Does anyone have examples of start-ups that didn't get into YC but have gone on to do 'well' by some definition(e.g top 100,000 on compete.com or ramen profitable or acquired)?
Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
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Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#2DriverMax from http://www.drivermax.com is in the Compete top 100,000. We are not looking for VC investment. We are profitable.
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#3Google?
YC is a drop in the bucket. It's a cool and potentially game-changing one, but a drop nonetheless.
Edit: To be less snarky about it, this will probably interest you: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=550351
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#4DriverMax from http://www.drivermax.com is in the Compete top 100,000. We are not looking for VC investment. We are profitable.
I assume the OP is looking for startups that applied to YC and were not accepted and then went on to success afterwards.
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#5Google? YC is a drop in the bucket. It's a cool and potentially game-changing one, but a drop nonetheless. Edit: To be less snarky about it, this will probably interest you: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=550351
I think the question is intended to be about companies that applied to YC and were rejected, not those that significantly predate YC.
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#6Google? YC is a drop in the bucket. It's a cool and potentially game-changing one, but a drop nonetheless. Edit: To be less snarky about it, this will probably interest you: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=550351
I think the question is intended to be about companies that applied to YC and were rejected, not those that significantly predate YC.
Yes, that was what I meant to say.
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#7apparently CouchDB, too.
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#8I feel like this question is irrelevant. If YC looks at 1000 ideas, and thinks 100 are good - they still can't take all 100 (because they don't have the space/funding).
Therefore a company being rejected from YC may have nothing to do with whether or not YC wanted them. Sometimes its just about logistics.
Alas, I'm sure YC has rejected companies it knew would be successful, but accepted companies which were either more innovative/bigger market opportunity, or which they hoped would become even more successful.
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#9I feel like this question is irrelevant. If YC looks at 1000 ideas, and thinks 100 are good - they still can't take all 100 (because they don't have the space/funding). Therefore a company being rejected from YC may have nothing to do with whether or not YC wanted them. Sometimes its just about logistics. Alas, I'm sure YC has rejected companies it knew would be successful, but accepted companies which were either mo…
But if a proportion of the other 900 companies are more successful that the 100 accepted companies, it provides some insight into the ability of YC to pick 'winners'. Particularly if a company that is turned down out perfoms a YC company in the same space/field.
Re: Ask HN: What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like
#10Being accepted or not by YC has very little bearing on whether a startup can be successful or not, I do not expect there to be any significant correlation between YC rejected companies and accepted ones (in terms of success).
They simply have a limited amount of time.
What I do think you will find is that those that are bitter about a rejection tend to cluster around the failure point, mostly because they will be looking to externalize their reason for failure. That may come in many different guises, such as 'we would have succeeded if we had been accepted' or 'we will prove they should have accepted us'.
Just take it as an opportunity to accelerate do not worry too much about who gets accepted and who does not.
YC likely got it wrong a number of times, as long as they use objective criteria (only known to themselves) and gut calls on who they choose to work with (which can just be a personal feelings issue) they are totally free to make their decisions.
It's their time and money after all.