Here's a crazy idea: start working on your startup now and try to gain traction. Apply for YCombinator again next season and show them that you've actually hit on something that's becoming popular. This is actually how a lot of the most successful Y-Combinator alums got in themselves.
Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
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Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://b.qr.ae/Hktlyv This explains our dilemma. Frankly, we are a bunch of "nobodies" in the middle of Iowa. We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice". We have a lot of drive and are trying to prove ourselves any way possible. That's what we're trying to do with this post.
A good way to stop being a "nobody" is to get your names on your online properties. Twitter handles on your blog posts would be a good thing. It took way too much effort to track you guys down on angel.co, and even then I don't have twitter handles. ( ps: I'm also hanging out in Iowa, hacking on a startup. Hit me up @collintmiller, maybe we can cook up some ways to remind people this is the state that brought you the…
Yes, please add it to your website. Or even better to your HN profile page.
I'm in Iowa too and I wanted to give you some non-public, very specific (and hopefully helpful) feedback.
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#143You speak desperation language. This is like a woman that rejects you on a date and you take it too seriously: " I will do whatever you wish to test my love". It does not work that way because you are putting her in a high pedestal and yourself in a lower status.(And you could be sorry for making commitments to people you don't really know yet, "may you get what you wish for" is a curse on China). Maybe it is not the…
I guess one man's "desperation" is another's marketing/self-promotion. Maybe nothing comes of this directly but many more people are already talking about them then say 24 hours ago. In that it's already a huge success for a promotion that has cost them all of 15 min.
I disagree. They could have gone and shot a bunch of dogs and posted pictures on the internet. By your measurement 'many more people are already talking about them...'. Is this example extreme? Sure, but the point is that the measurement is not if people are talking about them, but if they get closer to their goals.
How can they take advantage of this to help them? The first step is do a 72 hour hackathon on any problem and produce results. Then come back, and say, "Show HN: We did the PG challenge anyway!"
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
A good way to stop being a "nobody" is to get your names on your online properties. Twitter handles on your blog posts would be a good thing. It took way too much effort to track you guys down on angel.co, and even then I don't have twitter handles. ( ps: I'm also hanging out in Iowa, hacking on a startup. Hit me up @collintmiller, maybe we can cook up some ways to remind people this is the state that brought you the…
Yes, please add it to your website. Or even better to your HN profile page. I'm in Iowa too and I wanted to give you some non-public, very specific (and hopefully helpful) feedback.
jeromy@seedlauncher.com I look forward to hearing from you. :)
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#145I wouldn't use it equity is valuable
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess one man's "desperation" is another's marketing/self-promotion. Maybe nothing comes of this directly but many more people are already talking about them then say 24 hours ago. In that it's already a huge success for a promotion that has cost them all of 15 min.
I disagree. They could have gone and shot a bunch of dogs and posted pictures on the internet. By your measurement 'many more people are already talking about them...'. Is this example extreme? Sure, but the point is that the measurement is not if people are talking about them, but if they get closer to their goals. How can they take advantage of this to help them? The first step is do a 72 hour hackathon on any prob…
We actually are doing that. We're in the process of looking at PG's list of ambitious startups/Y Combinators list of ideas for startups. Even if they don't get back to us over the next few days we're going to mull these over then execute.
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Step back from this conversation for a second and reread this, pretending it was from someone you don't know. Does this person who wrote this post sound like a winner who is going to make the next Dropbox? That's who YC wants in their next class. Be the winner who is going to make the next Dropbox. There is nothing wrong with making affirmative efforts to sound like a winner. This is a skill which will take you far i…
I just wanted to say you've brought up some good points and given us some things to consider. That being said, I would think that someone who had the guts to throw themselves out there and say let us prove that we're worth your time is the kind of guy who could make the next Dropbox. This may seem like a cheap stunt to a lot of the people on here, but we're just trying to prove that we're more than our credentials an…
A business, startup or not, is not a solution to a problem (that's called a product). It is a series of solutions to a series of problems. As some of these problems are caused by the aforementioned solutions, it's important to be able to spot problems, and select the problems to solve, to continue the series. When the series stops, the business stops, even if the solutions live on.
What you're saying here is that you want someone to believe you can maintain such a series of problems and solutions, _without_ the ability to spot or select problems.
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
'''We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice".''' '''We have a lot of drive''' Somehow these statements seem contradictory... and I'd be taking a hard look at your "business guy" right now if he can't even start by at least attempting a little networking...
That would be me. :) The thing is I'm finding cold emails aren't generally well received, if they are even answered at all. We'd go to more networking events and the like but most are on the coast and plane tickets are expensive. We're building up a strong network here in Iowa. What I was referring too was Y Combinator specific people. So we do what we can with where we're at. Not that I'm complaining because im real…
If I were you, I'd be hoping that YC didn't take me up on the offer. The stakes are just too high. You need to work your way up the food chain.
You know what takes savvy and elbow grease? Creating a customer acquisition channel! There are just so many amazing technologies these days for finding people and getting their attention. You could pick a YC company and find a way to generate credible leads or affiliate customers. You could do this with a completely automated, partially automated, or manual solution (like a series of great blog posts). There are all these YC companies who are making new products that replace existing ones. Take a special look at the B2B products. They have limited ability to directly target more than the few most lucrative verticals, but you and your friends are probably intimately familiar with at least one industry that could benefit from a new technology.
Here is where the most critical attribute of a YC-worthy person come in: hustle. It's all out there waiting for you: pick a technology that can help an industry that you understand, and sell that technology to them. Increase their bottom line demonstrably. After you've done this, you'll probably find you're a lot less interested in getting into YC, but they'll be more interested in you.
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dear lord, I'd love to know who this funder is.
The government most likely. There are several places in this world where startups, and businesses in general, almost drown in free money like this. The downside to this is that in order to get this free money, you first have to go through a senseless amount of paperwork, bureaucracy and bullshit. But, to be honest, it's a small price to pay for what you get. Northern Ireland for example is a startup paradise. InvestN…
Northern Ireland for example is a startup paradise.
I can confirm this. One of the guys on my team has contacts in InvestNI and I'm told that they want and need to give money away or else they won't get as much for their budget next year, so its really easy to get free money off them.
Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.
#150Ballsy. I like it.