What Happens at YC

Introduction

Curious about what takes place at Warden Startup School? Here’s an overview of the program and the benefits of becoming a part of the Warden ecosystem

The Warden Program:

Program 1: For the student Entrepreneurs to kick start their journey towards venture building Click Here

Program 2: For early-stage founders Please find it below:

The Warden Startup School runs as a three-month intensive program, designed to transform ideas into scalable ventures. Here’s what happens during the program:

The Goal

At Warden, our mission is simple: to help founders thrive. Whether you’re at the ideation stage or already generating revenue, our goal is to elevate your startup to the next level. By the end of the program, you’ll have a refined product, a clear business strategy, and strong networks to secure funding or scale your operations.

Founders benefit from the program’s immersive environment, where peers, mentors, alumni, and the Warden team push each other to excel. The focus is singular: building successful businesses.

Key components of the program:

1. Structured Learning

Over 12 weeks, participants gain access to workshops, hands-on bootcamps, and masterclasses covering entrepreneurship essentials like:

  • Business Model Validation

  • Financial Planning

  • Go-to-Market Strategies

  • Fundraising Techniques

2. Group Support and Mentorship

Each batch is divided into smaller groups, guided by experienced mentors. Weekly one-on-one sessions help founders tackle challenges specific to their startup’s stage and goals.

3. Practical Tools and Resources

Participants gain access to the Warden Toolbox, a platform offering:

  • Expert-curated resources

  • Networking channels

  • Discussion boards

Founders can easily connect with peers, mentors, and domain experts for advice, collaboration, or feedback.

4. First Customers and Funding

The Warden community acts as a testbed, offering invaluable feedback to refine products. Additionally, our extensive network of investors ensures founders are introduced to a pool of potential funders.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Batch Retreat

At the beginning of the program, founders attend a 3-day retreat to connect with their peers, mentors, and the Warden team.

Weekly Meetups

Throughout the program, we host events featuring industry experts, networking dinners, and hands-on workshops to deepen learning and build connections.

Demo Day

The program culminates in Demo Day, where founders present their companies to an audience of investors, industry leaders, and the press.

BEYOND THE PROGRAM

Warden Startup School is a lifelong journey. Once you’re a Warden alum, you gain continued access to mentorship, networking opportunities, and exclusive benefits, including:

ADVICE

Ongoing office hours

Office hours don’t stop after the Warden program. We have office hours year-round, and startups from all previous cycles can book time whenever they want.

Deals

Each Warden company receives access to discounts and free accounts for over 100 products. Some of these are highly significant, including hundreds of thousands of dollars of free hosting for each company provided by major cloud hosting companies.

Brand

Credibility: The Warden badge signals to investors and customers that you’re part of a trusted, high-quality startup ecosystem

Hiring Support

Through Warden's Work with a Founder initiative, our alumni startups can attract and hire top talent from our network.

This is Warden Startup School: A place where ideas become innovations and founders become leaders.

Funding

Warden invests $150,000 in every company on standard terms. Our $150K investment is made on 2 separate safes:

  • We invest $50,000 on a post-money safe in return for 7% of your company (the “$50k safe”)

  • We invest $50,000 on a post-money safe in return for 7% of your company (the “$50k safe”)

  • We invest $100,000 on an uncapped safe with a Most Favored Nation (“MFN”) provision (the “MFN safe”)

  • The Warden Program

    • 1. The Goal

    • 2. Batch Retreat

    • 3. Weekly Meetups

    • 4. Demo Day

  • Advice

    • 1. Ongoing office hours

  • Deals

    • 1. Brand

    • 2. Credibility

  • Hiring

    • 1. Work at a startup

  • Funding

    • 1. Funding

  • Warden interview guide

This is Warden Startup School: A place where ideas become innovations and founders become leaders.

Warden Interview Guide

If you've been invited to a Warden interview, congratulations! We’ve designed Warden interviews so that you don’t need to do much preparation. Here's what you need to know and what we recommend you do - and don’t do - to prepare.

The Basics

How to Prepare for Your Warden Interview

Because interviews are so short, there just isn’t time for small talk or formal presentations. We only do two things at interviews: we ask you questions, and we look at what you’ve done so far.

How to Prepare for Your Warden Interview

Individuals looking for an edge on how to get accepted into Warden sometimes think that doing lots of interview preparation will help. However, beyond the basic preparation recommended here, it is not useful and is often counter-productive.

You don’t need to do mock interview prep, and we prefer that you don’t prepare any kind of presentation. We sometimes notice that individuals overprepare which does not increase the chances of their acceptance because it can make the interview more awkward. (For instance if individuals start to answer a question that hasn’t even been fully asked yet.)

There isn’t time for prepared speeches, slide presentations, or screencasts. We just want to have a conversation, and that works better when you are talking spontaneously. Warden interviews can go in many different directions. So don’t worry if the interview doesn’t take the form you expected.

Instead of rehearsing, make progress

If you really want to improve your chances of getting into Warden, the best way to get an edge is to work hard and have your startup improve between the time that you applied and the time that you interview. This may mean you launched, improved your product, increased revenue, etc. Demonstrating you can move fast and make quick progress is the most surefire way to impress your interviewers.

Be ready to describe what your company does

Typically the first question we ask is: What is your company working on? This is the most basic question an investor could ask, and yet you’d be surprised how many founders find it hard to answer clearly. Explain what you’re doing in a few simple, jargon-free sentences. We love learning new things. And a good startup idea usually teaches you something when you encounter it. Don’t worry if the new things about your idea are things only someone in your field would care about. We like that. We’d rather have interesting details than boring generalizations.

Understand your users and metrics

If you’re already launched, you should know everything you can about your users and your metrics. We’re impressed by startups who know a lot about their users, and can tell us what they learned.

Here are some questions we often ask if you’ve launched:

If you already have users, it is helpful to have your key metrics written down someplace where you can quickly reference them during the interview. We don’t expect teams to have every little number memorized, and having them written down will free you from feeling like you have to. Please note that if you state numbers in the interview we may ask for verification of them afterwards.

Don’t be afraid to be honest about challenges

It will also be useful to think about obstacles in your path. We often ask about those and we tend to be more convinced by candid discussion of difficulties than glib dismissal of them. You’re going to face obstacles; every startup does. If you act as if there aren’t any, it will seem to us that you have overlooked them.

We also don’t expect you to have all the answers. So if we ask a question you don’t know the answer to, don’t panic. A smart person trying sincerely to answer an unexpected question can lead to a great discussion.

You should be intimately familiar with the existing products in your market, and what, specifically, is wrong with them. It’s not enough to say that you’re going to make something that’s more powerful, or easier to use. You should be able to explain how.

Have a demo ready

We sometimes will ask to see a demo of what you’re building. By demo, we mean a working version of whatever you’ve built or plan to build. If you have a working version of your product, be ready to show it. If it’s software, have it loaded up and ready to screenshare with us. If it’s hardware, have it physically with you and be prepared to show us on the call. If it can’t be in the room with you, have a demo video available.

Make sure all founders are ready to participate

For teams with multiple founders, we prefer if each founder answers at least one question, so we get to know all of you a bit.

Be earnest

For teams with multiple founders, we prefer if each founder answers at least one question, so we get to know all of you a bit.

Post-Interview Feedback

If your team is not selected after the interview, we’ll give you feedback over email. Our aim is to offer genuinely useful advice that will make you more likely to succeed. It’s very common for teams to take our feedback, re-apply the following batch and get accepted.