Applying to YC Early Decision – Wren (YC S19) • Hacker News Board

Post by brendanmc6 » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 6:02 AM UTC

laurafiuza wrote: post #2

Hi! I'm part of the Admissions Team at YC. AMA about Early Decision or about admissions! :)

Hey Laura, I was busy coding an MVP for a company we just founded, and just before launch, we discovered that YC had recently funded a competitor with a nearly identical business model and very similar branding.

This was a surprise to us, as we didn't initially see our product as "YC material" (crowded market, not super innovative), but was also somewhat motivating.

The competitor I'm talking about is actually Wren. You can compare Wren to our bootstrapped MVP here:

https://offsetra.com

Now to my question: Is YC no longer an option for Offsetra, given how similar we are to a company you've already funded?

Either way, wishing all the best and much success to Wren! Hoping we can connect and maybe find ways to collaborate soon. <3

Post by laurafiuza » Wed, Sep 18, 2019, 3:40 PM UTC

brendanmc6 wrote: post #11

laurafiuza wrote: post #2

Hi! I'm part of the Admissions Team at YC. AMA about Early Decision or about admissions! :)

Hey Laura, I was busy coding an MVP for a company we just founded, and just before launch, we discovered that YC had recently funded a competitor with a nearly identical business model and very similar branding. This was a surprise to us, as we didn't initially see our product as "YC material" (crowded market, not super innovative), but was also somewhat motivating. The competitor I'm talking about is actually Wren.…

Hi Brendan, I encourage you to apply - we regularly fund companies that are doing similar things! In fact, due to the number of teams we fund, it's inevitable that some will overlap. Our solution is that we don't tell teams what other teams are doing if they're in the same space.

Applying to YC Early Decision – Wren (YC S19)

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Re: Applying to YC Early Decision – Wren (YC S19)