Some things to do (and not do) if you aren't invited to interview with YC • Hacker News Board

Re: Some things to do (and not do) if you aren't invited to interview with YC

#41

Post by anaphoric » Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 8:01 AM UTC

adrianwaj wrote: post #21

pg wrote: post #8

Another thing I'd ask people not to do is write to us asking for the details of why they weren't invited. We explain in the YC FAQ that we won't, but every cycle people deluge us with emails anyway. It's not because we're being secretive that we don't answer these emails. The reason is that there generally are no details to give. Usually when we don't invite a group for interviews, it's not because there was some gla…

This 'rejection without a stated reason' is common practice - and poor practice wherever it may be found, ie recruitment, vc, men/women relationships, record companies and many places else. The ease by which even minimal feedback can be given which can lead to great benefit to the recipient is obvious, and therefore should be embraced. There may be risks that the recipient makes some kind of rebuttal and wastes time,…

I remember a story about a Swedish manager accepting job applications for software developers in 2003. Typically permanent job postings would get hundreds of applicants back then.

In any case, this busy manager had 200 unread applications to evaluate. He had perhaps a day or two to do this in. The first thing the manager did was to grab half of the applications from the pile and remark, "you see these people. They are unlucky. And we don't want to hire unlucky people." And with this he threw these applications into the trash.

A lot about success is playing the numbers game and not freaking out/wasting time over rejection. Of course that is easier said than done.

Re: Some things to do (and not do) if you aren't invited to interview with YC

#42

Post by adrianwaj » Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 9:15 AM UTC

shiro wrote: post #39

adrianwaj wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A great VC can say more than just 'no' but can pinpoint exactly why they said no. If it is a gut feeling then they should be able to elaborate on that gut feeling. I got comments once from judges in a startup competition and they were harsh, and offered no imaginative answers.

Ok, don't confuse the cases where giving feedback benefits both parties and where it doesn't. In most selections that draws a "pass or fail" line among applicants, giving feedback benefits neither. I explained the reason in my comment in this tree ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=68895 ). I assume whether you're called back for YC interview or not is this kind. What I didn't explain is that there are other cases…

I guess VCs do become consultant-like, but only once a company is funded. Up until that stage, there may be no point, unless of course the relationship with the entrepreneur is valued enough to do so. As a solution, how about YC offering public feedback to the rejected applicants willing to expose themselves publicly. Also, I am curious to know if scorecards are used.

Also, it would be great to see a YC applicant actually develop a system for the applications themselves making feedback and follow-up easier for YC staff.

So, if systems were in place to handle these types of apply-check-judge-accept/reject-feedback-followup processes better, I'm confident better outcomes could be reached.

Anaphoric's comment (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=68979) such a system could be used by that manager who rejects at random.

Re: Some things to do (and not do) if you aren't invited to interview with YC

#43

Post by shiro » Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 10:07 AM UTC

adrianwaj wrote: post #42

shiro wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, don't confuse the cases where giving feedback benefits both parties and where it doesn't. In most selections that draws a "pass or fail" line among applicants, giving feedback benefits neither. I explained the reason in my comment in this tree ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=68895 ). I assume whether you're called back for YC interview or not is this kind. What I didn't explain is that there are other cases…

I guess VCs do become consultant-like, but only once a company is funded. Up until that stage, there may be no point, unless of course the relationship with the entrepreneur is valued enough to do so. As a solution, how about YC offering public feedback to the rejected applicants willing to expose themselves publicly. Also, I am curious to know if scorecards are used. Also, it would be great to see a YC applicant act…

whether YC will do something or not is beyond my concern, but as a general remark, could such feedback loop encourage applicants to fit into criteria to pass that particular system instead of their actual goals (building successful startup)?

The same remark can be applied to other fields; recruitment, record companies, auditions to cast a role, men/women relationships, .... what's common here is that, although you can tell success or failure retrospectively, you cannot nail down the systematic criteria beforehand.

Re: Some things to do (and not do) if you aren't invited to interview with YC

#44

Post by DanielBMarkham » Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 2:40 PM UTC

shiro wrote: post #43

adrianwaj wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess VCs do become consultant-like, but only once a company is funded. Up until that stage, there may be no point, unless of course the relationship with the entrepreneur is valued enough to do so. As a solution, how about YC offering public feedback to the rejected applicants willing to expose themselves publicly. Also, I am curious to know if scorecards are used. Also, it would be great to see a YC applicant act…

whether YC will do something or not is beyond my concern, but as a general remark, could such feedback loop encourage applicants to fit into criteria to pass that particular system instead of their actual goals (building successful startup)? The same remark can be applied to other fields; recruitment, record companies, auditions to cast a role, men/women relationships, .... what's common here is that, although you ca…

Just to jump in here, there's also a measure of agility that is required. Having any sort of formalized system based on criteria assumes by its nature that those criteria are always going to be true. Anybody who's been watching the tech world for more than five years knows that's not true.

Not to mention the issues that come up once the system is changed. If the system is changed next year, and some companies that failed under the old system would pass under the new system, wouldn't that be a huge problem?

You're taking people at the top of their game, with knowledge in the industry and technology, and having them make a fine-tuned judgment call.All this for a dynamically changing business environment. If the decision is of a well-considered and thoughtful nature at all, that's going to be very hard to systematize. The more you formalize it the more you lose your special sauce. There are qualitative scorecard-type solutions, but those by nature are personal opinions and would have to remain proprietary.

Re: Some things to do (and not do) if you aren't invited to interview with YC

#45

Post by anamax » Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 3:29 PM UTC

adrianwaj wrote: post #37

sbraford wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The common refrain from VCs, book publishers -- anyone who gets large volumes of submissions and can only select a tiny minority is: * even attempting to respond (however briefly) to the deluge of requests would overwhelm us to the point that we could no longer focus on running the core business

But, if all publishers gave feedback then the 'poor' authors would each save themselves from submitting to multiple publishers, and the 'poor' publishers deluged with submissions would instead have more refined manuscripts to evaluate and in lesser numbers. Thus, a little feedback can go a long way. This is because ideally manuscripts would improve only after a few submissions due to the feedback given and then they…

Except for the fact that a large number of said 'poor' authors won't react that way. They'll argue, fight, and so on.

Re: Some things to do (and not do) if you aren't invited to interview with YC

#46

Post by twelve88 » Wed, Oct 17, 2007, 3:38 PM UTC

This is great advice. Going through the application is itself a great exercise in developing our products and pitches. There are so many paths to success, we just have to keep taking them as they come, whether they be in the form of organizations like Y-Combinator or serendipity... it's almost romantic, don't ya think?