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Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

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Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#111

Post by nostromo »

littlegiantcap wrote: post #72
patio11 wrote: post #39

Life skill for you: putting a message into a bottle and then flinging it onto the Internet could get it read, but that isn't the way to bet. Here's a hypothetical for you: how many people do you think have social permission to contact a YC partner and say "X is awesome and deserves a look." I'd ballpark that in the hundreds to low thousand range. Many of them are accessible on the Internets and less overwhelmed with…

http://b.qr.ae/Hktlyv This explains our dilemma. Frankly, we are a bunch of "nobodies" in the middle of Iowa. We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice". We have a lot of drive and are trying to prove ourselves any way possible. That's what we're trying to do with this post.

Leave Iowa.

I was born in Idaho. I've since lived in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco; have built a great network and resume and recently raised a round for my startup.

... but I didn't do it from Idaho and you won't from Iowa.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#112

Post by skmurphy »

littlegiantcap wrote: post #72
patio11 wrote: post #39

Life skill for you: putting a message into a bottle and then flinging it onto the Internet could get it read, but that isn't the way to bet. Here's a hypothetical for you: how many people do you think have social permission to contact a YC partner and say "X is awesome and deserves a look." I'd ballpark that in the hundreds to low thousand range. Many of them are accessible on the Internets and less overwhelmed with…

http://b.qr.ae/Hktlyv This explains our dilemma. Frankly, we are a bunch of "nobodies" in the middle of Iowa. We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice". We have a lot of drive and are trying to prove ourselves any way possible. That's what we're trying to do with this post.

Have you reached out to the folks at http://www.startupcitydsm.com/ that's a local resource you could tap. Feel free to contact me directly through my profile for an introduction.

re: "Frankly, we are a bunch of 'nobodies' in the middle of Iowa"

"Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true." Brian Tracy

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#113

Post by JohnnyFlash »

If you an idea or expertise to do something like this I don't know why you need to wait for Y Combinator to pick you up before you get started.

Making something profitable from day 1 is difficult but profitable from day 30 is less so. Yes the profit may just about buy your team a round of coffee's but at least you got off your mark. Your ball is rolling.

Waiting for seed funding before building your product seems somewhat counter-intuitive to me.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#114

Post by littlegiantcap »

JohnnyFlash wrote: post #113

If you an idea or expertise to do something like this I don't know why you need to wait for Y Combinator to pick you up before you get started. Making something profitable from day 1 is difficult but profitable from day 30 is less so. Yes the profit may just about buy your team a round of coffee's but at least you got off your mark. Your ball is rolling. Waiting for seed funding before building your product seems som…

We aren't waiting for seed funding. We pivoted to seedlauncher back in December, and have been working on it since. We're prelaunch while we wait for the SEC to write the regulations surrounding crowdfunding so we can operate.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#116

Post by Fando »

Cool bold approach. Props. I'd like to see YC respond with a challenge. Everyone should stop being so skeptical. Maybe the guys are incredible geniuses. In fact I think they are being modest by throwing in that third 24 hour period. I bet they could do any challenge in 48 ;)

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#117

Post by littlegiantcap »

skmurphy wrote: post #112
littlegiantcap wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://b.qr.ae/Hktlyv This explains our dilemma. Frankly, we are a bunch of "nobodies" in the middle of Iowa. We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice". We have a lot of drive and are trying to prove ourselves any way possible. That's what we're trying to do with this post.

Have you reached out to the folks at http://www.startupcitydsm.com/ that's a local resource you could tap. Feel free to contact me directly through my profile for an introduction. re: "Frankly, we are a bunch of 'nobodies' in the middle of Iowa" "Never say anything about yourself you do not want to come true." Brian Tracy

I have. They're awesome guys. The thing is what I said was not at all a knock against Iowa. I love it here and the people are amazingly helpful and nice. It was more self depreciating humor to the fact that we're realitivley unknown college students.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#118

Post by littlegiantcap »

newobj wrote: post #105
littlegiantcap wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://b.qr.ae/Hktlyv This explains our dilemma. Frankly, we are a bunch of "nobodies" in the middle of Iowa. We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice". We have a lot of drive and are trying to prove ourselves any way possible. That's what we're trying to do with this post.

'''We don't know any Y Combinator Alums, and even if we were to reach out the best we could hope for is a lukewarm they seemed "nice".''' '''We have a lot of drive''' Somehow these statements seem contradictory... and I'd be taking a hard look at your "business guy" right now if he can't even start by at least attempting a little networking...

That would be me. :) The thing is I'm finding cold emails aren't generally well received, if they are even answered at all. We'd go to more networking events and the like but most are on the coast and plane tickets are expensive. We're building up a strong network here in Iowa. What I was referring too was Y Combinator specific people. So we do what we can with where we're at. Not that I'm complaining because im really not, all I'm saying is from our current position, it's difficult (but definitely not impossible) to build strong relationships with Y Combinator alums.

Re: Dear Y Combinator, we bet you we can solve a problem of yours in 72 hours.

#119

Post by hef19898 »

_delirium wrote: post #73
davemel37 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having painstakingly gone through the process of writing 35 page Grant Proposals for a hospital and getting funding from the government on all three occasions, I can assure you that the application process was just a formality and legal requirement. The funding came through because the grantor had a relationship with the department heads that received the funds. Obviously, you need to meet the required criteria, and…

I've also done that several times; it really depends on the funder. In a surprising number of cases, the funder has wound up with a pile of money and not enough contacts with relevant people, so they really do choose people out of the applicant pool. It can also vary by country. In Europe, for example, how much relationships matter seems to vary north-to-south. In southern Europe it is pretty much 100% about relation…

The only difference between north and south in this case is that they are more open about it south.
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