1–10 of 73 posts
So, my question is what is the biggest success that YC missed out on, some group that pitched during one of the cycles and that was rejected, manned up and made it without the YC funding and the access to the network?
And, of course, several teams have been rejected once or twice and then gotten in later. A few have even blogged about it; notably wheels of Directed Edge.
There is a company that makes iPhone software that was rejected by YC, and they recently turned down a buyout offer of 10M. I can't really give more details than that since obviously it's not public.
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.
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…
We just buckled down, and launched anyways (ahead of schedule!). Once you get users and have some promising data, raising money is definitely doable.
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.
My company was rejected from YC W09, but raised $1.5M in VC 2 months later. We just buckled down, and launched anyways (ahead of schedule!). Once you get users and have some promising data, raising money is definitely doable.
That should really help to put a YC rejection in to perspective for those who receive 'bad news' in the mail in the next couple of days.
My company was rejected from YC W09, but raised $1.5M in VC 2 months later. We just buckled down, and launched anyways (ahead of schedule!). Once you get users and have some promising data, raising money is definitely doable.
Congratulations, to raise a million and a half from a VC within two months of a YC rejection is probably a record. That should really help to put a YC rejection in to perspective for those who receive 'bad news' in the mail in the next couple of days.