For real. Although YC is certainly a great judge of talent and predictor of success, they aren't the be all and end all, and are forced to rely on a lot of proxies/indicators in making their decisions. Give it a go yourself!
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.
Given I couldn't find a co-founder (and I'm aware my own programming experience is limited) I didn't really expect to win. Will apply stronger next time.
But I'm not giving up on my project. I may just take my time with it as opposed to investing all energy in it. I have so many things I want to do and learn.
This will allow the end product to be better than it would be if I hammered it sloppily into existance.
I might even come up with something better in the mean time.
No for us too. But hey, to be honest I thought I'd be disappointed but I'm totally relieved because at least now we can plan our summer, and we'll be launching soon enough anyway!
We had a huge design meeting today going over how all our user/accounts management stuff should look, then we relaxed with some amazing Thai food, and we're totally pumped moving forward in any case.
I thought the letter they sent was really nice too. If we're not too far along by winter session, we'll certainly apply again :)
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.
I'm not sure, but there's a few reasons not to post if you got accepted:
1) just getting picked to go to the interview really only gives you like a 1 in 3 or so chance of getting in to YC.
2) the news of getting accepted into YC is pretty
noteworthy and shouldn't be squandered -
it's useful for PR purposes when you launch your product.
If you blow the news too early, you miss out on a
potential PR-based influx of users from TechCrunch for
example.
Congrats to those who were picked to go to the interview!
I think it more has to do with modesty. It would make me feel bad to exclaim how great it was that I got an interview when so many other people are really sad about getting rejected.
I've never applied at YC, but I've got a couple of failed startups under my belt. If you got a no, think about why, and consider it free advice from someone whose opinion you trust. If you disagree, then use it as fuel to work hard - as hard as you can; and show everyone else that when you were down on your luck you put your nose to the grindstone and made it happen anyways.
That being said, this isn't a win or lose sort of scenario; remember that it's a two way street. YC has certain types of companies or founders that they like to invest in; every investor does.
Take a few days for introspection, decide if you believe in what you're doing. If you do, then keep on slogging.
If you got in, then congrats... Start working on taking notes, because I hear you get an amazing amount of information from being a part of YC... even the face-to-face interview portions.
> If you got a no, think about why, and consider it free advice from someone whose opinion you trust.
I honestly think they are just too pressed for time to do a thorough review. Applicants can check their web logs and see if YC even looked at their stuff. Submitting early is probably a major advantage if it means they (YC) actually have time to take a gander at what you did.
May I ask where the web logs I should look at are? (I see comments and submit logs)
I agree with you otherwise though. I think submitting the day before was... not a mistake... but I found YC a week before the deadline and spend the time working up an application and looking for a co-founder.
"Too pressed for time" is a valid reason for a rejection. If it doesn't sound compelling enough after the first sentence then you probably need to work on your pitch.
It 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.
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.
I think a good deal of the applications may have to be overlooked (filtered out by app questions) so there might not be any notes, other than something like "doesn't have a co-founder."
Readmore I think your application is a good idea. Have you considered letting people choose their own charity instead of the preselected ones you have listed?
Or even better, people could choose their own cause (whether it's a charity, fundraising event, boyscouts, girlscouts etc etc) and could encourage friends, family and acquaintances to use the site to raise money for their cause.
I've thought along those same lines, and I'm hoping to make that an option in the future. Currently I'm not confident that I can track everything well enough to attribute purchases to an individual user. I didn't want to say a user could pick their own charity and then not actually be able to donate the money for them.
As I get traffic I'm hoping to find a way to pull that off.
Maybe you could set something similar to what ebates.com has done? Each user has an individual login and everytime they go to an affiliate site they are provided with a tracking ticket. It's a really cool system and I've made over a few hundred dollars with them related to business trips for my "real job". If your site ever starts marketing towards fundraising groups, a user could be asked to enter a simple identifier code to tell the system that all proceeds should be directed to XX cause OR the group could be provided their own sign up link which automatically associates the user with XX cause.
No as well. I'm a single founder and my app's pretty much done already so it wasn't much of a surprise. Looking forward to hearing about some of the ideas they accepted.
Life deals out a lot of set-backs, but each one contains some very useful information (ideally examined in the rear-view mirror). Despite being rejected, I do think that the self-reflection involved in applying to ycomb was worth it.
Don'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:
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.
