No thanks. I've applied every year for the first ten years since I was 20 and have not received any feedback on my rejections. The only times I did not apply, I went on to raise series A & B. I've seen friends get accepted with nothing but an idea and a Stanford degree.
Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
401–410 of 441 posts
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#402Should we apply? https://www.movably.com/
The title of the post indicates you should.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#403Does anyone know if there is a way to expedite the decision-making process? We've received a term sheet and are under some time constraints to respond.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#404Re: "won't get in" How do I balance this encouraging advice with everything I've heard online about YC basically being a post-Ivy League thing? Seems like there's basically a 0% chance a random person would get into YC. And often those who did get in went to Stanford, Harvard, etc. and don't even have a product - sometimes they don't even know what they're going to build yet. I wrote the idea of VC stuff off long ago…
> My wife and I have a profitable business here in SF that would be perfect as a startup Keep doing what you're doing. Being VC funded shouldn't be the holy grail - the holy grail is having a business you enjoy doing, that's making you the life you want. For some the life you want is pitching, raising, getting the kudos of the big numbers, onto the next raise etc. For some the life you want is the complete opposite a…
I fully agree with you. I witnessed numerous small & stable companies that decided to go with the "startup" route and pick VC money because "that was the way". As soon as the first funding tranche arrived, once stable business suddenly became a hectic mess of hires and crazy projects, and, ultimately, they ended up with MBA managers installed by the VC board to salvage things as much as possible. Won't mention founders that usually go from very happy, loving persons to coke/alcohol/xanax junkies.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#405Does anyone know if there is a way to expedite the decision-making process? We've received a term sheet and are under some time constraints to respond.
If you email hn@ycombinator.com I'll try to help.
All YC's group partners are speaking at Startup School today so it might be hard to wrangle one immediately!
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
YC has apparently been helping many founders get the O-1 visa. And there are plenty of services that allow you to manage US companies remotely.
O-1 visas are pretty darn hard to get by. Most start-up founders would lack the national or international distinction and that too way before even they have started their journey. Those having such kind of distinction would already have going too good for them (unless they're just good on the paper) that it wouldn't make much economic sense for them to relocate elsewhere.
Receiving money from one of the most well known VC firms seems like a pretty good distinction. I know people who received O-1 with far less (no tricks involved)
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#407I think one thing that people don't realize is that the YC application process is really one of the best tools for "sharpening" your idea/business. The written applications forces you to articulate your ideas in a concise yet easy to understand way. And as much as YC doesn't recommend this, the mock YC interviews we did with alums was one of those most beneficial things that happened to us. Because so rarely will you…
> I think one thing that people don't realize is that the YC application process is really one of the best tools for "sharpening" your idea/business. I'm seeing this a lot through the comments but I have to ask, why is it? Do people just not think about how their product will make money, who the competition is or how are they going to get customers?
At least for me at the time, I knew nothing about start ups. Didn't come from a prestigious school. Nor the bay or even US. Didn't work in big tech. The closest thing was that I was studying EE.
Honest it was quite inspiring to chat with these founders who were in a different world, and realizing that they're not all that different from myself.
So yea, maybe I was young dumb n broke.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
That’s essentially how the whole world operates. Y Combinator isn’t an exception. Do you think a wealthy investor would prefer to fund an unknown individual, or someone whose father is a well-established law professor at Stanford? However, I do believe that YC tends to be somewhat more egalitarian and merit-based compared to others, although it’s not by a significant margin.
> That’s essentially how the whole world operates What if regarding slavery or horses as transportation people were like "that's essentially how the world operates", not that investing has anything to do with those, but that this excuse doesn't add a ton of insight if you think about it. There are a lot of ways the world has operated that are not fair or optimal. It would be a logical fallacy - an appeal to tradition…
I completely agree that there’s a need for change in terms of inclusivity within tech entrepreneurship. However, I’m not convinced that YC is necessarily the starting point for this shift.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#409Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is all a just-so story. Rejection is the air you breathe. One of the better things YC does is offer quick, no-nonsense rejections, which is a stark difference from the institutional VC market which will happily string you along, offering feedback and meetings for months with no intention of ever taking anything but an option on joining your round if a real buyer shows up. Meanwhile: if you're so busy talking to…
I am not coming from a jaded bootstrapper angle at all. My point is simple: if you are in fundraising mode and are fundable, apply to YC. And talk to as many investors as you can. If you are not, don't do any of those. Focus on building. YC would have another application in six months. YC is better than other investors, but it is still an investor. > the time to apply to YC is damaging It's not damaging but distracti…
We agree more than we disagree. I'll only say that while it's ultra-clear to me what's distracting about talking to VCs, it's not all that clear to me a YC app is all that distracting. It's a one-and-done thing, you get an answer pretty quickly, lots of people apply so go in expecting not to get it this round; it feels low cost to me.
Going out to talk to actual VC firms too early can put you into a tailspin, for sure.
Re: Tell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
great. now lets ask the other 97% in YC what school they dropped out/graduated from.
Your theory here is that YC just has a weird soft spot for the University of Oklahoma? It's a program you apply to get into. That's what strivers do: apply to get into things. Of course there are lots of college strivers there.
You are not reading what I wrote and instead replying to continue pushing that false narrative we've established here to be untrue: that most in YC aren't from an unknown university.
Your insistence only confirms the rumours, does not dispel it.