YCombinator’s Paul Graham now taking applications for Startup School 2013 (and it’s free)

If you want to start a startup, there’s a school for that. It’s called Startup School, and it was created by YCombinator’s Paul Graham, who is now taking applications for attendees.

The best part? It’s free.

Previous speakers have included Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, superangel Ron Conway, Pinterest founder Ben Silbermann, and Uber founder Travis Kalanick. They apparently know a thing or two about starting startups — billion-dollar startups.

“Are you a programmer, engineer, or designer who has thought about one day starting a startup?” Startup School’s site asks. “Have you already started it? Then you’re invited to a free, one-day startup school.”

Paul Graham

If you want to get in, the price is clearly right, but you’re going to have to jump through a few hoops. With speakers like these, there’s a lot of competition for limited seats. So Graham has set up an application form for you to tell Y Combinator about your education, work, developer tools, and “the coolest thing you’ve built.” Given that this is almost certain to be overbooked, you’d better have something interesting to crow about.

Startup School 2013 is in the Flint Center in Cupertino, Calif. (no, not the Flint Cultural Center in Flint, MI), and it’ll be on Oct. 19.

You’ll need to apply by Sept. 20, and you’ll know if you made the grade by Sept. 30. The experience might be just what you need to push you over the edge and do that startup you’ve been dreaming about.

“Many founders have told us that this event was what finally made them take the leap,” Graham wrote on the site. It’s also probably a very good first step to applying to YCombinator if you want to get into probably the world’s most prestigious accelerator program.

Startup School 2013 speakers have not yet been announced.

via VentureBeat http://venturebeat.com/2013/09/03/ycombinators-paul-graham-now-taking-applications-for-startup-school-2013-and-its-free/