When you're rejected, you can interpret it as this "says something about me" and take it personally, or you can interpret it as an opportunity someone else missed out on for whatever reason, (not a good match, not web 2.0 enough, who knows!) and move on. If you believe in your idea and yourself strongly, there's usually only one clear interpretation you should take. And yes, self confidence is generally a productive strategy.
As for my success, I built a shareware business that made me significantly more than my salary, as a single founder, while still working full time. It enabled me to leave my job and work for myself.
I agree... but it would be nice to know if there was something that gave me (or anyone else) a black mark.
I think my idea is great.
It's more of a "can I do anything to improve". I believe in always trying to find ways to be better. If my idea was rejected because they thought it was too niche, I would want to know. If it's because I couldn't think of other things I've done, I'd like to know. etc, etc.
I agree, I'd have loved a reason as well--it would have justified the time spent on the application. Although I would love it, it's probably not practical and may just open them up to angry emails.
I agree that a positive, confident attitude is probably productive, but you made your point by turning the positivity against Y Combinator because you are upset that you were not accepted. Right?
I hear you! And doesn't it feel great to be able to say you've done that? I'm in the same boat: been working for myself for 7 years, now just trying to duplicate that success on a (much) larger scale :)
We're far enough along, and we have enough buzz among companies testing our app already, that we're not worried at all. YC wasn't a make-or-break deal for us by any means. Good to hear it's not for you too. If you really believe in your idea, it shouldn't be for anyone on here.
> I'm 100% sure my idea is rock solid, I've executed successfully before AND I have a cofounder, but I was turned down.
Send them a letter rejecting their rejection letter and show up anyhow. From gettingintogradschool.com:
Thank for your letter of April 9. After careful consideration, I regret to
inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission
to our department.
This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large
number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of
candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.
Despite W.M.U.'s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in
rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at
this time. Therefore, I will join the ranks of graduate students in your
department this September. I look forward to seeing you then.
Sincerely,
Haha, brilliant!
The problem is, you need at least one person (someone who has deciding power) to be impressed enough with your pure stubborn flippancy to let you in even after having been rejected.
If anyone actually went through with it I'd like their chances. If you have that kind of chutzpah why stop there? Hit up every other VC/Angel in the area and something will stick.
Upon hearing the news that YC decided not to fund us, my co-founder refused to take no for an answer and decided to call PG on the phone and plea. PG was really really cool and even offered additional advice to help us, but wouldnt budge on their decision.
My advice for those rejected now and after interviews is to simply accept the rejection and continue to build your product as aggressively as you can. I didnt take our rejection very well, and probably wasted more time than I should have dwelling on it. There is not enough time in this field to focus on defeats. Your competition will simply kill you if you do.
Consider this rejection to be a practice round of many more to come.
Yeah, unfortunately most of us here were turned down and most of those who got interviews will be turned down as well. That's just how the numbers are.
The more interesting question is how many of you expected to be turned down but applied anyway? I suspect a lot. It's funny that this round their application had a boolean question asking whether you were a single founder, non-technical group, full time jobs, etc. I even half joked to a friend that YC has an automated filter that queues up your rejection letter if the answer is "yes".
This time around I did not expect to get funded, as I don't have a co-founder yet. Funny thing is, this time I also believe in my idea much more strongly than both times I applied in the past (with co-founders) and got invited to an interview. I guess that's why I still went for it.
I'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.
Wild guess: the parsing barfed at the hyphen in name@la-fem.com and sent it to name@la -- and the email system will fill in the local domain name if you don't use a FQDN. They sent it through anybots.com's mail system so it got filled in as la.anybots.com
Just 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. =)
What is your company going to make?
We make it easy to jot something down from any device and then share that note with your friends or colleagues to have a discussion.
We are building a web version and apps for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry.
Sample use: You are at a restaurant and like a bottle of wine. You whip out your phone and snap a picture. Now that picture is part of your notes which you can access from anywhere. One more click and the note is shared on your Facebook News Feed so you can have a threaded discussion with your friends.
The first is that I want to keep track of small bits of information and make it easy to retrieve them from any device. Right now I email myself notes, which is clunky. The site has full text search and allows you to label your notes.
The site also automatically labels stuff like Address/Phone Numbers/etc, so you can query it to give you all the Phone Numbers you jotted down in the last week.
The second itch is that sometimes you have an existing note that you want to share. You click one button and the note is shared to Facebook/Twitter/Email/AIM/wherever your social graph is. Your note is now a instant threaded discussion forum.
