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We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

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Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#151

Post by dheera »

bksenior wrote: post #133
filmgirlcw wrote: post #127

I don't want to be a jerk to kids in their early 20s who are bootstrapping their startup idea, but reading this account would actually confirm for me why this team wasn't ready to be accepted into YC or a similar program. A big part of the onus of the original product, at least, as it was launched, was that it was "watermark free" and the way it was "sold" to end-users was that it was a free service. Now, I can under…

This read like a business school professor. All young businesses are a fluid experiment "out of business rationale" is a hindsight fluff statement. If rationale informed effective product then a lot more people were successful. Additionally, odds are that the best thing for the business (and founders) would being admitted to YC over any product change they could possible make. They had non zero odds and I think it wa…

FWIW I believe Instacart hustled their way in post-deadline (not post-rejection though) and did get accepted. Still indicates that YC bends th rules occasionally. https://www.google.com/amp/s/techcrunch.com/2012/08/18/how-i...

I imagine reversing a rejection is different though. Most people, YC or not, have an ego and will stubbornly maintain their rejection even if it makes sense to change mind. This is just psychology. Colleges, dates, hiring managers all do it.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#152

Post by robryan »

prickledpear wrote: post #7

It's great that YC provides feedback on why they don't accept (some) companies. However, it's a bit disappointing to see that not having MRR is a reason to reject a company. It seems like a lot of the successful YC companies were accepted way before they were anywhere to close to revenue -- and some were even working on a completely different product when accepted. My hope is that MRR is sufficient, but not necessary…

It seems that they only added the watermark when they started charging. Pre watermark it is hard to know if the business is potentially viable at all. Free signups might fall off now that they aren’t getting everything for free.

Assuming that is the case the business model would have to change to pro features or add. Maybe VC would be more comfortable on some data on all this.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#153

Post by SilasX »

slap_shot wrote: post #114
SilasX wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like it was a failure of the interviewer to ask the right (or any?) clarifying questions.

Possibly, but the onus is on the applicant to drive through things like this, not the interviewers. Again, nobody in the room had the luxury of understanding what was happening at the time. Hopefully my experience can help others.

Nah, there's definitely an onus on VCs not to miss out on a super hot startup because they mixed up two months because of a bad comparison of two times expressed in relative terms.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#154

Post by ValentineC »

dheera wrote: post #151
bksenior wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This read like a business school professor. All young businesses are a fluid experiment "out of business rationale" is a hindsight fluff statement. If rationale informed effective product then a lot more people were successful. Additionally, odds are that the best thing for the business (and founders) would being admitted to YC over any product change they could possible make. They had non zero odds and I think it wa…

FWIW I believe Instacart hustled their way in post-deadline (not post-rejection though) and did get accepted. Still indicates that YC bends th rules occasionally. https://www.google.com/amp/s/techcrunch.com/2012/08/18/how-i... I imagine reversing a rejection is different though. Most people, YC or not, have an ego and will stubbornly maintain their rejection even if it makes sense to change mind. This is just psychol…

> FWIW I believe Instacart hustled their way in post-deadline (not post-rejection though) and did get accepted.

The TechCrunch article does state that they had an initial rejection after their late application.

> I put together an application, and made a video describing my product. I waited for a response, and several days later I got one: another “No.”

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#155

Post by csomar »

Check this out: https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/here-are-the-85-startups-t...

Many YC startups don't charge anything. Here is one that seems still to be figuring stuff out (https://www.54gene.com/). One that seems to be figuring out who and how much to charge (https://ultralig.ht/). In fact, I'd like that someone goes through the startups and deduce how many of these are making any money or have strategies to make any money.

Here is what I think is going on: YC is trying to be polite (bullshitting) about the rejection. They won't straightforward tell you: You suck. Or you are not sexy enough to be in bed with. And it's fair enough. When was the last time a potential hookup told you they won't have sex with you because your face is ugly or you have an ugly belly.

YC probably picks up on intuition. You can't judge a dog for 10 minutes. They are using subconscious cues based on their experience. They are looking for founders. The startups with high MRR are probably suckers for scaling that made it at monetizing a product to market. YC takes them (expensive %7 for cheap mentoring) because they can afford that.

You can't change the built-in neural networks inside YC brains. They might be going against their intuition on the diversity front because data has suggested they should or they are trying to look cool.

