Awesome insight Jon. Thanks for the honest look back. I never found you inspirational, but you fake it well, ha.
boo!
How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
31–40 of 125 posts
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#32[deleted]
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#33Really inspiring story. I can attest you and Janette were experiencing "the trough of sorrow".
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#34Wow really shows how Y Combinator values co-founders... No co-founder....no soup for you! To be fair, they did get accepted based on having the whole team. Do you think you would have been excepted if you applied as just yourself?
I went through TechStars Seattle 2010. In watching the 9 other companies, it is obvious that the best predictor of success for my peers has been the strength of the relationships between co-founders. I'm measuring success (at this early stage) as some fuzzy function of how easy the team made it look to build a product, gain traction, raise money, and keep smiling. I can only guess that Y Combinator really values co-f…
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Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#35[deleted]
Aren't you a single founder? What makes you special?
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#36Good job.
I'm curious why you list SF as the location, giving how well everything started out for you even though you were spread out geographically.
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#37In 2010, I got accepted and kicked out of Y Combinator, lost my cofounders, and raised $1.5M from A-list investors
Sounds like it was more "our team was accepted even though they had no idea what I was up to, I subsequently lost my cofounders, and Y Combinator revised their decision based on that."
I'm surprised that YC accepted "them" after meeting just one of the co-founders. Also, what is not very clear is why he went by himself to get money and how he continued the company by himself without his cofounders. Meaning that it sounds like it's just that they didn't want to move to SF with a week-notice, not that they gave up completely on the startup...
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#38The article makes it sound that PG and co allowed this guy to pick up and move to SF only to tell him to suck it the next day.
If that is what happened, they deserve some scorn for playing with a person's life like that. That's just not on. If, however, they were clear about their reservations and just wanted to meet the guy again to discuss, it was really stupid of him to transport himself from his home to a hotel.
Such a cavalier attitude to risk actually might be a very good reason that this guy should not be running anything, and YC made a sound choice.
Either way, don't know any of the actors in the story and wish them all the best. Thanks for sharing this rather strange story.
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#39In 2010, I got accepted and kicked out of Y Combinator, lost my cofounders, and raised $1.5M from A-list investors Sounds like it was more "our team was accepted even though they had no idea what I was up to, I subsequently lost my cofounders, and Y Combinator revised their decision based on that." I'm surprised that YC accepted "them" after meeting just one of the co-founders. Also, what is not very clear is why he…
I came to SF the first time by myself because I was the hustler in the group. I talked to my team members every day. They knew I was in SF talking to investors and they knew I was interviewing for YC. They just hadn't heard of it until I was already doing the interview.
As to how I was able to continue, as I explain in the article, they spun off a t-shirt printing business that we had been running. It was a more predictable business. Less risky for them. More of a 9-5 thing with a steady income.
To be fair, they still believed in the business. They just didn't want to tattoo it across their face and sell their first born son like I want to.
Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup
#40Awesome insight Jon. Thanks for the honest look back. I never found you inspirational, but you fake it well, ha.
Sorry for the bad sarcasm community. I love Jon and Janette. I met Jon way back in 2009 and he was hustling with just an idea then. As a fellow Midwest entrepreneur it's awesome to see him "graduate" from our area and succeed in the valley.
Imagine how hard could be for foreign entrepreneurs that have to deal with immigration and visa also.