The application process (like the thiel fellowship) itself teaches you a ton about yourself and your business. Although we weren't accepted to either, I came out a more insightful person (let's go round 2!).
Applying to YC
91–100 of 116 posts
Re: Applying to YC
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
What a sad, self defeatist attitude. You just knocked yourself down before anyone else did. It seems you're afraid of trying because you're afraid of failure. You're the type of person that probably won't get accepted. Because if this is your attitude now, who knows what your mood's going to be like when your startup goes through turbulence. You're searching for a reason not to apply. To keep failure at bay. To keep…
I'm the type of person that doesn't care to be accepted and rather put energy into my own startup. I will be successful regardless, it's not saying I am afraid to fail. Failure and success have nothing to do with being accepted or rejected from YC. I think YC would be great and what they do is great, my hats off to the whole place, but people like you talk like YC is the win all.
"people like you talk like YC is the win all"
Hey, you're the one that didn't want to apply because you didn't think you'd fit in due to your preconceived notions about who gets accepted.
Re: Applying to YC
#93Almost in every YC related article mentioned about at least 2 founders. What about startups with 1 founder, what chances are, any advices?
As a solo founder from the w14 batch: I can tell you it feels more difficult to do everything yourself. I'd recommend if you can organically find someone to work with on the company, you should. Happy to answer any solo founder related questions, if you have them.
Yea, I know that it's much better if you have cofounder (there are so many tasks to do), but I believe it should be the right person, and wrong person can make much more damage then help.
As a solo founder, how did you improve your productivity on early stage: what kind of tasks you usually delegated to someone else (like freelancer) if you did.
Re: Applying to YC
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
(1) Neither Dan or I went to Stanford. (2) Dan and I are part-time angels really, with very small checks given to a very small number of companies. Also, as sama mentioned, we basically stopped investing at all once we got into YC. We still make an investment from time-to-time but mostly in people we know already. We don't have meetings, way too busy on Standard Treasury. (3) We felt like an underdog when we applied…
For sure. And my comment wasn't meant to come off as "these are exactly the things Standard Treasury did to get in". It was more of a comparison of the type of founders YC would look for in a product that is still in the initial idea phase. So thanks for clearing that up. The angel thing is actually interesting to me. You don't think that had any weight on YC's decision to admit you guys? To me it would seem like som…
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Re: Applying to YC
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
(1) Neither Dan or I went to Stanford. (2) Dan and I are part-time angels really, with very small checks given to a very small number of companies. Also, as sama mentioned, we basically stopped investing at all once we got into YC. We still make an investment from time-to-time but mostly in people we know already. We don't have meetings, way too busy on Standard Treasury. (3) We felt like an underdog when we applied…
I don't really want to jump into this and cast judgments on anyone because I don't know the situation. That said, if you are/were a part-time angel, you either have done quite well for yourself or come from a privileged background (or both).
I don't really want to keep writing about myself in this thread because I'm not really that interesting...
We raised the money from friends, neither Dan and I are really financially capable of making investments ourselves. So, we're both privileged in that we've hustled and got people to have faith in us; however, both of us came from humble backgrounds (my mom and dad were a waitress and a postman, respectively) and neither of us have done that well for ourselves...yet.
Re: Applying to YC
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm the type of person that doesn't care to be accepted and rather put energy into my own startup. I will be successful regardless, it's not saying I am afraid to fail. Failure and success have nothing to do with being accepted or rejected from YC. I think YC would be great and what they do is great, my hats off to the whole place, but people like you talk like YC is the win all.
"people like you talk like YC is the win all" Hey, you're the one that didn't want to apply because you didn't think you'd fit in due to your preconceived notions about who gets accepted.
Like I said above... Look up the majority of founders and they all fall into a category type. Not saying it's a bad thing, but it's a type.
Yea I did say that, but you are talking about success and failure like that has anything to do with applying or not. If you think I wont have success because I don't apply I feel bad for that thinking.
Re: Applying to YC
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Comments like this one make me have no desire to even attempt to "fit".
Then you probably don't fit either. And it's really not about trying to fit. It's about having good ideas, executing well, being resourceful, being persuasive, etc. I think you're missing the point if you think it's about "fitting in".
I don't fit, which is fine.
But you missed my point, which I'll make explicit.
"But you have no idea why" is condescending and dismissive. It betrays an arrogance that's very off-putting.
Re: Applying to YC
#98Sam's comments are encouraging but in the notes [1] about the application process they also mention how they look at a user's comments. I signed up on HN after being a passive reader for a long time and so haven't accumulated a lot of karma. I suppose lack of comments shouldn't be a deterrent as Sam suggested but may be the messaging needs to change a bit? Just my humble opinion. [1] https://www.ycombinator.com/howto…
I created an HN account when we applied, because I had to. I lurked beforehand, but never commented. My cofounder had about 14 months on me account wise but he had been thinking about applying us to YC for that whole time. So I don't think it hurt us.
Re: Applying to YC
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
(1) Neither Dan or I went to Stanford. (2) Dan and I are part-time angels really, with very small checks given to a very small number of companies. Also, as sama mentioned, we basically stopped investing at all once we got into YC. We still make an investment from time-to-time but mostly in people we know already. We don't have meetings, way too busy on Standard Treasury. (3) We felt like an underdog when we applied…
For sure. And my comment wasn't meant to come off as "these are exactly the things Standard Treasury did to get in". It was more of a comparison of the type of founders YC would look for in a product that is still in the initial idea phase. So thanks for clearing that up. The angel thing is actually interesting to me. You don't think that had any weight on YC's decision to admit you guys? To me it would seem like som…
As sama answered above (below?) Angel investing is likely not going to help your cause. If you are already successful to the point that you have enough financial viability, then it's a lot easier to walk away from something that isn't working. Which is bad for YC. Scrappy founders will work their butt off before hanging it up. That said. Financially successful or not, great founders (2nd time, 3rd time) and a great product/company, is what will likely get you in.
Re: Applying to YC
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are wrong :) YC founders come from everywhere.
I don't care to talk about race or gender, if you are good you are good, but me being American/Mexican "Hispanic" does YC have any?
We had several Hispanic/Latino founders in our batch. Were they specifically of Mexican descent. No idea. Doesn't matter.