Comment by mceachen

Although you can argue that a "product does not make a business," many businesses start off with a single product.

Kickstarter is great way to determine if there is commercial viability for an product, but only within the early adopter customer segment -- and that's about it.

YC primarily looks for teams they like. The description of the product idea in the application is indicative of the team's ability to communicate (which is critical), and the actual idea may give a glimpse into the judgement of the team, but a good number of teams (including mine) pivoted pretty dramatically during our time in YC.

Steve Blank, who spoke to our batch, says that a startup is a temporary organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Understanding this, and understanding when to pivot, was one of the most critical teachings made by YC.