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Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

nitrogen.posterous.com

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Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

#31

Post by [deleted] »

davidw wrote: post #30
p6 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude you potentially miss a lot of opportunities when you filter on the basis of having a cofounder. PG claims a startup is too much work for one person. duh. Thats why you hire employees. And things are never all else equal.

Well, it's their money, they do as they see fit. If some other, similar seed-funding group accepts lots of single founders and does better than YC, maybe they'll change. It's not just them saying this, though. I really wish I had someone to work with myself; it would help things a lot.

[deleted]

Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

#32

Post by Harj »

p6 wrote: post #26
Harj wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, it's easy for us to spot and will not help the application

Why do you guys insist on a cofounder. Harj, you of all people should know that alot of the coding work can be outsourced. A visionary sometimes doesnt like having an equal to deal with.

well we fund single founders, the bar is just higher. and since the bar with a co-founder is already high, that becomes a very high bar.

and yes you can outsource development but boy were we infinitely more productive once we had a tech co-founder and i started doing front end dev.

Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

#33

Post by nitrogen »

follower wrote: post #23

I was surprised to read "Assuming they would read my demo page this time, I spent all of my time focusing on the demo instead of the application" given the start of the application form specifically says "We look at online demos only for the most promising applications, so don't skimp on the application because you're relying on a good demo". Did you miss that or just interpret it differently to me?

I assumed that, since they saw the demo last time, my application must be good enough already, so just make the demo better this time.

Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

#34

Post by nitrogen »

p6 wrote: post #8

YC is so 1999. pg thinks he can replicate his success from before dot.com bubble burst. Really, of the startups hes funded, besides dropbox, who really needs that shit?

The only thing 1999 about Y Combinator is that the application form is mostly written in HTML 3.2 ;). Also, not everything about the dot com boom was bad. It's just taken us (as a society) this long to filter through the wreckage and start using the good bits again.

Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

#35

Post by p6 »

nitrogen wrote: post #34
p6 wrote: post #8

YC is so 1999. pg thinks he can replicate his success from before dot.com bubble burst. Really, of the startups hes funded, besides dropbox, who really needs that shit?

The only thing 1999 about Y Combinator is that the application form is mostly written in HTML 3.2 ;). Also, not everything about the dot com boom was bad. It's just taken us (as a society) this long to filter through the wreckage and start using the good bits again.

nice way to delude yourself, pg fan boy.

Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

#36

Post by jacquesm »

garply wrote: post #21
gizmo wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not a good lesson at all. YC offers a good deal of value for 6% equity in terms of connections, encouragement, advice, some money, and so on. Why apply in the first place if getting rejected is considered a good outcome? The "Screw YC" attitude is a silly rationalization, if you ask me. And this comes from a guy who's bootstrapping and has never applied to YC.

I too have built a company bootstrapping and I've never applied to YC. I'm not saying YC is necessarily a bad deal if you want to go through the VC funnel and flip your business - in fact, in that case, I think it makes a great deal of sense. What I am saying is that if you don't have access to that opportunity, well, screw it, realize it's one among many and you can make things work anyway. Plus, whenever something…

Thanks for the story, that was really neat.

Lots of wisdom in old cultures.

Re: Tell HN: Lessons Learned from Y Combinator Rejection

#37

Post by jacquesm »

follower wrote: post #22
csomar wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would go for YC if they can make me a Visa to USA (or just the Bay Area). But since they can't, what's really their role? Everything can be learnt: You can read articles, papers, books and learn how to manage your company, deal with legal issues... Once your company is profitable, you'll have the choice between fast expanding or remaining in steady growth. If your idea is genius, successful... you don't need YC to…

> Everything can be learnt: You can read [snip] You can't read the experience of actually being in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley and meeting people face to face. That said, you don't need YC to enable you to visit the area either. Go visit, meet people, chances are those contacts might lead somewhere...

There is lots of venture capital in the bay area, but there are successful companies all over the world, not just in the bay area.

And success can be defined in many ways, I think that 'what makes the founder of the company happy' should be a good start.

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