I have never read a business plan or balance sheet
I’m surprised the YC application hasn’t been more of a focus in this discussion.The following questions are pulled from the application (perhaps an older version):What is your company going to make?Why did you pick this idea to work on? Do you have domain expertise in this area? How do you know people need what you're making?What's new about what you're making? What substitutes do people resort to because it doesn't exist yet (or they don't know about it)?Who are your competitors, and who might become competitors? Who do you fear most?What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get?How do or will you make money? How much could you make?How far along are you? Do you have a beta yet? If not, when will you? Are you launched? If so, how many users do you have? Do you have revenue? If so, how much? If you're launched, what is your monthly growth rate (in users or revenue or both)?—-These questions cover product description, value prop, market analysis, financial projections and more, all of which are the core of a “business plan”.Sure, the application may be structured in a different way, but the sentiment that PG has never read a business plan seems very disingenuous.