We talk a lot about US-based tech incubator Y Combinator here on TechNation, but not many people know that Omnisio, a team of 3 Aussies, has been through the process and come out the other end. Omnisio was founded with the goal of “drastically improving your online video experience” and they’re well on the way to achieving it.

The Omnisio founders are Ryan Junee, Julian Frumar and Simon Ratner. I recently had the pleasure of talking with CEO, Ryan Junee, and he gave me so much good info I’ve decided to split it into 2 separate posts. The 1st will focus on their experiences with Y Combinator, the 2nd on their innovative site and his thoughts on the tech startup process.

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When did you apply for Y Combinator?

We applied in October 2007. Y Combinator (YC) has two ‘funding cycles’ each year, with applications typically due in April and November.

Where was Omnisio at when you applied?

Omnisio was at a very early stage – we had a founding team and an idea, and had begun development of an early prototype. Our product wasn’t available to the public but we had made a private beta available to a select group of users. We also hadn’t yet incorporated the company (we decided to wait and see if we were accepted into Y Combinator, as they help with incorporation).

How did they let you know you were accepted?

YC has a very efficient funding process. After the initial web-based application, a selection of companies are invited to either Boston or Mountain View for a 10 minute in-person interview. We flew to Boston and interviewed on a Saturday, Paul (Graham) called us that night with an offer, which we accepted, and on Monday we met with them again and were welcomed into the program.

Were you already in the US or did you have to move out there?

We were already in the US – I moved over here in 2003 to complete a Master’s degree at Stanford and had been working here since. Simon, our CTO, was over here studying for his Master’s at Stanford (which he completed in parallel with the Y Combinator program), and Julian our third co-founder had recently moved over to work on Omnisio. We were going to do it regardless of whether we were accepted into Y Combinator.

Tell us a little about the experience . We’ve heard a lot of stories, but as an Aussie, how did you find it, the culture, the Americans etc.?

Y Combinator is a fantastic experience. I won’t describe it in detail because as you said there is lots of information out there. I will say that for us the key benefits of Y Combinator were:

• Hanging out each week with a room full of incredibly smart and entrepreneurial hackers – the atmosphere is very collegiate and you can always find people willing to provide feedback on what you are developing, help with difficult bugs, and in general motivate each other to succeed. Not to mention the valuable insights from Paul, Trevor and Jessica who have seen dozens of early stage startups.
• Exposure to the valley’s top investors and entrepreneurs. With the Y Combinator brand behind us we had no trouble getting meetings with anyone we wanted.

I could talk a lot about the cultural differences between Australia and the US (or at least Silicon Valley). Having lived here for almost 5 years I can say that life here is a lot more fast-paced and ‘high energy’. It’s very competitive, but at the same time people are always very willing to provide advice and assistance. It is not uncommon for founders of competing startups to be friends. There is also a lot more tolerance for failure over here – after all the majority of startups do fail. Failing is not seen as a stigma, in fact in some ways it’s almost celebrated (at least you had a go, and hopefully you wont make the same mistakes next time). I think in Australia and other countries, fear of failure causes people to take fewer risks.

Sometimes I miss the friendly laid back nature that most Australian’s have, which is less common over here, but as much as I love Australia I don’t think there is a better place in the world for starting a technology company than here in Silicon Valley. Where else in the world can you live within driving distance of so many of the world’s top universities, VCs, law firms, technology companies and entrepreneurs?

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Stay Tuned for Part 2 of this interview and more information on how Omnisio gives you a better online video experience…