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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?

#41

Post by p6 »

pg wrote: post #26

We've definitely missed good startups. But one advantage of having so many competitors is that we're much more likely now to learn when we screw up. When a startup from one of the other YC-like organizations does well, I often check their YC application to see how we missed them. Usually it's because they were good guys but working on a terrible idea, which they later changed. So in response to that we now make a con…

So in other words the rejects can now infer its because they suck, and not just their idea.

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

#42

Post by whyme »

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…

> I would never have said anything publicly about the matter.

And you shouldn't have, it's unprofessional from someone holding your position.

> I can't stand to hear it described in this misleading way

How is it misleading? He didn't say we in reference to his YC history. He omitted any concept of more than one person, thus the assumption should be that he was speaking about himself. Which is fine.

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

#43

Post by baguasquirrel »

whyme wrote: post #42
pg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I would never have said anything publicly about the matter. And you shouldn't have, it's unprofessional from someone holding your position. > I can't stand to hear it described in this misleading way How is it misleading? He didn't say we in reference to his YC history. He omitted any concept of more than one person, thus the assumption should be that he was speaking about himself. Which is fine.

Why is it unprofessional?

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

#44

Post by whyme »

baguasquirrel wrote: post #43
whyme wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would never have said anything publicly about the matter. And you shouldn't have, it's unprofessional from someone holding your position. > I can't stand to hear it described in this misleading way How is it misleading? He didn't say we in reference to his YC history. He omitted any concept of more than one person, thus the assumption should be that he was speaking about himself. Which is fine.

Why is it unprofessional?

For the same reason he claimed he would normally never make this statement public to begin with.

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

#45

Post by blader »

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…

Wow, this really stings coming from someone I respect so much. This is what happens when you leave without an explanation from YC I suppose.

Paul, I agree I should have said "we got in the second time, but I dropped out a week later". I apologize for not being clear but I don't accept that there was anything wrong with what I said.

To be clear, the side project of mine which took off was co-owned 50% by my another founder who was not involved in YC and didn't want to join, so it wasn't mine to simply share with my YC team.

There were 3 cofounders who went to the YC interview - there were 2 cofounders remaining after I left. I was transparent with both of my cofounders and we remain friends to this day - they had zero involvement in the side project from beginning to end. I specifically asked each of them if they felt I was behaving unethically - they responded that they don't believe so and would have done the same in my shoes.

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

#46

Post by p6 »

blader wrote: post #45
pg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Wow, this really stings coming from someone I respect so much. This is what happens when you leave without an explanation from YC I suppose. Paul, I agree I should have said "we got in the second time, but I dropped out a week later". I apologize for not being clear but I don't accept that there was anything wrong with what I said. To be clear, the side project of mine which took off was co-owned 50% by my another fo…

I think whats going on is pg is pissed someone ditched YC and made out better - "HOW DARE you leave YC and go on and make millions- while the rest of my flock struggles on ramen noodles and my outworn cliches!!!"

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

#47

Post by tophercyll »

jacquesm wrote: post #23
tophercyll wrote: post #18

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 doo…

That's a hell of a story. I can't imagine that the book thing is what blew the application though, after all that could have been discussed in the interview if it would come to that. Good to see you're still going!

Haha, well, we were also in a pool with a ton of other brilliant, driven applicants! That might have had something to do with it too. =)

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

#48

Post by blader1 »

blader wrote: post #45
pg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Wow, this really stings coming from someone I respect so much. This is what happens when you leave without an explanation from YC I suppose. Paul, I agree I should have said "we got in the second time, but I dropped out a week later". I apologize for not being clear but I don't accept that there was anything wrong with what I said. To be clear, the side project of mine which took off was co-owned 50% by my another fo…

I created another account just so I could get around my noprocrast settings.

Out of the 2 cofounders in YC, one I later hired to run network operations at my company and the other I am very close friends with and regularly have beers. We left on good terms. Why don't you ask the two of them what they think of me?

You're the reason why I'm an entrepreneur today and I respect you immensely. To hear you describe what I did as treachery is hurtful but worse it's just factually wrong. It was an incredibly difficult ethical decision for me at the time, but I truly believe that I behaved in a transparent and above the board way.

I take responsibility for not talking to you before or after I left - I didn't realize you felt this way about it and I'm happy to have the chance to bring this out into the open.

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

#49

Post by charlesju »

My company is a YC-reject, we're doing ok. With that being said, I still love YC and it makes sense for a lot of companies and I agree with pg that it just wasn't right for mine.

Here are a couple things I have learned about funding in my last 2 years building my startup:

1. Funding is mostly a security blanket. An expensive and usually unnecessary one. I think most startups do worse with funding because they lose that fight or flight mechanism that drives entrepreneurs to do mind-blowing things. I don't think most ideas require funding exceeding the seed stage, which is usually a lot cheaper if you can find it elsewhere. For example, I launched my company to profitability with just 3 laptops + servers, which you can usually dump onto credit cards if you're growing way faster than your cash-flow (which makes your startup cost almost $0 to start).

2. You cannot base your startup's success on whether or not one person (pg) believes you can make it. If nothing else, pg cannot possibly be an expert in every field.

3. Money is EVERYWHERE in the valley. It is absurd how many different VCs there are, and how much money they're obligated to deploy in behalf of their LPs. There are definitely less opportunities than the money out there to fund them. Getting funding is pretty easy. It's all about building models that you can plug a # into and get a bigger # out, which if anyone needs help with please feel free to email me.

4. Lastly, if you believe you can make it, no one can stop you. Go be a tiger.

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

#50

Post by jacquesm »

Harj wrote: post #29
freshfunk wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

VCs do months of due diligence before they'll write you a check. We review an application from and write a check after speaking with you for 10 minutes.

> VCs do months of due diligence before they'll write you a check.

That just simply isn't true. Early stage is much quicker. The only time a VC needs 'months' to do dd is when there is a substantial company already, so when you're doing a late-stage investment, usually in the millions.

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