> But it's widely assumed that they won't remember the application at all by the time of the interview.

Really? They're calling you in for an interview and they don't have your application in front of them and haven't refreshed their memory? YC gets results, so I guess if it works it works, but I find it surprising that the assumption is they're going to be unprepared like that?

There is only a minute of deliberation between interviews which isn't enough time to pull out the next application and refresh on it before the next interview is scheduled to begin.

Hmm, that led me to several assumptions that I'm not sure I would make without that information. Seems interesting. Thank you for sharing.

I know from experience it is hard to think objectively right after a YC interview rejection - but use this as an opportunity to be introspective and learn from the experience.

I think whether or not they 'remember' the nitty gritty details of the app during the interview is irrelevant.

You need to sell them on your vision and team during the interview. You should be able to do this within 5 minutes whether or not they have the foggiest idea of what you are doing.