I dig the idea for sure. I am constantly jotting down "memos" or lyric scraps/ideas for projects etc. in my black berry notes deal and I ALWAYS forget they are there til I write another one. I really like the idea of broadcasting your idea to a group of people immediately as well and I definitely see it as different than email. Keep scratching!
I am working on building an online pencil and paper rpg play system. It would support a character database, dice rollers, major P&P systems, the usual forums, npc character search, all sort's of toy's for players/ST's,GM's,DM's, and a chat system. And eventually support for a subscription service for the books. Much like O'Reilly's Safari.
thats pretty cool. One project I'm working on is designing a much of tools for algorithmically determining when either a game design or a map for a game is "fair", for various notions of fair.
There are a ton of Notepad apps out there, but they are all clunky to use.
My goal is to make 3banana as easy to use as a Google search. I'm writing plugins so you can post notes from QuickSilver, shell, FireFox, or write your own using the Python API.
Here is my updated pitch:
3banana makes it easy to jot things down and makes your notes more useful, whether it is by helping you find something on the go or by allowing seamless collaboration with your friends.
Tap into your friends' ideas and expertise, and get instant feedback by sharing your notes on Facebook, Twitter, Email , AIM or wherever your social graph lives.
i like the concept.
Right now, I email myself the small interesting tidbits i find or in some txt file which I later forget abt it.
if executed well, i can see many ppl using it .or atleast me:)
Hehe, I also use text files. I can never find anything.
One of the cool things that 3banana does is that it labels your notes automatically based on basic patterns, so you can query it to give you all the Phone Numbers you jotted down in the last week.
congratulations whether you got a no or a yes, you just made another step of a very long walk with many paths to choose from, before reaching where you dream.
No for me too. I'm a little annoyed at myself for applying at the last minute. My plan was to solve some key technical issues before applying next cycle, but I changed my mind and applied without thinking it through. Maybe spending more time properly presentating my concept would have made all the difference... on the other hand maybe it wouldn't.
My idea is fairly wacky, and may need to be seen to be believed, so back to plan A: solving problems and building the alpha!
When I was visiting Harvard one time before undergraduate college applications, my tour guide mentioned something that stuck with me -- that after a round of auditions for the highly selective a capella groups on campus, the students that were passed over for all the existing groups decided to band together and form a new group. And that that group ended up training more seriously and later that year came in first in some a capella competition.
There's a lot of potential value floating around HN.
Perhaps an informal BarCombinator of sorts could be formed?
(incidentally, we made it past this round, but...)
Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.
I've just created a LinkedIn group for Hacker News (unrelated to this thread, but reading it reminded me I was planning on creating it). I'll post the details here and in a new article when it's live. I've also added my LinkedIn profile to my HC profile.
Does that link for people? I can't figure out a better way to link to it, it is called "Y Combinator News Group"
>The groups directory is not currently open. We are working on creating a searchable directory for all groups. If there are groups you wish to join, you may click on the group logo from the profile of a group member and request to join.
I couldn't find the group rms posted at all. There are already a few members that have joined the new one that I created. I created a post here with some possibilities for networking:
I got a no as well and my feeling is that the entire process is pointless for an applicant without any feedback. I'm not bitter about being rejected, but going into this I expected at least some amount of commentary, and not 5 hits on my site and a form rejection letter. Maybe I should have tapered my expectations or the website should have been more clear about saying that if we don't pick you, you won't hear anything from us.
Given how many applications they receive, it'd probably be impractical to give feedback to each and every one - but the biggest reason is probably that doing so would open them up to arguing and disagreement from those rejected.
I think the value comes from the application form itself. If you didn't feel 100% confident in some of the answers, they might be points for improvement.
Learn to love rejection, to thrive off of it. when people say no - or, even worse, give lukewarm support - they're saying they don't get it. Only one thing for you to do: prove it. Keep hearing no, keep moving on, keep building, keep getting stronger, keep doing what you do. Pain is good, pain makes you stronger. This - this industry/community/dream/passion/life - will never be easy. It's going to hurt and suck and make you want to quit (or die), so be ready to cry and bleed. Yeah, learn to take a punch - but that sure won't be enough. You need to learn to love it.
This isn't about them, the naysayers and the unbelievers. This is about you and your conviction to build something great and lasting. Every NO is more than a test; every NO is a challenge. So what are you going to do about it?
120 comments
[ 3.6 ms ] story [ 208 ms ] thread'grats to those that got accepted.
