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We Make Mistakes

blog.ycombinator.com

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151–160 of 206 posts

Re: We Make Mistakes

#151

Post by wellboy »

aliakhtar wrote: post #147
MCRed wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a "solo founder" type for awhile. If you're an engineer I think you can have your pick of co-founders. My suggestion, after working on and for startups for a couple decades is that you should be the CEO, find business people to be co-founders, and hire a VP of engineering, or CTO. It's almost a cliche that there are business guys "starting companies" who "just need an engineer"... but I think the best chances f…

I'm not going to get a co-founder just to get into YC.

You do need a co-founder though to build a startup. The value of having 1 person to bounce ideas off is incredible versus just yourself. The value of the second co-founder for bouncing ideas off is 50% less than for the first one, that's why one co-founder is optimal.

Re: We Make Mistakes

#153

Post by untilHellbanned »

MarkyPc3 wrote: post #55

Last I applied as a single founder I got an interview. Now I have a cofounder and made significant progress but our application didn't earn us an interview (the second time applying with this idea.) Perhaps I took something for granted when i applied this time so the app turned out weaker or disappointing but I realize how lucky I was to get feedback last time as opposed to none at all now.

This seems strange. Any areas your application changed? What did you think you did better this time?

Re: We Make Mistakes

#154

Post by qazawy1001 »

you make mistakes and we will remember.

btw, it just might be sour grapes, but i get the feeling yc app process is highly gamed right now and being rejected by it is not useful enough information to act on for the founders - which is the hallmark of a good investor.

Re: We Make Mistakes

#155

Post by graphene »

vishnupr wrote: post #8

A relevant question I asked PG a year ago: [Do you review rejected YC apps to find startups who then made it big?] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7122774

I can't find a source for LightSail having been rejected from YC, the linked reference is just a crunchbase entry that doesn't mention YC as investors.

I'd be super interested to know more about this, since LightSail seems like exactly the type of company (and founder) that YC says it wants to fund: Working in a RFS domain (energy), massive potential upside, and founder with considerable domain expertise.

Re: We Make Mistakes

#156

Post by ninajlu »

Got in this batch on our second time applying. First time we applied with an idea: now we have a product and customers. In retrospect I think the initial rejection was reasonable.

Re: We Make Mistakes

#158

Post by sokoloff »

danieltillett wrote: post #73
qazawy1001 wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

honest question because I hear this line from YC partners, then at that point why as founders would we need YC at all?

You don't, but if you are dumb enough to give them a share of your business they are happy to take it.

I think the math is quite favorable to taking YC investment as a +EV decision until quite a late stage in a successful startup's development.

pg wrote about this pretty convincingly here: http://paulgraham.com/equity.html

Unless you are comparing YC against an actual term sheet in your hand with at least 2X better terms, that YC is overwhelmingly likely a good deal. There might be good reasons not to enter YC for some companies, but the 6% equity is rarely the determining one, even for companies with revenue and sustainable Ramen profits.

Re: We Make Mistakes

#159

Post by hessenwolf »

vacri wrote: post #111
downandout wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I never got into Y Combinator but I'm now the CEO of a rapidly growing, well funded startup that actually SERVES an increasing number of YC companies This this kind of thing always feels like a bit of a victory. I never came close to being admitted to Stanford, but years ago found myself on the campus, hiring a professor as a consultant to a startup I co-founded. As we walked around the campus and then sat in his of…

I once tried to become a paramedic. I was working in a sort-of outpatient clinic at the time, talked a couple of times with an paramedic instructor, along with some regular officers. I never got in - the HR recruiters didn't like me for some reason. This made no sense to the instructor, who thought I was a prime candidate, nor to my medical colleagues, and I also later successfully coached two friends through the pro…

I got a reply from a financial engineering consultancy HR person on Friday to say that they would not be able to process my application until I had submitted my high school results.

From 1997.

I have several applications on the go right now, so I do not have time to go historical for them. They miss a candidate.

Re: We Make Mistakes

#160

Post by jacquesm »

flipside wrote: post #14

7th rejection, doesn't even phase me anymore. :P For those with less experience, the disappointment will pass. Take a day if you need to reflect on what you're doing, why you're doing it and how you could do it better. Rejection is fuel for the fire, use it to burn brighter going forward. Next time, be so good they can't ignore you, simple as that.

You'll get there, with or without them. That kind of persistence will eventually pay off because you're not letting outside factors determine your success as much as you can. Kudos!
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