It is 5:06 Am 18 April 2017
It's 5.37 PM IST here in India :)
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YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
331–340 of 373 posts
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#332[deleted]
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#333[deleted]
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#334We're not selected to interview. We were invited to the pre-interview (video call) last week. Solo founder. Good luck everyone!!
Same boat. How did your pre-interview go?
It wasn't different than what I expected: intense and bold. In the end, we spent more time talking about the characteristics of an enterprise business (my case) rather than my team, product or growth, so it felt superficial. I think that's what you can get in 10 min. And you?
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#335Just got the glorious rejection email :) https://mail.mixmax.com/m/kWxSBXQlxWO9sN6AC We interviewed in-person for W17 in October and got rejected because we didn't articulate a good plan for growth. - we grew 4,000% since October - launched huge features for both sides of our marketplace - received acquisition interest in It's a bummer for sure but not the end of the world. To anyone who got an interview, Figure out…
Can you provide any tips on how you reached out to other alum in preparation (you said you prepared with AlphaFlow and Snapdocs for example). Also, are you allowed to share any of the questions you had that you found surprising?
Sure. We simply emailed other YC founders asking if they had advice on the interview process.
The questions are no secret. It's really only 3 questions: 1. what are you working on. 2. How do you grow. 3. How does this become a billion dollar company.
Articulating the problem, how it scales and is defensible is key.
Here are a few links we used
- http://henrikzillmer.com/dos-and-donts-at-the-y-combinator-i... - http://blog.trak.io/ycombinator-our-interview-experience-aft... - https://medium.com/@octal/maximizing-your-chances-of-getting... - https://medium.com/startup-lesson-learned/we-just-interviewe...
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#336Planning a possible YC "reject" event. Post here if interested: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14144922 Would have our own presentation day, pitch feedback, try out each other's products, etc. I think it would be great! :)
This is brilliant!
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#337I have to be honest, this is an emotion I'm not entirely familiar with. I totally get rejection, I've been rejected for all sorts of things, but normally for rejection I can understand on some level why . This I don't get. Not only are we applying with a company that fits with an RFS, not only is our team really solid, not only is concept proven, but we have a possibility to do real social good that both makes money…
Sorry if this sounds harsh but who gives a flying F. If you're a startup founder you not only need to have this mentality but truly believe it.
You need to re-ground yourself and come to terms that if you're running a company you're going to punched in the face, a lot. You're going to get rejected, a lot. This will happen again and again and again and then once you think it won't happen anymore, bam - it'll happen again.
The fact of the matter is this - the only thing, and I mean the only thing that matters in terms of acceptance is what the market thinks of your product. Who cares if an accelerator said you weren't good enough? Who cares what your friends say (good or bad) or other founders say (good or bad) about your startup - it doesn't matter. My last company, my mom loved it, raved about it! But it failed because the market thought it was crap.
The only thing that matters is if the market wants your product. Startups have become obsessed with acceptance into an accelerator or raising money as an indication of success. It is not an indication of success and if you mistake it for this, you're not thinking straight. Build a business.
To me it sounds like you're looking for validation that you're good enough and you were hoping to get that from YC and they told you that you aren't. You applied to Harvard and they said no and now you're sitting there wondering if you're smart enough.
Look at it the other way. Per what you said you have an amazing startup and now you won't need to give away 7.5% of your company. Don't get me wrong, YC from what I have heard is amazing but if you think YC is what is going to make or break your company - boy, I'd be worried.
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#338Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep. The thing though is that they can leverage their network to get the ball rolling for any companies they sign. That means it doesn't really matter if it's awesome or bad, as long as they decide to promote a company, people will buy it. Pretty much like apple products... so it's not rational anymore to go through YC. Do you think airbnb would have worked without YC? No. Would dropbox be dropbox today without YC? N…
I've never heard that YC helped companies market their products, beyond providing a little advice. How would they? It's not like they have a huge advertising budget or a TV studio. They can help advertise it to other YC founders, but that market is tiny.
Marketing is expensive, a company needs money to promote a product. To get money a company needs investors. To get investors (in silicon valley) a company needs a warm introduction. The warm introduction is the marketing I'm talking about, not the first one. YC will lineup 100 investors in front of you looking to spend their money. When YC says it's worth it (they sign you up), VC's act like Apple customers.
Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#339Re: YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections
#340We received our second rejection for an interview yesterday, but luckily for us YC was just a nice to have and not end all.
As I read through the comments, I believe many businesses forget the fact that business is ran by the numbers. Yes, can YC help you get attractive numbers for investors, but you can do the exact same thing on your own if you build something people need (love). I find it hard to believe that any investor that YC can introduce you to will turn down your meeting if you have built a business that has attractive numbers. That's what they look for anyway...YC funded or not.
For those that got an interview, congrats. For those that didn't, keep going and be great in what you are doing.