Do the decision letters for accepted groups ask them not to post that they were accepted? It seems like, after every funding cycle, no one admits they were accepted in these after-threads.
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Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
21–30 of 121 posts
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#22It would have been nice to get more feedback. It's pretty discouraging when they tell you that they invited more applicants for interviews than ever before, and you get a generic rejection email instead. Congrats to those who made the cut though.
regarding feedback, consider how many applicants they get and how many people they have to go thru apps (Paul, Jessica, Trevor, I think). 10 minutes of thoughtful feedback times 1000 or so (I'm guessing) rejected folks.... 10,000 minutes of feedback. If you want feedback, crowdsource it and post it here. You'll get plenty.
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#23Don't be discouraged. I'm 100% sure my idea is rock solid, I've executed successfully before AND I have a cofounder, but I was turned down. You don't have a good startup-tale without getting turned down a few times. I think of it like this: me: Would you like to make some money with me YC? YC: No thanks, we have plenty.
Sounds kind of like you're disguising your YC-denial under a veil of "I've done this before, and I'm better than you" type of thinking.
Are you sure that's productive? What was your successful execution?
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#24[deleted]
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#25what was your idea?
Good question, but how about "is" instead of "was." The world always gives you a few thumps to the chest to make sure you really mean it before you succeed.
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#26I'm planning on applying next summer when I'm done my CS degree and have a bit more experience under my belt, but I would love to know what are usually the reasons of rejections?
As for now I'm looking for a cofounder and a great idea, but I would love to improve on possible weaknesses I have that are import to the eyes of YC.
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#27It would have been nice to get more feedback. It's pretty discouraging when they tell you that they invited more applicants for interviews than ever before, and you get a generic rejection email instead. Congrats to those who made the cut though.
regarding feedback, consider how many applicants they get and how many people they have to go thru apps (Paul, Jessica, Trevor, I think). 10 minutes of thoughtful feedback times 1000 or so (I'm guessing) rejected folks.... 10,000 minutes of feedback. If you want feedback, crowdsource it and post it here. You'll get plenty.
I understand that, but I also don't think it would be too complicated for them to just jot their thoughts/comments down as they are going through the apps and have those included in your email, but it isn't a big deal. I'm just disappointed.
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#28it's funny they miss spelled one of our founders email. The domain was la-fem.com instead they send it to la.anybots.com
I wonder why
Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#29Just got the "rejection" letter, I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't get the team reviewing the proposals as passionate about the project as I am.
I think being a solo founder hurt me, but I've been working on the project full-time for four months (over 12k lines of code). This won't slow me down. =)
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Re: Tell YC: Summer 08 decisions out
#30Don't be discouraged. I'm 100% sure my idea is rock solid, I've executed successfully before AND I have a cofounder, but I was turned down. You don't have a good startup-tale without getting turned down a few times. I think of it like this: me: Would you like to make some money with me YC? YC: No thanks, we have plenty.
Sounds kind of like you're disguising your YC-denial under a veil of "I've done this before, and I'm better than you" type of thinking. Are you sure that's productive? What was your successful execution?
I don't think there's anything wrong with positive self-talk. A founder being confident about his or her ability to execute shouldn't make anyone else feel insecure.