Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did he submit a new project each time?
Yes I believe so, that is key.
Don't YC claim to choose teams instead of ideas?
If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
11–20 of 52 posts
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#12Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#13If scoring of YC applications is anything like upvoting/downvoting of HN comments I do not think anyone should link their self-worth to getting rejected.
My impression from talking with various YC partners at the Open House / Startup School was that the ones most qualified to evaluate my application have not seen it. But at the scale YC is operating now this sort of thing seems inevitable.
Moral of the story: never put all eggs in one basket, have Plan B, C, D, E ... ZZZ, preferably around being able to fund yourself with revenue, while still scaling your product business.
Just like us :)
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#14A friend of mine who completed YC told me that there was a guy who got rejected 4 or 5 times before getting accepted. Just remember always be positive and keep working hard :) Cheers!
We got rejected the first time. Same idea, 2nd time, accepted.
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#15I'm not sure why people beat themselves up so much for not passing a candidate filter where teams of people select a candidate from a list based on various criteria and instinct. It has been mathematically demonstrated that these processes fail at doing a better job than throwing a dart at a wall containing a list of all the candidates. When I get a rejection letter for anything, I shrug and treat it like losing a ra…
...a filter which has been mathematically demonstrated to fail at doing better than random chance at picking good candidates
Where could I read more about this?
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#16"it's practically certain that groups we rejected will go on to create successful startups. If you do, we'd appreciate it if you'd send us an email telling us about it;"
A little like writing to the girl/guy that rejected you with great news that you've landed in Hollywood. By the time you get there they will know it.
Anyway, by "successful" what do they mean anyway?
Someone else funded you? (go to crunchbase).
Or you've gone public?
Or you've sold the business?
Or you're on the front of the WSJ?
Isn't the info they are looking for in all the obvious places? Patronizing to suggest "tell us about your success" as if they can't go to the trouble to uncover it themselves somehow.
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#17I'm not sure why people beat themselves up so much for not passing a candidate filter where teams of people select a candidate from a list based on various criteria and instinct. It has been mathematically demonstrated that these processes fail at doing a better job than throwing a dart at a wall containing a list of all the candidates. When I get a rejection letter for anything, I shrug and treat it like losing a ra…
Can you post a link or something about the not being able to beat random chance thing?
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#18"it's practically certain that groups we rejected will go on to create successful startups. If you do, we'd appreciate it if you'd send us an email telling us about it;" A little like writing to the girl/guy that rejected you with great news that you've landed in Hollywood. By the time you get there they will know it. Anyway, by "successful" what do they mean anyway? Someone else funded you? (go to crunchbase). Or yo…
Do you know how many of the startups change dramatically or, at minimum, change names (or don't even have one yet)?
After reviewing 2000+ applications, do you really expect them, upon seeing a TechCrunch post 2 years later to remember that was one of their applicants?
You can trust that they really do mean they'd like to know about it, and if I know them, they'd actually go look up the application to see if there is any way they can avoid missing that opportunity in the future.
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#19I'm not sure why people beat themselves up so much for not passing a candidate filter where teams of people select a candidate from a list based on various criteria and instinct. It has been mathematically demonstrated that these processes fail at doing a better job than throwing a dart at a wall containing a list of all the candidates. When I get a rejection letter for anything, I shrug and treat it like losing a ra…
...a filter which has been mathematically demonstrated to fail at doing better than random chance at picking good candidates Where could I read more about this?
Read Joel's epic post here describing the phenomenon: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/01/27.html
The 'dead sea effect' is caused by this phenomenon: http://brucefwebster.com/2008/04/11/the-wetware-crisis-the-d...
Hiring managers get the technical competency part right but they completely miss the most important things: work-ethic, tenacity, responsibility, team skills, organizational and planning ability, cultural fit, and decision-making. When you hire based on qualities that have no relevance (as all companies everywhere do), you might as well get some monkeys to throw darts on the wall. it'll speed up the process! http://www.adlerconcepts.com/resources/column/newsletter/ran...
Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...
#20I'm not sure why people beat themselves up so much for not passing a candidate filter where teams of people select a candidate from a list based on various criteria and instinct. It has been mathematically demonstrated that these processes fail at doing a better job than throwing a dart at a wall containing a list of all the candidates. When I get a rejection letter for anything, I shrug and treat it like losing a ra…
In previous YC rejections I've thought to myself "wow if they rejected me they must have recieved some pretty spectacular applications". And then months later when I see the list of companies that did get in I was like "wtf did they really fund a location-based social network for cat fanatics?".