Given I couldn't find a co-founder (and I'm aware my own programming experience is limited) I didn't really expect to win. Will apply stronger next time.
But I'm not giving up on my project. I may just take my time with it as opposed to investing all energy in it. I have so many things I want to do and learn.
This will allow the end product to be better than it would be if I hammered it sloppily into existance.
I might even come up with something better in the mean time.
We had a huge design meeting today going over how all our user/accounts management stuff should look, then we relaxed with some amazing Thai food, and we're totally pumped moving forward in any case.
I thought the letter they sent was really nice too. If we're not too far along by winter session, we'll certainly apply again :)
I've never applied at YC, but I've got a couple of failed startups under my belt. If you got a no, think about why, and consider it free advice from someone whose opinion you trust. If you disagree, then use it as fuel to work hard - as hard as you can; and show everyone else that when you were down on your luck you put your nose to the grindstone and made it happen anyways.
That being said, this isn't a win or lose sort of scenario; remember that it's a two way street. YC has certain types of companies or founders that they like to invest in; every investor does.
Take a few days for introspection, decide if you believe in what you're doing. If you do, then keep on slogging.
If you got in, then congrats... Start working on taking notes, because I hear you get an amazing amount of information from being a part of YC... even the face-to-face interview portions.
I honestly think they are just too pressed for time to do a thorough review. Applicants can check their web logs and see if YC even looked at their stuff. Submitting early is probably a major advantage if it means they (YC) actually have time to take a gander at what you did.
I agree with you otherwise though. I think submitting the day before was... not a mistake... but I found YC a week before the deadline and spend the time working up an application and looking for a co-founder.
I think he's saying that you can check the logs of your own server.
How compelling do these sound...
"Search engine" (Google)
"Computer languages" (MS)
"Directory of stuff on the web" (Yahoo)
"Online store builder" (ViaWeb)
"Computers for ordinary people" (Apple)
"Online photo album" (Flickr)
"Rate pictures of people you don't know" (HotOrNot)
"Blogging" (Blogger)
In many cases... "yet another X". Difference being in execution...
Congrats to those who made the cut though.
It's actually what I was expecting my app is nearly done already www.embought.com and I'm a single founder.
Congrats to everyone that made it. Looking forward to reading the interview recap blogs.
Or even better, people could choose their own cause (whether it's a charity, fundraising event, boyscouts, girlscouts etc etc) and could encourage friends, family and acquaintances to use the site to raise money for their cause.
I've thought along those same lines, and I'm hoping to make that an option in the future. Currently I'm not confident that I can track everything well enough to attribute purchases to an individual user. I didn't want to say a user could pick their own charity and then not actually be able to donate the money for them.
As I get traffic I'm hoping to find a way to pull that off.
Life deals out a lot of set-backs, but each one contains some very useful information (ideally examined in the rear-view mirror). Despite being rejected, I do think that the self-reflection involved in applying to ycomb was worth it.
Well, back to building stuff!
me: Would you like to make some money with me YC?
YC: No thanks, we have plenty.
Are you sure that's productive? What was your successful execution?
http://www.caterina.net
(b) not having done it before, ever. Every single thing that we came out with
that was really great, I’d never once done that thing in my life.”
-- Woz
As for my success, I built a shareware business that made me significantly more than my salary, as a single founder, while still working full time. It enabled me to leave my job and work for myself.
I think my idea is great.
It's more of a "can I do anything to improve". I believe in always trying to find ways to be better. If my idea was rejected because they thought it was too niche, I would want to know. If it's because I couldn't think of other things I've done, I'd like to know. etc, etc.
I agree that a positive, confident attitude is probably productive, but you made your point by turning the positivity against Y Combinator because you are upset that you were not accepted. Right?
We're far enough along, and we have enough buzz among companies testing our app already, that we're not worried at all. YC wasn't a make-or-break deal for us by any means. Good to hear it's not for you too. If you really believe in your idea, it shouldn't be for anyone on here.
Send them a letter rejecting their rejection letter and show up anyhow. From gettingintogradschool.com:
My advice for those rejected now and after interviews is to simply accept the rejection and continue to build your product as aggressively as you can. I didnt take our rejection very well, and probably wasted more time than I should have dwelling on it. There is not enough time in this field to focus on defeats. Your competition will simply kill you if you do.
Consider this rejection to be a practice round of many more to come.
