11–20 of 63 posts
We would love to apply again as they encourage us, but that will be a massive waste of our precious time. Waiting for the next batch is a luxury we can't afford, so for us sadly YC is that great experience that we will never have.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Robertandy, YC is incredibly encouraging at stages that nobody else is. They have open lectures on how to start a startup. You can watch them for free right now. I feel your frustration that they don't fund certain things, but this should not be called crushing morale. Please remember one thing: the reason YCombinator is a monopoly is that others are cowardly, don't know how to invest at the seed stage and help found…
Disagree! The entire process is rigged against solo-founders and you CANNOT deny that fact. Even your own last sentence in the end contradicts you. > why don't you get a cofounder. Dude what about this: I don't want to marry. I do not want to own a house. I do not want a co-founder.
Very interesting that so many entrepreneurs - who by definition are bypassing gatekeepers - still tend to look at something like YC as a litmus for whether or not they can move forward or are a "success."
Obviously, there are some company models that need venture money behind them, but it's not an excuse for not doing your idea.
Here is a great sum of your post in one line: “If you’re absent during my struggle, don’t expect to be present during my success.” - Will Smith In my view the way YC has been openly crushing morale of solo-founders for years is simply pathetic. Is it a crime to be a solo-founder? Despite equal number of successful startups from solo-ists, they continue to snub the potential and rather host even those who would easily…
Being a solo founder represents added execution risk, particularly in the early stages of a startup -- which coincidentally, is precisely where YC funds most companies. They aren't the only party with this bias either. Downstream investors share these concerns, and when you add financing risk to execution risk, you start to get the picture.
Of course, all of this can be overcome as a solo founder, and YC does fund solo founders at a roughly 1/10 ratio to co-founded teams. However, it usually means de-risking yourself in some other area (i.e show tons of traction, have a proven track record, already have an exit, etc).
It's not a crime to be a solo founder, and plenty of great companies get built that way. Just understand that without the above, you may not have a venture-fundable company.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Robertandy, YC is incredibly encouraging at stages that nobody else is. They have open lectures on how to start a startup. You can watch them for free right now. I feel your frustration that they don't fund certain things, but this should not be called crushing morale. Please remember one thing: the reason YCombinator is a monopoly is that others are cowardly, don't know how to invest at the seed stage and help found…
Disagree! The entire process is rigged against solo-founders and you CANNOT deny that fact. Even your own last sentence in the end contradicts you. > why don't you get a cofounder. Dude what about this: I don't want to marry. I do not want to own a house. I do not want a co-founder.
it's easier to build something that starts making money online, than it is to put together an application that gets accepted by YC. (even with a team.) if you just want money do that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Robertandy, YC is incredibly encouraging at stages that nobody else is. They have open lectures on how to start a startup. You can watch them for free right now. I feel your frustration that they don't fund certain things, but this should not be called crushing morale. Please remember one thing: the reason YCombinator is a monopoly is that others are cowardly, don't know how to invest at the seed stage and help found…
Disagree! The entire process is rigged against solo-founders and you CANNOT deny that fact. Even your own last sentence in the end contradicts you. > why don't you get a cofounder. Dude what about this: I don't want to marry. I do not want to own a house. I do not want a co-founder.
You can work hard and maybe bootstrap your way to an MVP of a product, but sooner or later the amount of work in the startup will become too much. When it does, you are going to need to build a team around you to handle the load.
The fact that you are so adamant about not wanting a co-founder is detrimental in that it signals that you are missing the point about how a company is mostly about building a good team that can execute, and second, about focusing that team on an interesting idea.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Robertandy, YC is incredibly encouraging at stages that nobody else is. They have open lectures on how to start a startup. You can watch them for free right now. I feel your frustration that they don't fund certain things, but this should not be called crushing morale. Please remember one thing: the reason YCombinator is a monopoly is that others are cowardly, don't know how to invest at the seed stage and help found…
Disagree! The entire process is rigged against solo-founders and you CANNOT deny that fact. Even your own last sentence in the end contradicts you. > why don't you get a cofounder. Dude what about this: I don't want to marry. I do not want to own a house. I do not want a co-founder.
We're already experiencing this. There are two of us and we need an extra 24 hours in the day to get everything done.
Get a co-founder if at all possible, it'll save your sanity.
The way I see it, continue with your startup and apply again.
We kept pitching other investors for a while, then quit and bootstrapped the prototype by taking on consulting work. Pitching was hard and most APAC investors just wanted too much control for our comfort. Bootstrapping was actually easier than we thought, so when we got term sheets from local investors, we turned them down and kept getting consulting gigs (mostly data warehousing work - boring but necessary).
5 months later, and I think the product has gone into much more interesting directions without time and investor pressure than it might have otherwise, whilst we are closer as co-founders having worked together on the gigs and been through a few "client bumps". Some of the work actually helped clarify our own data model and understand our target market better.
It's quite freeing not to have a boss at last; I'd say that was the main factor in not taking money (the banker who thought he might "quit the bank and join you guys to help out with management" was particularly scary). But YC's terms - even excluding all the advantages that come with the network, coaching, reputation etc. - were by far the most generous and founder friendly, especially in their lack of protective provisions.
Not sure what this thread is for, but throwing the story in there since there are so few tales of bootstrapping and it's discouraged by PG in one of his money essays (he argues that it delays the launch). I think our story is most relevant for non-US-based founders who cannot as easily tap into the Valley money, and for more experienced founders who can command a high enough market value to make part time work.