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The YC Rejection thread

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: The YC Rejection thread

#111

Post by rms »

goodkarma wrote: post #74
silencio wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think second to the valuable networking opportunities YC provides, the money that could be spent not worrying about rent and the bills for at least a couple months is not insignificant. I know personally it's not a huge deal to have that money and we're continuing regardless of rejection, but that kind of money could possibly shave off a few months of development time where I don't have to worry so much about class…

I have no doubt that YC provides great networking opportunities. My question was in direct response to nanexcool's comment that the cash would have given him the chance.

I think a lot of people saying that the money is important really mean that a socially acceptable framework for quitting your job/school is important.

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#112

Post by silencio »

jacquesm wrote: post #106
silencio wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think second to the valuable networking opportunities YC provides, the money that could be spent not worrying about rent and the bills for at least a couple months is not insignificant. I know personally it's not a huge deal to have that money and we're continuing regardless of rejection, but that kind of money could possibly shave off a few months of development time where I don't have to worry so much about class…

I don't know how to say this gently, but YC money should be harder to accept. After all, they don't have a pre-existing relationship with you, and friends and family do. It's a bit as if you're saying that it is easier to accept money from 'strangers'. Personally I think that if your idea has merit and 10k is the big issue that you should get an extra job, save like the devil for the next 10 months to a year and then…

Haha, please be as harsh as you originally meant to be, I know what you mean.

I find any money hard to accept, stranger or not. To me, applying to YC (and all the possible consequences) was a harder decision than the decision to not accept friends/family money because it is from "strangers", and that's money I typically find hardest to accept.

However, while in a way preexisting relationships can be helpful, sometimes they can be a negative. I have lots of friends but not many that can honestly afford to chip in anywhere near that much (we're all entering that phase of student loans and new families). I have family but they usually want extortionate shares or interest in exchange (think like half of revenue for chipping in $20k at the beginning), plus the whole time provide the massive emotional burden of "you're a failure to this family if you don't succeed wildly". So given the alternatives, I'd prefer a more impartial stranger or group of strangers that don't do something like that, that can provide me with more than just money and a lot of international nagging.

That being said, I'd be stupid to think that $10k is a big issue. It's not, I hope it never comes to that, and I never have thought it to be at any point...in fact, this topic is the first time I even considered the idea of $10k or even $20k being a big issue, and I had to laugh at it. I have more than that in my savings alone, and although I like to have a little financial cushion at all times, I would consider using most of it for the startup if need be. It's just not money I can easily part with for the sake of working fulltime on the startup during the summer when the original pre-ycombinator plan was to do that anyway, just with some low maintenance/effort contract work on the side at the same time to take care of the small bills and inevitable money we'll need anyway.

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#113

Post by nostrademons »

iamelgringo wrote: post #31
khangtoh wrote: post #9

We're officially on this list but will move to SF regardless! PG: can we _still_hang_out_ with you guys on meetup nights. I'm serious.

I hope you enjoy your move to the Bay area. It's delightful. And, if you want to get to know some people in the Hacker community, http://HackersandFounders.com gets together every couple of weeks. Let me know you're coming, and I'll buy you a beer. :)

Cool, just joined. :-) I've been looking for groups like this...just moved out to the Bay Area about 3 months ago.

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#114

Post by catch23 »

dthakur wrote: post #94
sam_in_nyc wrote: post #20

I wonder if all the rejection e-mails had the same text. Mine started with "We're sorry" and ended with "Y Combinator Staff" and has the following MD5: f459a7d636ac85cdcd680b135bcfc521 Edit: easy multi-line md5 here: http://www.webhost.org/widgets/md5encrypter

OT: Did it bother anyone else that the site calling it an "MD5 Encrypter" with the "Encrypt Data" button and all. Where is the decrypter?

Some poor soul probably "encrypted" all his important documents into tiny little md5 strings that he now stores in his wallet.

