If all Rejection Letters could be so nice... • Hacker News Board

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#41

Post by zasz » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 4:37 AM UTC

maeon3 wrote: post #19

yummyfajitas wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...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, cu…

I don't think either of those two blog posts support your point that randomly picking candidates is as good as actively trying to select for good ones. If none of the candidates applying to YC were good enough to pass some minimal threshold, pg and co. just wouldn't take anyone, unlike the horrible companies in your links who will always take what they think is the top 1%.

I think your last sentence doesn't make sense either. Since when did technical competence not count for anything? Both competence and teamwork are necessary, but neither alone is sufficient.

Point is, randomly picking candidates is a crap idea.

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#42

Post by betterlabs » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 5:19 AM UTC

Couldn't agree more. Having said that I feel these are taken way too seriously/emotionally and it is important to understand that you can build your own startup to product/market fit, revenue and profitability whether or not you get into YCombinator or other incubators. YC and other incubators are a great help, but should not be considered a ticket to (possible) success.

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#43

Post by yonasb » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 5:24 AM UTC

Totally agree, very classy. And that Why Not link is great. Best rejection I've ever gotten

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#44

Post by sbisker » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 5:24 AM UTC

wavephorm wrote: post #20

maeon3 wrote: post #8

I'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?".

And then you find out that they've managed to get an entire network of cat food distributors on board, and are currently pulling down $50,000 in revenue after having launched the third version of their site a week before applying. Oh, and one of the founders used to be the editor of Cat Fancy.

Sure, some mistakes will get made - but a company's success factors are rarely as simple as their three-word description.

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#45

Post by ctide » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 6:12 AM UTC

How old is that why not link? If they're interviewing 70-80 groups, doesn't that mean that nearly everyone who interviews gets in? I mean, last group was over 60, wasn't it?

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#46

Post by _eg » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 7:34 AM UTC

Achshar wrote: post #32

24pfilms wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had applied for the previous round. I am heading there in early Jan/2012.

wait, if the people from previous round are going there in jan, when will this round's people go there than?

February 29th or March 28th, 2012

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#47

Post by par » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 9:06 AM UTC

The best thing about applying to YC is getting to really think about a lot of great questions in the app, it is win/win regardless of the outcome.

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#48

Post by Alexbtlv » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 9:37 AM UTC

One of the best rejection I've ever gotten.

Since I applying for this round YC, we came up with new amazing idea. I agree that our first time application was poor, it was just an idea without working beta. I'm sure that we should increase our efficiency, it doesn't mean that should work harder. Just more efficiency!

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#49

Post by 24pfilms » Tue, Nov 01, 2011, 3:50 PM UTC

_eg wrote: post #46

Achshar wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait, if the people from previous round are going there in jan, when will this round's people go there than?

February 29th or March 28th, 2012

January 16/2012

Re: If all Rejection Letters could be so nice...

#50

Post by Achshar » Wed, Nov 02, 2011, 4:11 AM UTC

24pfilms wrote: post #49

_eg wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

February 29th or March 28th, 2012

January 16/2012

well that's when you (from previous round) are going.. i got an email yesterday from them confirming my submission and saying that the results will be out December 15. So Jan 16 would be a little early imo, for all the visa and paperwork will probably take longer. feb/March sounds more reasonable. :)