How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup • Hacker News Board

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#41

Post by joh6nn » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 10:50 PM UTC

NewMonarch wrote: post #39

Timothee wrote: post #37

In 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 pred…

what's your asking price for your first born?

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#42

Post by shasta » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 10:51 PM UTC

NewMonarch wrote: post #24

scottkrager wrote: post #17

Wow 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?

It's hard to say. To be fair, YC never met the rest of my cofounders. I was the only one they'd ever spoken with. - Jon (The guy who wrote this story. :)

)

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#43

Post by Supermighty » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 10:53 PM UTC

scottkrager wrote: post #17

Wow 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?

What's a co-founder?

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#44

Post by mlinsey » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 10:54 PM UTC

zackattack wrote: post #35

[deleted] wrote: post #32

[deleted]

Aren't you a single founder? What makes you special?

YC accepts single founders, the bar is just higher.

Applying with co-founders and having them disappear is probably worse than applying as a single founder, because co-founders jumping ship is one of the things that often happens shortly before a startup dies. I'm sure YC was acutely aware of this pattern, and that makes the Storenvy story all the more impressive.

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#45

Post by electromagnetic » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 10:56 PM UTC

joh6nn wrote: post #41

NewMonarch wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pred…

what's your asking price for your first born?

That's what I'm wondering, I bet there's good money in child-flipping. You know buy a 3 month old, get them to the walking+talking phase and boot them off to someone willing to drop top dollar.

(FYI for the downmodders: that's what's called a sick joke)

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#46

Post by BluePoints » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 10:56 PM UTC

NewMonarch wrote: post #39

Timothee wrote: post #37

In 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 pred…

Speaking of advertising on your face - it exists - saw this the other day - http://billythehumanbillboard.blogspot.com/

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#47

Post by ghshephard » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 10:58 PM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #38

The 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"

I read this story very differently. Jon was fearless, took a calculated risk, and, when the initial outcome didn't role in his favor, just kept plugging in the face of obstacles - to his success.

If you think that "Flying out to Silicon Valley on a reasonable chance that Y Combinator was going to fund his startup that already had a community, but with several months of cash regardless of that funding" is a cavalier attitude to risk, I would love to think what your thoughts about what some of the _really_ hair brained things that startups do to become successful.

The sheer _act_ of deciding to create a startup is easily one of the most risk prone acts one can take - so, ironically, per your logic, anyone who does so should not be running anything. :-)

I loved the story, loved how he rolled with the punches, and loved his positive attitude at the end towards everyone. I have almost no doubt that he's going to deliver great things.

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#48

Post by NewMonarch » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 11:00 PM UTC

run4yourlives wrote: post #38

The 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.…

It was more an issue of timing. The conversations started with my cofounders about 72 hours before the first YC dinner. I was already scheduled to move out of my apartment and had airfare booked. It wasn't until I was literally heading to the airport the night before the first dinner that I found out that things might be in trouble. I'd already spent the last couple days moving all of my stuff into a storage unit.

I talked to Paul on the phone as I was boarding the plane and he told me, "I don't know if I'd come out here just yet." But I didn't want to miss the first dinner (still naïvely thinking things will work out). He definitely gave me fair warning and I knew the risks, but it seemed silly to turn around at that point. I knew I could always fly back home in a few days, if I needed to. It was worth the risk. And in hindsight, I'm insanely thankful I got on that plane.

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#49

Post by micahb37 » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 11:04 PM UTC

joh6nn wrote: post #41

NewMonarch wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 pred…

what's your asking price for your first born?

It better not be very expensive. Jon is not a good looking man.

Re: How I Got Kicked Out of Y Combinator and Then Raised $1.5m for My Startup

#50

Post by joh6nn » Fri, Feb 11, 2011, 11:05 PM UTC

electromagnetic wrote: post #45

joh6nn wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what's your asking price for your first born?

That's what I'm wondering, I bet there's good money in child-flipping. You know buy a 3 month old, get them to the walking+talking phase and boot them off to someone willing to drop top dollar. (FYI for the downmodders: that's what's called a sick joke)

well, thanks for posting that publicly: there goes the idea for my YC '12 entry.