What this team did is basically show up next morning and have a black t-shirt because they figured out that I don't like guys in white t-shirts. That's not going to make me like them. Probably hate them more. It shows lack of consciousness and maturity. This is not a government position with cold requirements where you need to check the boxes.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#156

Post by arkades »

edjrage wrote: post #150
Animats wrote: post #139

There are tons of video editors, all the way back to Adobe Premiere. OpenShot, which is free and open source, isn't bad. What do these people have that they don't? (Yes, it's "in the cloud". So?)

I almost can't believe I had to scroll this far to find a sensible comment. Honest question (as someone very ignorant about the business world), why do people spend money on this stuff? And why do so many people (based on the comments here) act like it's OK to create such products (i.e. products that bring literally nothing innovative or useful to the table)? By OK I mean ethically, considering that there are so many…

> And why do so many people (based on the comments here) act like it's OK to create such products (i.e. products that bring literally nothing innovative or useful to the table)? By OK I mean ethically, considering that there are so many more pressing problems in the world.

Just to be clear, I want to understand that you're asserting:

1) It is morally unethical to create a non-innovative product

and

2) It is morally unethical to work on something other than "a pressing problem" in the world, as you define pressing problems

?

Or are you saying,

1) In a world with "more pressing problems", it is unethical to work on something as low-value as a non-innovative product

?

And for context: what projects do you feel are ethically acceptable ways for people to spend their time on, and what do you do?

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#157

Post by arkades »

soneca wrote: post #98
whiddershins wrote: post #76

At first I was with them, but when they summarized at the end I think they missed the underlying point of the feedback. The feedback was “why have you waited so long” not “this was too early for you to apply” The fact that the founders bent that around in their heads after changing their actions, to me, indicates they aren’t quite getting what the email implied. But what do I know, I’ve never gotten in to YCombinator…

I think they understood the feedback and tried to react to it in the best way they could. A situation like "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago; the second best time is today" . They can't change the past, they can try to catch up. I think they got the point precisely

I don't think they did, and I don't think you did (please read my tone with generosity; that's not meant to be an attack.)

I don't believe the feedback they got was that they should be charging, and they aren't yet, therefore "the best time to plant a tree..."

The question they got was "Why aren't you charging yet?", because by product and market, it seemed they ought to be. The correct answer is "This is our market, this is our business plan, this is why it makes sense for us to not be charging yet." The question is one of rationale, which could be judged as being good or bad, but still the question is "why?"

Their actions revealed that they didn't have a solid rationale. So without any more reasoning than "because it seems like YC is criticizing us for not charging," they quickly started charging. Did YC's criticism actually change their business strategy? Their knowledge of the market? Anything that should have plugged into the question of whether they should be charging? If the answer is "no," then they launched a significant change to their product without any good reason and, in my opinion, validated YC's opinion.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#158

Post by Matticus_Rex »

csomar wrote: post #155

Check this out: https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/here-are-the-85-startups-t... Many YC startups don't charge anything. Here is one that seems still to be figuring stuff out ( https://www.54gene.com/ ). One that seems to be figuring out who and how much to charge ( https://ultralig.ht/ ). In fact, I'd like that someone goes through the startups and deduce how many of these are making any money or have strategies to m…

The fact that many YC startups don't charge anything doesn't mean that this startup has a good reason not to be charging. I think the assumption that YC gave them a BS reason is absolutely unwarranted.

Personally, I love the hustle. It was absolutely worth a shot, and by the next batch they'll have a lot of data to show. Most great first-time founders have no idea what the hell they're doing, and it's totally forgivable for them to have waited a bit longer than necessary to start charging. They responded to feedback from smart people who know what they're talking about, and are moving ahead.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#159

Post by calhoun137 »

plehoux wrote: post #8

missiveapp.com and conferenceBadge.com, my two startups, have both been rejected at the interview phase. Our yearly revenue for both now stands in the 7 digits. We are still just a team of 3 + 1 employee, 100% bootstrapped. Life is good. My advice, keep pushing! https://missiveapp.com/ https://www.conferencebadge.com

I'm just here to let you know your website designs are aMaZiNg!!!!

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#160

Post by divbzero »

csomar wrote: post #155

Check this out: https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/here-are-the-85-startups-t... Many YC startups don't charge anything. Here is one that seems still to be figuring stuff out ( https://www.54gene.com/ ). One that seems to be figuring out who and how much to charge ( https://ultralig.ht/ ). In fact, I'd like that someone goes through the startups and deduce how many of these are making any money or have strategies to m…

I would give YC the benefit of the doubt: that they’re actually giving honest feedback.

When YC interviewed and rejected my company, they stated candidly that they didn’t think our team could execute. In retrospect, I agree with their judgment at the time, and appreciate that they were polite and honest with their feedback.

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