Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

news.ycombinator.com

71–80 of 101 posts

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#72
post #65
post #45

Hey-o. My co-founder and I got rejected. We're making an iOS universal app (we call it Cook) that uses grocery lists and recipes to keep a current record of all the food in your kitchen. With said current record, you can do cool things like reccommend recipes you have all the ingredients for, or tell them to use an ingredient before it spoils :)

You might want to checkout ziplist. Most of the apps in the recipe/grocery space are pretty horrible but that site does a reasonable job, has a solid team as well as Martha Stuart as an investor. Not an immediate competitor to what you're doing but worth being aware of. I applied to YC with something close to what they've built although I wasn't aware of them when I applied.

Thanks for the heads up!

Downloaded the app. You're right, I should know about them, even if they don't relate groceries and recipes in a meaningful way :)

One thing I will so though is that the syncing devices is something we entirely aim for, as well as adding family members. Their iPhone app could use some serious help though...

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#73

I'm building http://www.iwaat.com , a search engine for web applications that I'm working to turn into a Yelp for apps. Also a solo founder looking for others to join me on this project. If you're building a web app feel free to add it to the site.

Also sounds similar to Chomp ( http://chomp.com ) which focuses on mobil. Apple recently bought them ( http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/23/apple-chomp/ ) Very nice interface. Where are you located?

Thanks. There's a number of app discovery services focused on mobile(chomp and crosswa.lk), which is why I chose to focus on webapps first.

Located in San Mateo, CA.

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#74
We got rejected too. We are building http://www.pajap.com . A DIY service that allows you to build 100% native mobile applications with a drag n drop designer without a single line of code. Apps made with pajap don't have to bee installed on the phone or updated.

Videos http://goo.gl/WkVZ8 (sample app) http://goo.gl/Fhmbl (making of)

Enough with the promotion...

The rejection means we don't get to lean back and watch the magic show. We have to try , run , try again and create magic ourselves. We'll do that.

Best of luck to all YC2012ors accepted_or_not.

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#75
post #7

Didn't apply to YC but interesting idea. I thought of the same idea but there was one fundamental problem I couldn't solve. That is, the text on the side is too distracting. I hope you can think of some ways to solve that problem!

That is one of the top problems! And I have many ideas. One of which is limit the number of comments by building a social networking feature where you only see the comments of people in your network. This could be Facebook, or it could be "Hacker News people" or IBM employees. There's also user interface ways to make things less jarring.

Even if you limit the comment, it is still there on the side, which means you are still distracted. I would attack the problem from an UI and UX standpoint. I know there is a website or app (can't remember the name of the website) that shows the comment ON the video as the video plays, kinda like subtitles (you can turn it off). Nonetheless, it's still too distracting for me.

Here is an idea you can play with: wikipedia for videos. So sometimes after you watched a video, you want to know EVERYTHING about it, and usually the comment are crap for factual information about the video. What you can do with that technology is allow users to learn more about the video when he or she pauses or when the video ends. Lots of possibilities here =).

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#76
I applied as a solo founder with no idea, so I knew a rejection letter was inevitable. In all fairness I am not quite ready to build a company, I just hope my application was read once or twice.

So who am I? Just a guy who started as the online banking help desk at $1B bank. I took the position just to get my foot in the door, and promptly proved my awesomeness with jack-of-all-trades problem solving that revamped their IT department from the ground up. My accomplishments drew c-level attention (walking into the CEO's office and telling him how much money I save him helped) so I'm now the lead sysadmin and further promotions are in sight.

But like many here on HN, developing software is my passion and what I really want to do is start my own tech company.

I'm taking small steps. I've completed 2 bonus projects to build custom web-apps for the bank intranet. Semi-formal contracts between myself and the CIO for the bank to purchase software I built on my own time and maintain my own IP. Yes it is awesome that they let me do this.

From that point of view, I'm already developing and selling software to a small business, I just need to expand. If I had explained myself this way in the application I may have generated some more interest.

Instead I mentioned that the timing wasn't very good and I want to learn some things from gauntlet of challenges ahead in my current job.

Applying to YC was another small step to help push myself in the startup direction. My main goal was just to get my name in front of someone at YC. If my video was watched then I consider it a smashing success.

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#77
post #69
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what exactly you are doing but it seems like you don't understand what pricenomics are doing. They tell you how much your stuff is worth if you are trying to sell it. It is not a social shopping site.

I think I understand what pricenomics does, which you can find similar information (actually more transparent and detailed) on Bizspeaking -- http://bizspeaking.com/item/c2145006f10a4b06ba71856e49e06e02 , then on top of that, Bizspeaking does a whole lot more. (The site is a bit slow now, there seems to be some Redis issue that I'm trying to resolve).

The whole lot more is sometimes the problem. Pricenomics does one thing well.

On your site, the main call to action is to post something I've bought. Why would I want to do that? I also couldn't actually figure out how to search for an item (I entered "Macbook Pro" into the filter but didn't find what I was looking for.)

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#79

http://viewlo.com/ Crowdfunded internet television and movies. We were super stoked when we came up with the idea a few months back, and even more overjoyed when we learned Ycombinator's focus this round of funding as we fit the criteria exactly. We are comprised of 3 college level engineers and still have a future ahead of us so no big deal. Really thought they we would seal the deal with our alternate ideas like In…

In viewlo OUR GOAL page you have several mistakes:

If you are a talented yet underground film artist there isThe boarderSo if your<--- an artist

Re: Ask HN: Rejected from YC? Who are you?

#80
Any mobile app developers get rejected? I'm involved with a new VC co standing up a soon-to-launch fund called WeHeartApps Fund that is focusing on early-stage mobile app/game developers. Feel free to email me at dane@villainhq.com (still getting our @glidecapital email set up).
Post reply on HN