factual

Ten minutes is enough to judge working together

The first ten minutes of a YC interview is effectively the first ten minutes of YC itself — you learn what it is like to work with people by working with them, and that is enough; the probability of changing your mind drops sharply after the first minute or two and is essentially fixed by around seven minutes, even though seven minutes is not enough to be certain you are right.

factualpending

Speaker

Paul Graham

Evidence Quote

I would say YC interviews could actually be seven minutes instead of ten minutes, but ten minutes is already almost insultingly short

Source

Paul GrahamConversations with Tyler
Created: 6/12/2026, 4:55:44 PM

My Notes

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