Hey HN!

The end of the year is a time of reflection and when many founders decide it’s time to make a change and get serious about their startup.

Even though the official YC W24 application deadline was in October, we know there are founders that haven’t already applied but are interested in being a part of the batch. These founders have decided now is the time to get serious about their startup.

We didn’t want those people to miss out on the chance to participate in the W24 batch, and we had some extra bandwidth to review late applications, so we’re opening up a special application process just for them.

So, if you’ve been thinking about applying to YC for a while and just got to the point where you are ready to actually do it, you can apply now and get a quick decision rather than waiting for the summer batch.

A few operational details:

1. Apply by December 13 at 5pm Pacific Time. You’ll hear back by December 20th. (Yes, that’s a 7 day turnaround)

2. To be eligible for these late W24 interviews, in your answer to the question “If you have a referral code”, include the string: HNW24 (yes, we made a special referral code for HN so we can understand where our users come from)

3. This is for founders that did not already apply for the W24 batch at some point in the past.

There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.