Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

veed.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 169 posts

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#71

Post by Permit »

djsumdog wrote: post #69

Hmm. Some rapid development. I wonder if they wrote test cases for the subscription functionality. When they had that test-payment gateway go to production, did they add safeguards to prevent that from happening again? I mean, it seems like an impressive story, but when I read it, all I see is potential technical debt. I don't think I'd like to be back in startup culture. I really like solid testing, and I hate movin…

This sounds a bit like "Taking out a loan to pay your medical bills is imprudent financial advice".

On the surface it might be true but it doesn't matter if the alternative is you (or your startup) dying. Ultimately only the authors know their circumstances and the trade offs they have to consider.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#72

Post by pauldix »

d0m wrote: post #13

So, that's the dichotomy of YC. YC is an accelerator, and as such, needs to accelerate /something/. If you join too early, then it's almost a distraction to getting the product out and talking to users. However, hit the sweet spot and YC is an invaluable resource to help you grow. On the other hand, YC opens the door to so many opportunities and great people, that even if you're too early, the net result is still a p…

I don't think of YC as an accelerator, but maybe that's where things are headed since we (InfluxDB) went through in W13?

Originally it was enough to have a few people, an idea, and a prototype. I think that was the model for the most successful YC companies currently out there (Dropbox, Airbnb, Stripe, PagerDuty). Some didn't land on their actual idea on product until after the batch (Twitch).

There are certainly companies that come in with a baked product and the start of some real users/customers who then use their time in YC to juice their numbers and raise big rounds at crazy valuations right at the close of the batch. However, I think what YC offers that is unique (and a real strength) is that they back completely unknown founders very early in their process of building a product and a company and give them the connections and advice to help build something big.

The YC series A program strikes me as more of an accelerator.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#73

Post by adrianmsmith »

dannykwells wrote: post #9

I kinda wonder, if you believe what's missing in your platform is a single feature that can be implemented in 2 days, do you really think YC wouldnt realize that too? So this is likely not the reason for the rejection. I would have even more worries about these founders after this stunt because it shows a lack of self awareness and strategic insight. I'm in no way affiliated but Id guess YC is looking for foundationa…

I think it's not about the technical implementation of the payment feature (as you say, that's not that hard), it's about if anyone would use it (i.e. if anyone would pay).

Before they implemented the feature it was unclear if anyone would pay, after they implemented the feature it was clear that at least some people would pay.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#75

Post by autotune »

wongarsu wrote: post #68
autotune wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Little Terraform and ACME/LetsEncrypt provider with a build pipeline or basic cron job and this is an easy permanent fix.

> Little Terraform and ACME/LetsEncrypt provider with a build pipeline [...] and this is an easy permanent fix That's the easy version. The overkill version uses Kafka, BigQuery and AWS SNS. (/s)

A+ modern problems require modern solutions

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#76

Post by whiddershins »

At first I was with them, but when they summarized at the end I think they missed the underlying point of the feedback.

The feedback was “why have you waited so long” not “this was too early for you to apply”

The fact that the founders bent that around in their heads after changing their actions, to me, indicates they aren’t quite getting what the email implied.

But what do I know, I’ve never gotten in to YCombinator or launched a successful startup.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#77

Post by xenospn »

plehoux wrote: post #8

missiveapp.com and conferenceBadge.com, my two startups, have both been rejected at the interview phase. Our yearly revenue for both now stands in the 7 digits. We are still just a team of 3 + 1 employee, 100% bootstrapped. Life is good. My advice, keep pushing! https://missiveapp.com/ https://www.conferencebadge.com

I'm not your target audience for either one, but I gotta say the websites are spot on. Really well done.

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#78

Post by kaybe »

whiddershins wrote: post #76

At first I was with them, but when they summarized at the end I think they missed the underlying point of the feedback. The feedback was “why have you waited so long” not “this was too early for you to apply” The fact that the founders bent that around in their heads after changing their actions, to me, indicates they aren’t quite getting what the email implied. But what do I know, I’ve never gotten in to YCombinator…

I might have missed the point too, could you expand a little?

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#79

Post by plehoux »

rufugee wrote: post #62
plehoux wrote: post #8

missiveapp.com and conferenceBadge.com, my two startups, have both been rejected at the interview phase. Our yearly revenue for both now stands in the 7 digits. We are still just a team of 3 + 1 employee, 100% bootstrapped. Life is good. My advice, keep pushing! https://missiveapp.com/ https://www.conferencebadge.com

conferencebadge.com is very interesting to me, as are all niche businesses that can generate 7 digits. Would you care to share how you identified the opportunity and estimated potential revenue?

Went into the why and how in this podcast https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/033-philippe-lehoux-of-...

Re: We tried to hustle our way into YC after we got rejected

#80

Post by erikpukinskis »

auntienomen wrote: post #12

Your goal shouldn't be to get into YC in a year. Your goal should be to not need YC in a year.

YC is just the gatekeeper to a network of wealth and expertise in scaling. I guess no one really needs it, in the sense that you can look up how to scale.

But if you’re a VC-style company, and you’re trying to grow fast (and if you’re not you do not want to go through YC) then your business model is by definition “EAT ALL THE MARKET”.

If you’re an early stage company, even if you can bite off a big chunk of market, it’s fairly certain the YC old boys network can help you bite off another big, non-overlapping chunk.

Anywhere in the sub-$100M valuation range, that’s probably worth 6% just in terms of getting out in front of other growing competitors (or competitors-to-be). It doesn’t change your path, but it changes the dates on the graph.

That’s assuming you are a VC-mindset company (centralize revenue streams around a few owners, grow fast, get liquid).

There are other kinds of companies who “will not need YC soon” but mostly those companies shouldn’t want YC in the first place.

Post reply on HN