Y Combinator Question 35: Which Category Does Each of Your Brainstormed Ideas Fit?

This Y Combinator question assesses how a startup categorizes and prioritizes different types of product development tasks based on their brainstormed ideas.

Frederik van Lierde - May 28, 2024

Articles

Y Combinator

Part of the series:
Y Combinator: 40 Questions and 40 Answers

Properly classifying these ideas into meaningful categories such as new features, maintenance tasks, and experiments (A/B tests) is crucial for effective resource allocation and strategic planning.

1. Why Y Combinator Asks This Question

Y Combinator wants to understand how you structure and prioritize product development tasks. This classification helps determine your team’s focus areas and how you balance innovation with maintenance and optimization of existing features.

It also provides insight into your testing and validation processes, showing how data-driven and user-focused your development strategy is.

2. How to Answer the Question

Describe the system or framework your team uses to classify and prioritize brainstormed ideas. Explain how each category is defined within your team and the criteria used to decide which category an idea falls into.

Discuss how these categories align with your overall product strategy and business goals.

For instance, you might explain that new feature ideas are evaluated based on their potential to enhance user satisfaction and drive engagement, maintenance tasks are prioritized by their urgency and impact on user experience, and A/B tests are selected based on their ability to provide meaningful insights into user preferences and behaviours.

3. How NOT to Answer the Question

Avoid responses that suggest a lack of structured thinking or a disorganized approach to handling development tasks.

Do not imply that all tasks are treated the same without a clear strategy for prioritization based on impact or alignment with business objectives.

4. An Example, Based on a Tech Startup

Let’s consider a tech startup, FitTech, that develops wearable fitness trackers. Here’s how they might respond: Categorization of Brainstormed Ideas:

New Features/Interactions: “Ideas for new features or enhancements to existing ones are categorized based on their potential to increase user engagement and retention. For example, adding a social sharing feature that allows users to post achievements directly to social media is currently under consideration.”
Bug Fixes/Other Maintenance: “Maintenance tasks such as bug fixes are prioritized based on their severity and the volume of user feedback we receive. For instance, a common issue reported in our user feedback tool that affects battery life is a top priority for our next sprint.”
A/B Tests: “We categorize ideas for A/B tests based on specific hypotheses we want to validate about user behavior or preferences. An upcoming test will compare two different user interfaces to see which one results in higher daily usage rates.”
Strategic Alignment: “Each category aligns with our overarching goal of enhancing user satisfaction while ensuring the stability and scalability of our product. We allocate resources across these categories to maintain a balance between innovation, reliability, and continuous learning through user feedback.”
Strategic Alignment: “Each category aligns with our overarching goal of enhancing user satisfaction while ensuring the stability and scalability of our product. We allocate resources across these categories to maintain a balance between innovation, reliability, and continuous learning through user feedback.”

Y Combinator wants to understand how startups categorize and prioritize their product development tasks, aiming to understand their strategic approach to balancing innovation, maintenance, and experimentation for optimal resource allocation.

Leave a comment, an idea, a related blog post on X (Twitter)

X (Twitter)