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Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

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11–20 of 102 posts

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#11
I'm a girl (and an engineer), and I applied for the summer round this year with http://wordchuck.com. I never got a response from YC after submitting my application, which was a bit disappointing.

I haven't had any trouble launching and getting traction on my own, so don't get discouraged, no matter what happens with YC :)

That said, WeddingType looks like a terrific idea, and I hope you do get accepted!

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#12
post #7

I'm a relatively active HN user. This is a throwaway, because I'm not "out" as a girl on HN. I have not applied, and I'm not going to, because my husband would never let me spend 3 months in SF by myself (and he has a job where he couldn't come with me.) And this is not a hypothetical, we've discussed it and he put his foot down.

Could you go into more detail about what the reasons given were? My initial reactions on reading that was ... unreservedly hostile.

Given the likely upside of going through YC if accepted, 12 weeks of separation seems insignificant.

(On topic: I applied this year and one of my two co-founders is female.)

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#13

My wife and I are applying for this winter session. She's been co organizing the Hackers and Founders SV, SF and Berkeley meetups with me for the past 9 months. And, she's the primary reason that our membership has tripled in the last 9 months. She works quietly in the background and makes everything run like clockwork. I've recruited her as my co founder for several years. And, she just signed on three months ago. W…

I've met iamelgringo a couple of times ath the H&F meetups. Top-notch fellow. Good luck on getting accepted!

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#14
Good luck @limedaring! You know me, but to weigh in: I am XX, applied three times (once as solo founder), got one interview, didn't get into YC, found my way to the Valley (from the UK) anyway.

I intend to apply again in future if the startup I'm working on turns out to be the right sort of thing for it, and especially if I can team up with other hackers, especially a couple of people I've known a long time (last time my cofounder was non-technical and I had met him while looking for a cofounder). Gender balance or anything like that has never, ever been an issue for me with things like YC. Currently doing Women 2.0 Labs where it is a tacit issue, which would be interesting to contrast when I do go through YC.

I know of another woman who is applying this round and has not posted in the comments yet.

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#15
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I ultimately decided, no, that's not really the right path for me. Did you continue to start/continue a business, or was the path you decided on a non-entrepreneur path?

I still hope to figure out how to support myself via some kind of online income. I am 45, a lot older than most of the YC applicants as I understand it, I have a very serious medical condition and two grown sons who still live with me. I have lived in the SFBA previously, in Fairfield about 45 miles from San Francisco (halfway between SF and the state capital). My sons are very against returning to Cali. I liked it b…

Thank you for sharing and I hope it all works out for you. It's refreshing that you clearly understand your situation and are working with it.

I remember you from another thread on learning programming -- keep perservering and I am sure the HN community is happy to help with your efforts. At least, I am.

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#16
post #12
post #7

I'm a relatively active HN user. This is a throwaway, because I'm not "out" as a girl on HN. I have not applied, and I'm not going to, because my husband would never let me spend 3 months in SF by myself (and he has a job where he couldn't come with me.) And this is not a hypothetical, we've discussed it and he put his foot down.

Could you go into more detail about what the reasons given were? My initial reactions on reading that was ... unreservedly hostile. Given the likely upside of going through YC if accepted, 12 weeks of separation seems insignificant. (On topic: I applied this year and one of my two co-founders is female.)

...and this is why I created an alt account, so I could answer honestly.

I would cheat on him. I was dating two other guys when we met, and we agreed when we became serious that our relationship would be exclusive. It was worth it to me. However, I'm not terribly good at resisting temptation.

Add to the fire that my type (surprise!) is geeky males, and there's no way I could resist. A Y combinator class for me would be like tempting an Ethiopian to a buffet.

He's absolutely right; it would destroy our marriage. Some things are more important than funding.

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#17

My wife and I are applying for this winter session. She's been co organizing the Hackers and Founders SV, SF and Berkeley meetups with me for the past 9 months. And, she's the primary reason that our membership has tripled in the last 9 months. She works quietly in the background and makes everything run like clockwork. I've recruited her as my co founder for several years. And, she just signed on three months ago. W…

the search doesn't return anything on Goog. pls fix

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#18
post #16
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you go into more detail about what the reasons given were? My initial reactions on reading that was ... unreservedly hostile. Given the likely upside of going through YC if accepted, 12 weeks of separation seems insignificant. (On topic: I applied this year and one of my two co-founders is female.)

...and this is why I created an alt account, so I could answer honestly. I would cheat on him. I was dating two other guys when we met, and we agreed when we became serious that our relationship would be exclusive. It was worth it to me. However, I'm not terribly good at resisting temptation. Add to the fire that my type (surprise!) is geeky males, and there's no way I could resist. A Y combinator class for me would…

I don't really have the experience to comment, but if that would destroy your marriage, are you sure your marriage isn't destroyed already...?

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#19
At Startup School a few years ago, I pitched my idea to Paul and he invited me to apply for the summer class even though I'd missed the deadline.

I against it. That whole "dropping out of high school and college" thing pretty much proved how much I chafe against what I consider hoop-jumping and YC was too much hoop-jumping for me.

Didn't stop me though: http://unicornfree.com/2010/i-made-216668-from-products/

(Different product than the one I pitched.)

Re: Ask HN: Women who've applied to YC?

#20
post #10
post #7

I'm a relatively active HN user. This is a throwaway, because I'm not "out" as a girl on HN. I have not applied, and I'm not going to, because my husband would never let me spend 3 months in SF by myself (and he has a job where he couldn't come with me.) And this is not a hypothetical, we've discussed it and he put his foot down.

May I ask why you're hiding your gender on HN? I know of many potential reasons, just curious what yours is.

Honestly?

You're all so anti-sexist it sickens me. Whenever a female posts, you put away the boxing gloves and take out the kid skin gloves. The only people that actually say negative things are the unapologetic sexists, and no, I don't like that either. But it doesn't bother me as much.

So it might just be my imagination, but just to be safe I prefer to be one of the guys for my recreational forum activities.

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