Many say that success in business and life often is a matter of timing. In the case of Y Combinator and its recently completed Startup School, I would have to concur completely. As Michael Mandel, Chief Economist for BusinessWeek, shared during his presentation at Startup School, most economies can be defined by four words: "Boom, Bust, Boom, Bust". He also said that he believes the Internet is entering a new Boom cycle.

Y Combinator is a new kind of venture firm specializing in funding early stage startups. The company funds startups in batches instead of taking the usual approach of funding startups individually. Startup School is Y Combinator's initiative to help more potential entrepreneurs understand the process of moving from an idea to a company.

Recently, Y Combinator finished work with its first batch of startups from the Summer Founders Program. A group of eight companies started this program back in May 2005. Paul Graham, the founder of ViaWeb, which sold to Yahoo in 1998, author of Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age and a partner in Y Combinator, said, "if I had to guess now, I'd predict three or four of the eight startups we funded will make it".

According to the final report of the Working Group on Venture Capital, a joint effort between the Department of Commerce and the Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry, there is a fundamental failure in the provision of early-stage financing for startups in both the US and the EU. So it would seem that Y Combinator and the Startup School are timed well to fill a clear need. As many of the speakers at Startup School would agree, filling a clear need is key to the success of any startup.

As a participant in Startup School, it was amazing to witness approximately 500 aspiring entrepreneurs gathered for this program. Demand to participate was even more impressive. I heard from Jessica Livingston, a partner with Y Combinator, that over 700 people applied. The school was held on the campus of Harvard University in Hall B of the Science Center.

Although the school was held at the tail end of a week-long autumn rain spell, October 15, there seemed to be few no shows--and with good reason. Startup School featured a first rate line-up of experts on the topic of starting technology companies. In addition, the speakers included representatives from both Yahoo and Google.

For many, the highlight of the line-up was a presentation by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer. Steve delivered a presentation full of energy and insights into an historical era of the computer industry. He poignantly stated what many of the speakers pointed out when talking about innovating: "To me, goodness is having the fewest parts." In other words, keep it simple.

According to Livingston, the list of speakers invited originally consisted of people that spoke to the participants of the original Summer Founder's Program. Additional speakers were added to fill in gaps to ensure that participants heard about all of the aspects Y Combinator feels are important to know when starting new companies.

Startup School actually was Paul Graham's idea, and it came about even before the first Summer Founders Program. Livingston recalled that Paul approached her about doing the Startup School. Along the way, the Summer Founders Program emerged as a result of their development of Paul's original idea. Following the success of the original batch of startups, though, they still felt strongly about trying to help more potential entrepreneurs, especially for free. Ultimately, Y Combinator felt the best way to help was to educate people. Essentially their observations are that many of the people Y Combinator talks with are brilliant but generally are terrified by the concept of forming a business. This was confirmed by one of the Summer Founders. In the concluding session of the Startup School, which included some of the original Summer Founders, Aaron Swartz shared that when he was explaining his plans for the summer, he did not tell people that he was going to be working on starting a company. He would tell people only that he would be working for a company, because it seemed so absurd to think he was starting a company.

In summary, Y Combinator's Startup School included a stellar group of startup experts and a lot of concise, easy-to-use startup advice. I'm sure that many of the attendees left with a new perspective on starting a company. Another idea that was repeated by more than one speaker was to follow your passion. By merely attending Startup School, I believe that many in attendance are on their way to doing exactly that. I met people from Canada, Mexico, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Atlanta, and I'm sure many other places even farther away from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Traveling thousands of miles with your own money to hear about starting a company seems like a great definition of passion, don't you think? I'm convinced that many future startups will emerge from this first class of Startup School attendees. I'm also convinced that many of them will apply for the Winter Founders Program, although they should hurry. The October 25th deadline is approaching quickly.