I'm extremely interested in applying for the next YC round. I have a concept with a day-one business model. I have been developing the concept for about 6 months, just locally running php code, and the results are enough to convince me there might be some value here. The one thing I'm lacking is a dedicated co-founder.
I've been reading extensively through the application and related info, and the biggest thing that pops out at me is its highly encouraged to have at least 2 cofounders, even better with 3. PG has even said several times that its highly unlikely for a lone developer to get accepted.
Another friend of mine is extremely good with data analytics, which will be a vital component of this. She's not a coder though, but I hope will be a great contributor to the project.
I have the front-end handled. I have some experience working with EC2 and setting up server environments and have had several years of php coding experience. Overall, I know enough that I can string this together, throw some ducktape on it, and get it launched. But its going to be much, much harder than need be.
I am open to any kind of backend infrastructure except java. Python, RoR, php, Erlang, Arc, whatever. Java is a nightmare I just escaped and have no intentions of going back.
If you are reading this and you seriously, seriously interested in shooting for starting a company and our skills complement each other, email me asap. We only have a few days left to get it together.
Email is geuis.teses@gmail.com
*Edit based on comments:
The core idea is a content publishing tool for real-time content. We aggregate real-time content from a variety of sources. Users are able to filter through content based on a variety of methods to monitor exactly the kind of content they are interested in.
Secondly, we provide a publishing tool that allows users to republish filtered content to any number of their own services. This would work for sites ranging from major news portals to status updates on social networks.
The third leg of the system involves extensive analytics tracking on republished content.
The business model is freemium, with a limited free account and paid versions that allow full access to all features.
I guess it is possible but just make sure there is at least some team chemistry and that you guys are compatible, since if you get into YC you'll be living together for at least 3 months. Best of luck!