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Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

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Re: Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

#11

Post by freshfunk »

jeromec wrote: post #4

AfterTheDeadline was rejected, and got acquired last year by Automattic (WordPress). http://blog.afterthedeadline.com/2009/09/08/after-the-deadli... Edit: I should note that Paul Graham mentioned in his interview on Mixergy that picking companies is one area where they are weak. That may be true, but I'd wager the YC batting average would be higher than typical Angels/VCs.

Hmm don't know. With all due respect to PG and crew, VCs and angels seem to do their homework as well. Actually their initial filters are probably much more restrictive so I guess it would depend on how you calculate the batting avgs.

Re: Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

#13

Post by DaniFong »

We were rejected, with some recommendations on what to work on next; we changed our application for our technology when we heard that twice, then after nine months we raised money from a top green VC at a multimillion dollar valuation. We just made it through series B, and we're going to power the developing world before coal can get its pants on.

Re: Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

#15

Post by jacquesm »

DaniFong wrote: post #13

We were rejected, with some recommendations on what to work on next; we changed our application for our technology when we heard that twice, then after nine months we raised money from a top green VC at a multimillion dollar valuation. We just made it through series B, and we're going to power the developing world before coal can get its pants on.

That sounds like a very interesting project, I've read a bit on your pages and I figure Vuilleumier heat pumps or the Stirling cycle figure in there somewhere.

I wish you much good luck with this, one reason why I'm really happy someone is looking in to this is because coal causes more radioactivity released in to the atmosphere than nuclear plants even would.

Re: Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

#17

Post by tcc619 »

marketer wrote: post #5
SwellJoe wrote: post #2

CouchDB is a pretty well-known "didn't get accepted, but kept going anyway" project. Not really a business success story, but it is a project that has had an impact on web technology, and on a scale that many YC companies have not. It's an Apache Foundation project now, but I don't know what that means for its business case. And, of course, several teams have been rejected once or twice and then gotten in later. A fe…

Actually, the authors of couchdb did eventually start a company around it: http://is.gd/aEdvW . I think it's still in stealth mode, though.

it's up and running at http://www.couch.io/

funny how TC called it "stealth mode". i don't recall the couchdb guys ever being very secretive about it. they are too relaxed for that :)

Re: Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

#18

Post by tophercyll »

I don't have a "YC missed out on investing in our insanely profitable company" story, but I did get rejected before finding myself at a YC company anyways.

Evan Miller (emiller) and I applied for Summer 06. Evan had to do most of the work on our application because I had deadlines with my publisher on my Ruby book. I was proud that I was writing a book, so I mentioned it in my bio.

In retrospect, I wonder if that doomed us. Sorry, Evan. If I was reading applications, I'd have been like, "This guy thinks he's writing a book and starting a company? Fuggedaboutit."

But another one of my friends got into Winter 07 and he's very persuasive. A year after their session ended he convinced me to leave the corporate world and join him and his cofounder.

Wish I could finish the story by saying we're insanely profitable already, but hey, we're still alive, we've got a great product, and that's awesome.

There are a ton of ways to get a business off the ground, so one rejection from one incubator is really just the beginning. To everyone in that situation, don't give up. And if this one doesn't pan out, maybe you'll go even further with the next one!

Re: Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

#19

Post by pg »

blader wrote: post #14

I was rejected the first time, got in the second time, but dropped out a week later to run a different company. We were profitable at 32 employees and got acquired by Zynga last month.

It is probably not an accident that this is phrased in such an odd way, with the subjects of the sentences missing. It should read "we got in the second time, but I dropped out a week later." What happened is that Siqi and a cofounder started YC, then a week in Siqi bailed and left his cofounder in the lurch because a side project of his had unexpectedly taken off. We suggested making the side project be the focus of the startup they were doing, but Siqi didn't want to share it with his cofounder. His poor cofounder kept going and managed to recruit someone new, but the startup limped along without Siqi and didn't live much past demo day. It was probably the most treacherous thing one cofounder has done to another in YC so far.

I would never have said anything publicly about the matter, but I can't stand to hear it described in this misleading way.

Re: Ask HN: Who got rejected in earlier cycles of YC application and made it anyway?

#20

Post by jacquesm »

pg wrote: post #19
blader wrote: post #14

I was rejected the first time, got in the second time, but dropped out a week later to run a different company. We were profitable at 32 employees and got acquired by Zynga last month.

It is probably not an accident that this is phrased in such an odd way, with the subjects of the sentences missing. It should read " we got in the second time, but I dropped out a week later." What happened is that Siqi and a cofounder started YC, then a week in Siqi bailed and left his cofounder in the lurch because a side project of his had unexpectedly taken off. We suggested making the side project be the focus o…

That's pretty low.

Has YC changed its contractual agreements with new YC companies to avoid such treachery in the future ?

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