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#116

Post by wyclif »

smidwap wrote: post #46
silencio wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is age such a bad thing :) I'm 20 and we also got rejected, but one of us happens to be in her 50s and doesn't consider this the worst thing in the world (or even, the worst thing to happen to our startup).

Same here. We have a team of 20-year olds an one 52 year-old. The grandpa of us bunch didn't see the same excitement in this opportunity as the young'uns did. Rejection here as well...would have been a heck of a summer in San Francisco, instead it will have to be an awesome 4 months in Bloomington, IN, home of Indiana University!

You can always compete with the "Cutters".

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#117

Post by davidw »

sam_in_nyc wrote: post #68
cperciva wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be shocked if the emails weren't all identical -- even if it only took five minutes to compose each email, that would be a week of work. And after all, for 99% of applications there's really no need to say anything different. For the 1% where some extra explanation is useful, they can send separate emails later.

I was thinking there might be a few strata of e-mails... like "sorry" then "sooo close" then maybe a "waitlist" e-mail if some other group drops out.

A waitlist would imply that people were basically good enough, whereas pg has always said that if they like a group, they'll take them - it's not as if there is a number of accepted groups that is set in stone.

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#118

Post by davidw »

khangtoh wrote: post #9

We're officially on this list but will move to SF regardless! PG: can we _still_hang_out_ with you guys on meetup nights. I'm serious.

> PG: can we _still_hang_out_ with you guys on meetup nights. I'm serious.

If they let anyone who wanted come, then it wouldn't be so exclusive and it would lose some of its value. I know I'd love to go to those meetups if I were in the area, and so would 423442342 other people.

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#119

Post by veemjeem »

nanexcool wrote: post #33
sam_in_nyc wrote: post #20

I wonder if all the rejection e-mails had the same text. Mine started with "We're sorry" and ended with "Y Combinator Staff" and has the following MD5: f459a7d636ac85cdcd680b135bcfc521 Edit: easy multi-line md5 here: http://www.webhost.org/widgets/md5encrypter

Yep, same MD5 here.

I think the acceptance MD5 is 88c23f22dc832d010564b4bcc3e2271c

Re: The YC Rejection thread

#120

Post by froo »

Well I'm going to throw a different idea out there. I applied to YC with a friend last year, we were rejected.

It was a very difficult idea to pitch.

We thought our idea was the best thing since sliced bread and all of our friends told us so (this should have been a warning sign... false positives)

We went on to building it anyway.

We got a version built, up and running in a couple months after initially dragging our feet. It basically worked, but poorly - we never took into account that battery life would be an issue on the phone app.

We got a little disheartened, started bickering and eventually the thing failed - before we even launched.

Somehow we had gotten the idea in our head that we needed YC to be successful. No, we needed a good idea and our idea was, at the time, not so good.

Not being accepted isn't the worst thing in the world. Everyone thinks their idea is the best idea EVER... We sure did.

The partnership broke down as a result of us forging ahead anyway without really looking at our product and only talking to people who only gave us positive answers.

Anyway, moral of the story for us? Being rejected was the best thing that could have happened for us.

I learned a lot about the other person during this process and also a lot about myself. I'm not bulletproof.

On reflection, I also learned that being unwilling to discuss my idea openly with others for fear of it being stolen was stupid. We would have discovered flaws early on and saved us a lot of trouble.

I openly discuss my new idea with others now.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=502164

Some people tell me it's stupid, I ask them why and we discuss it. Some others tell me it's interesting, and we discuss it. Some tell me it's great and we discuss it.

I refuse to accept simple answers now and discuss as many different aspects as I can think up. I also appreciate other's perspectives on it.

This has also helped cement the idea in my head and I can pitch it relatively easily now. I've come up with a solution to a problem, rather than having a solution and looking for a problem.

Will I apply to YC again? Probably, I'm not sure. I've got a clearer head now - not so caught up in the hype.

To reiterate, getting rejected is not the worst thing in the world. It's just one avenue in the startup process. you should think of YC as a tool to help you get where you want to be, rather than the destination.

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