We got rejected (2nd time applying) and ended up raising a substantial seed/pre-seed round at excellent terms a month later.
Is there a compelling reason to still apply?
Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
121–130 of 441 posts
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#122Re the “won’t get in” point.. We applied a few years ago. I won’t lie, I was sad and disappointed we didn’t get in, but even more so because our application was just ignored. Left a very bad taste in our mouths. I won’t again spend days on an application to have it be ignored. Since then, we have been grinding away at the same business and it’s now making 7 figures, giving us the perfect life of a 20% YoY growth busi…
I spent most of the last 20 years in bootstrapped companies, helping grow two of them into 8 figures (which, when you don't have a board, is pretty neat). Bootstrapping is where my heart is, and almost all of the best memories of my career are from times when those kinds of companies were at the knife's edge of maybe having some kind of market fit and maybe just starting to have an identity and maybe just getting up on their legs. If that's your happy place --- again: it is mine! --- probably don't apply to YC.
I'm at a company now (Fly.io, W20) that simply would not make sense without funding (we rack hardware all over the world). I've advised close friends through other startups that might could have worked without funding, but worked better with it. I've seen the before/after on YC, years into the life of some companies (Fly.io started in 2016) and the win was significant.
It depends on what you're trying to do.
But like, pretty obviously, the point Dan is trying to make here is that there are lots of people negotiating against themselves, talking themselves out of taking the swing. And I'm not all that great at business or whatever, but one thing I think I've learned is that overriding the instinct not to take swings, succumbing to the urge to avoid potential nociception, it's a pretty important tool in the toolbox of entrepreneurship.
There are good reasons not to apply to YC, but "they will probably reject me" is maybe not one of them, unless your time is very scarce, in which case you probably already know why you're not applying to YC.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
> YC not even responding The only way that would happen is a bug. YC always responds to applicants. Rejections usually aren't personalized because that can't scale - but not hearing back at all should never happen. If you want me to look into what might have happened there, I'd be willing to try if you email hn@ycombinator.com.
Correction, I got a response, but no specific feedback. I double checked my emails. Anyway, I'm realistic in knowing my ideas aren't going to garner investment. I would love if you had a YC Junior for just getting help on ideas vs capital.
No investor is going to give you specific feedback.
Your best bet is to go to onto Reddit, Discord etc, find the startup communities and ask for advice there. There are a lot of people who want to support other founders. Or even better go on Linkedin, find some prospective customers and ask them for advice. I've had about 10% of people reply back some with page long answers.
If you are willing to spend money there are plenty of services like Kintell, Intro.co which will allow you to book an hour with investors or successful founders. But there are plenty of free options that I would start with first.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#124OK. I finally gave it a shot. But https://apply.ycombinator.com/bio/edit is broken. So I can't submit my application. Not interested now. You guys need to fix your website.
Are you sure it is in your interest to give up at the first hurdle?
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
> YC basically being a post-Ivy League thing I have a lot of friends of mine who are decade+ YoE first time founders who have done very very well in YC. Lots of Enterprise SaaS companies have went thru YC and done very well - you just don't hear about them as much because Direct Enterprise Sales doesn't require as much marketing. There are similar B2C successes by older founders and non-Ivy/Ivy Tier founders. > we're…
How many years do you have to go back to find 1 company that is on par with a dropbox or airbnb i feel like if you went back 5 years it would be hard to even find more than 1-2 companies that has achieved a moderate level of mainstream success in the same way
It takes 10-15 years to successfully IPO an Enterprise/Infra/Cybersecurity SaaS (eg. ZS started in the mid-2000s, work on Rubrik started in the 2013 time period).
One notable mid-late state Enterprise firm I've been following is Vanta. Others have been very successful acquihires (eg. Squeen becoming a core part of the Security BU at Datadog). Salt Security is a good product as well, but will most likely be acquihired.
Usually, most enterprise companies choose to be acquired because even though the pot of gold at IPO is amazing, it is annoying to work on the same product for 10-15 years (though occasionally you do have startups just being stupid at strategy - looking at you Lacework smh, coulda acquihired Wiz or Orca 4-5 years ago).
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, I didn't even graduate college :P > So we're just doing it on our own. IMO if you can become a $100M household name without VC, that's absolutely the way to do it. Even if you do take the VC path, YC for me was a massive boost in network, knowledge, and resources that I didn't have before, but it's also not the only way to acquire those things. You can even find that YC knowledge online, e.g. https://www.star…
> I mean, I didn't even graduate college :P Yes, but did you go to one of those colleges where dropping out is even better than graduating? Because most of us didn't even get the chance to drop out of one of those.
Not that I'm aware of, no, just the local state school.
My impression of the YC application process was that it was way more holistic than just educational background.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#127We got rejected (2nd time applying) and ended up raising a substantial seed/pre-seed round at excellent terms a month later. Is there a compelling reason to still apply?
That means nothing though. If you (N=1) apply to Google and get rejected but take a Facebook job, it doesn't mean people shouldn't apply to Google.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#128is it still no co-founder no go?
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#129I'm going to post something vulnerable, but I hope people take my comment in the right light, as in general I love YC and what it has done for the startup community. I've been building startups for a long time, and have applied to YC several times, mainly with the same idea (although I've always listed 4-5 other ideas I'm interested in as well). I have always gotten rejected, and while that was disappointing, I 100%…
Sorry to hear that experience. I've come to discount any form of flattery in intro emails. E.g. when a FAANG recruiter emails me "wow, we were impressed by your public project!", I used to believe it. Now I know it's just a synonym for "join the back of the line of 17,639,838 applicants."
Yeah, if PG takes me out for a steak, I will believe it :-). An email that cost $0.000001 on SES, nah!
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#130> Upload a founder video
Yeah definitely not. No thank you.
It's a great filter though. I am exactly the type of person who you don't want to see a video of, and therefore perfectly unsuited for YCombinator/SV/etc. which are all about personality.