda is limited to questions and a look at what the founders have built so far.

That format makes clarity especially important. Founders should know what the company is working on, be able to answer the substantive questions without relying on a prepared presentation, and have the product ready to demonstrate. Product readiness is part of interview preparation, not an optional addition to it.

Prepare by making progress, not by over-rehearsing

YC explicitly says:

> “Don’t rehearse”

It qualifies this advice by saying that, beyond its basic preparation recommendations, further rehearsal “is not useful and is often counter-productive.” Instead, it recommends:

> “make progress”

YC links the ability to move fast and make quick progress with what impresses its interviewers. The question list is therefore best used as a self-check. It can reveal which parts of the company, user base or market you understand well and which parts still need work. Turning every answer into polished wording can obscure those gaps rather than resolve them.

Keep key metrics easy to find

YC says that founders who already have users will find it helpful to have their key metrics written down “someplace where you can quickly reference them during the interview.”

Prepare a concise reference that you can check quickly. Use the interview topics to review what you can substantiate, but do not confuse YC’s listed questions with a universal metric template.

Be equally familiar with any numbers you intend to state. YC warns that it may ask for verification after the interview. Being able to explain and substantiate a figure is more useful than displaying a figure solely to make the answer appear stronger.

Have the product or demo ready

YC gives separate instructions for software and hardware:

• For software, have it loaded and ready to screenshare.
• For hardware, have it physically in the room.
• If the hardware cannot be in the room, have a demo video available.

Check the relevant option before the call rather than planning to solve the issue during the interview. The requirement is not a formal presentation; it is readiness to show what has been built.

Give every founder a role in the answers

All founders should attend. For a team with multiple founders, YC says it prefers that each founder answers at least one question.

This is a preparation responsibility as well as an interview preference. Every founder should be able to enter the conversation, answer at least one prompt and support the other founders without speaking over them.

What YC explicitly tells founders not to do

YC’s don’t-list is unambiguous. Do not:

• “Be dishonest in any way”
• “Be arrogant or unfriendly”
• “Be overly aggressive”
• “Seem indecisive”
• “Talk so much they cannot get a word in edgewise”
• “Create detailed financials”
• “Use ridiculous / silly market size numbers without clear justification”
• “Claim you know something that you don’t”
• “Be afraid to say you don’t know”
• “Spend time on the obvious”
• “Ask for an NDA”

Several entries reinforce the same principle: do not manufacture certainty. That applies to market-size figures, financial detail, user behaviour, growth and unit economics. If you do not know, say so. YC specifically says it is okay to say “I don’t know yet” and tells founders not to panic when asked a question they cannot answer.

The strongest preparation is therefore not a performance without gaps. It is a clear account of what the company is doing, direct answers to YC’s questions, easy access to the metrics you can substantiate, a working demonstration and a candid account of what remains unresolved.