Thanks for sharing your experience and giving us some useful insight. Just based on your whole approach to the process and dealing with the rejection, I think you will be fine with or without the YC experience.
best of luck
Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
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Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#12Maybe a better lesson is - screw YC, who needs them? Honestly, if you need the money to bootstrap, freelance. If you need the connections, go network. Think of it positively - this way you get to keep 100% of your equity.
I would go for YC if they can make me a Visa to USA (or just the Bay Area). But since they can't, what's really their role?
Everything can be learnt: You can read articles, papers, books and learn how to manage your company, deal with legal issues...
Once your company is profitable, you'll have the choice between fast expanding or remaining in steady growth.
If your idea is genius, successful... you don't need YC to sell or get money from an investor. Example: Admob.
No one can predict the future of a startup, so applying to YC won't really make you successful. It's you (the person) who predict it ;) just go with it.
Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#13Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#14Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#15> Last time, my cousin agreed to let me use him as a token cofounder.
This is interesting in that it's kind of the culmination of the 'get a cofounder!' idea from YC. Rather than actually having a good one as per YC's actual intentions, people are just dressing up a dummy in the passenger seat to try and get in the carpool lane. My guess is that this sort of thing is fairly easy to spot, though, and doesn't look good.
Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#16Upvoted for publishing a very well-written self-reflection piece on the process. I feel like most people in the same situation would just write a ranting reaction to disappointing news like this, but this was very well thought-out and as such, will help others going through the application process.
I wouldn't read into the subtle differences between this application and your last - maybe they didn't have time to check your URL this time because they got a lot more applications and they were on a bigger time crunch. Persistence is key - keep on trucking dude!
Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#17YC is so 1999. pg thinks he can replicate his success from before dot.com bubble burst. Really, of the startups hes funded, besides dropbox, who really needs that shit?
At the very least, YC partners are trying a novel experiment nobody has tried before, and if you're a curious person, it's interesting where it will go. If it succeeds, great! If it fails, at least it's a really interesting thing to try, and it inspired hundreds (thousands?) of people to strive to do great things.
I honestly want to know, what compels you to knock smart, energetic people trying new, interesting things? Even if the idea is ridiculous, who could it possibly hurt?
Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#18Maybe a better lesson is - screw YC, who needs them? Honestly, if you need the money to bootstrap, freelance. If you need the connections, go network. Think of it positively - this way you get to keep 100% of your equity.
I would go for YC if they can make me a Visa to USA (or just the Bay Area). But since they can't, what's really their role? Everything can be learnt: You can read articles, papers, books and learn how to manage your company, deal with legal issues... Once your company is profitable, you'll have the choice between fast expanding or remaining in steady growth. If your idea is genius, successful... you don't need YC to…
The network could be useful.
Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#19Maybe a better lesson is - screw YC, who needs them? Honestly, if you need the money to bootstrap, freelance. If you need the connections, go network. Think of it positively - this way you get to keep 100% of your equity.
That's not a good lesson at all. YC offers a good deal of value for 6% equity in terms of connections, encouragement, advice, some money, and so on. Why apply in the first place if getting rejected is considered a good outcome?
The "Screw YC" attitude is a silly rationalization, if you ask me. And this comes from a guy who's bootstrapping and has never applied to YC.
Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection
#20YC is so 1999. pg thinks he can replicate his success from before dot.com bubble burst. Really, of the startups hes funded, besides dropbox, who really needs that shit?
At the very least , YC partners are trying a novel experiment nobody has tried before, and if you're a curious person, it's interesting where it will go. If it succeeds, great! If it fails, at least it's a really interesting thing to try, and it inspired hundreds (thousands?) of people to strive to do great things. I honestly want to know, what compels you to knock smart, energetic people trying new, interesting thin…
[devil's advocate]
YC could end up hurting all the founders. YC is selling a message that it's OK not to worry about a business model or revenue (or profit!), and that may turn out to be horrendous advice. In this case YC is partly responsible for the creation of a new web 2.0 no-revenue-required bubble.
So what you call "knocking smart energetic people" may just be a highly needed reality check, to keep people from dropping out of college and investing their savings and future into doomed ventures.
[/devil's advocate]