Got rejected as well, I agree re: how useful it would be to even get just a sentence or half sentence. Maybe even just a round number, i.e. round 1 (intern-reviewed) or round 2, etc. Then you'd know if you got a 1 that your application has a lot of problems in it, at least.
Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
61–70 of 111 posts
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#62We received our rejection as well. As much as you try to tell yourself say it is not a big deal, it still hurts. You question much of what you are doing. I have been grinding on many unsuccessful projects for a while now, and it's hard to stay positive. The funny thing is, we had no intention to apply to YC originally, but once we did, you start to dream about how it could change your life. How that might be the defi…
kudos to you for pursuing your dream; even if you do go back to a job again, I'm sure you'll keep pushing forward somehow, some way... wishing you future success!
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
My demo wasn't tried either (I checked everyday), nor did I have more than 4 pageviews of my video, most of which are mine. Good luck and don't take it hard.
Have it at all occurred to you guys that some people might be running AdBlock and alike, so MixPanel/GA scripts won't even have a change to load? Hm.
Our demo was viewed 4 times yet got rejection. We were very confident and feeling pretty bad now :(
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#64We received our rejection as well. As much as you try to tell yourself say it is not a big deal, it still hurts. You question much of what you are doing. I have been grinding on many unsuccessful projects for a while now, and it's hard to stay positive. The funny thing is, we had no intention to apply to YC originally, but once we did, you start to dream about how it could change your life. How that might be the defi…
I realize it's easy to craft a story that somehow connects all of your unsuccessful projects into some narrative that indicts your skills. Don't go there. I know it's hard. Just don't.
I'm a mentor for a much less prestigious accelerator program, I've sold a company, I've selected companies for our local angel network, and I've had business ideas flop, funding doors close, and (much earlier) been rejected from schools I wanted to attend.
A few lessons learned:
1) application processes at this scale are very inaccurate at picking successful companies. at some level you entered a lottery with a merit component. that doesn't mean YOU got a fair, deep, true look.
2) investors/mentors surprisingly often don't necessarily know wtf they're talking about. When they're in an area they don't know about, some of them get hyper critical and knee jerk dismissive. Take any criticisms with a grain of salt. Since you don't know who at YC saw your app, you can't judge their ability to judge it. If you want to double-check your work, get feedback from someone who has built a similar business... that means the business drivers were the same (if consumer- same traffic gen strategies; if b2b- selling into same spot in similar orgs).
3) Startups are truly 50% skill and 50% luck. The key is to stay lean so you can stay in the game, solve the smallest problem that's interesting (@ev), and get it in front of real users and iterate.
Keep your head down and keep learning, and luck will find you. It's a cliche, but I'll just say it because it's true in my experience: people who succeed are willing to do things that others won't. You're at a point where you may have to make some tough decisions about how to manage your time. If you believe there's merit in your business, make the sacrifices to continue working on it.
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#65We received our rejection as well. As much as you try to tell yourself say it is not a big deal, it still hurts. You question much of what you are doing. I have been grinding on many unsuccessful projects for a while now, and it's hard to stay positive. The funny thing is, we had no intention to apply to YC originally, but once we did, you start to dream about how it could change your life. How that might be the defi…
Woke up this morning to a rejection email. The good news is that this means I have successfully achieved my New Year's Resolution of failing more. The bad news is that it doesn't make failing any easier!
We didn't even hear about Y-Combinator until the week before, but I'd echo notdarkyet's comments about how you start to dream. Either way, the process has already been a very worthwhile exercise, without which I would t have discovered Hacker News, so there are a lot of positives to take away.
Unlike notdarkyet I go back to a very well paying job, but that's a curse in itself because it makes it far too easy to become complacent and comfortable.
I guess I just need to find the next thing to fail at until next round :-)
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#66We received our rejection as well. As much as you try to tell yourself say it is not a big deal, it still hurts. You question much of what you are doing. I have been grinding on many unsuccessful projects for a while now, and it's hard to stay positive. The funny thing is, we had no intention to apply to YC originally, but once we did, you start to dream about how it could change your life. How that might be the defi…
Woke up this morning to a rejection email. The good news is that this means I have successfully achieved my New Year's Resolution of failing more. The bad news is that it doesn't make failing any easier! We didn't even hear about Y-Combinator until the week before, but I'd echo notdarkyet's comments about how you start to dream. Either way, the process has already been a very worthwhile exercise, without which I woul…
Did You apply before or after the deadline?
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#67We got rejected :). We didn't build our startup for YC, though. In fact the YC application was just a super great opportunity for us to have a 'checkpoint' at our startup. So, I think this was great. Good luck to everybody else! Check out http://eatfindr.com/ if you'd like to find out more about what we applied with. ShowHN coming soon. :)
this is a great idea, i had someone the other day ask me to make an app like this. have you thought about expanding it to help people when choosing groceries in the supermarket? i guess that would be a bit of scope creep though. good luck!
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#68We got rejected :). We didn't build our startup for YC, though. In fact the YC application was just a super great opportunity for us to have a 'checkpoint' at our startup. So, I think this was great. Good luck to everybody else! Check out http://eatfindr.com/ if you'd like to find out more about what we applied with. ShowHN coming soon. :)
I know so many people with allergies that need this app. Will certainly pass it along. Throw a like button on that page ;-)
ok, page is like-able now. Thanks frankdenbow for suggesting this fairly obvious miss on our part :)
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#69We received our rejection as well. As much as you try to tell yourself say it is not a big deal, it still hurts. You question much of what you are doing. I have been grinding on many unsuccessful projects for a while now, and it's hard to stay positive. The funny thing is, we had no intention to apply to YC originally, but once we did, you start to dream about how it could change your life. How that might be the defi…
Woke up this morning to a rejection email. The good news is that this means I have successfully achieved my New Year's Resolution of failing more. The bad news is that it doesn't make failing any easier! We didn't even hear about Y-Combinator until the week before, but I'd echo notdarkyet's comments about how you start to dream. Either way, the process has already been a very worthwhile exercise, without which I woul…
Just to put it out there - why not continue on the rejected idea?
YCombinator are good, but not infallible. Just because they reject your application doesn't guarantee that your idea doesn't have legs.
Re: Tell HN: YC Application Responses Are Out
#70Rejected. 4 video views. Brush your shoulders off :) We're building a site that tells you what to buy: the best model of anything, accurately, by crunching owner ratings. We'd love any feedback: http://daring.is Congrats to YC S12.
Awesome idea. My guess is the business part is the weak spot, because from a consumer perspective it seems like an easy sell to me.
Thanks! The monetization should be easier in shopping than many other areas because it's just one step away from purchase.
Btw we're doing lots of fun machine learning stuff, let me know if you might be up for interning here in Palo Alto. You can use the feedback link at the bottom of the site.