The more interesting question is how many of you expected to be turned down but applied anyway? I suspect a lot. It's funny that this round their application had a boolean question asking whether you were a single founder, non-technical group, full time jobs, etc. I even half joked to a friend that YC has an automated filter that queues up your rejection letter if the answer is "yes".
This time around I did not expect to get funded, as I don't have a co-founder yet. Funny thing is, this time I also believe in my idea much more strongly than both times I applied in the past (with co-founders) and got invited to an interview. I guess that's why I still went for it.
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.
I wonder why
Wild guess: the parsing barfed at the hyphen in name@la-fem.com and sent it to name@la -- and the email system will fill in the local domain name if you don't use a FQDN. They sent it through anybots.com's mail system so it got filled in as la.anybots.com
What is your company going to make?
We make it easy to jot something down from any device and then share that note with your friends or colleagues to have a discussion.
We are building a web version and apps for Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry.
Sample use: You are at a restaurant and like a bottle of wine. You whip out your phone and snap a picture. Now that picture is part of your notes which you can access from anywhere. One more click and the note is shared on your Facebook News Feed so you can have a threaded discussion with your friends.
3banana: your notes are social http://3banana.com
There are two itches I'm scratching with 3banana.
The first is that I want to keep track of small bits of information and make it easy to retrieve them from any device. Right now I email myself notes, which is clunky. The site has full text search and allows you to label your notes.
The site also automatically labels stuff like Address/Phone Numbers/etc, so you can query it to give you all the Phone Numbers you jotted down in the last week.
The second itch is that sometimes you have an existing note that you want to share. You click one button and the note is shared to Facebook/Twitter/Email/AIM/wherever your social graph is. Your note is now a instant threaded discussion forum.
3banana: your notes are social http://3banana.com
One of the problems with email is that it is "offline" in the sense that I can't link to an existing conversation from AIM or Facebook.
Launch will hopefully be next week. crosses fingers
There are a ton of Notepad apps out there, but they are all clunky to use.
My goal is to make 3banana as easy to use as a Google search. I'm writing plugins so you can post notes from QuickSilver, shell, FireFox, or write your own using the Python API.
Here is my updated pitch:
3banana makes it easy to jot things down and makes your notes more useful, whether it is by helping you find something on the go or by allowing seamless collaboration with your friends.
Tap into your friends' ideas and expertise, and get instant feedback by sharing your notes on Facebook, Twitter, Email , AIM or wherever your social graph lives.
3banana, your notes are social.
One of the cool things that 3banana does is that it labels your notes automatically based on basic patterns, so you can query it to give you all the Phone Numbers you jotted down in the last week.
My idea is fairly wacky, and may need to be seen to be believed, so back to plan A: solving problems and building the alpha!
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=113610
http://theburningbiscuit.com/Pictures%20for%20site/Demotivat...
http://theburningbiscuit.com/Pictures%20for%20site/Demotivat...
http://theburningbiscuit.com/Pictures%20for%20site/Demotivat...
http://theburningbiscuit.com/Pictures%20for%20site/Demotivat...
Maybe in a little while! :D
There's a lot of potential value floating around HN.
Perhaps an informal BarCombinator of sorts could be formed?
(incidentally, we made it past this round, but...)
Whois Server Version 2.0
Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net for detailed information.
No match for "BARCOMBINATOR.COM".
( Let the domain race begin? )
http://www.linkedin.com/search?search=&sortCriteria=3...
Does that link for people? I can't figure out a better way to link to it, it is called "Y Combinator News Group"
>The groups directory is not currently open. We are working on creating a searchable directory for all groups. If there are groups you wish to join, you may click on the group logo from the profile of a group member and request to join.
Looks like LinkedIn groups are mostly broken. So this is my profile, you can join the group if you click the group link in my profile. http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=7886605...
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=160398
I didn't expect more, but it would be nice to have more.
try again next time.
I think the value comes from the application form itself. If you didn't feel 100% confident in some of the answers, they might be points for improvement.
Learn to love rejection, to thrive off of it. when people say no - or, even worse, give lukewarm support - they're saying they don't get it. Only one thing for you to do: prove it. Keep hearing no, keep moving on, keep building, keep getting stronger, keep doing what you do. Pain is good, pain makes you stronger. This - this industry/community/dream/passion/life - will never be easy. It's going to hurt and suck and make you want to quit (or die), so be ready to cry and bleed. Yeah, learn to take a punch - but that sure won't be enough. You need to learn to love it.
This isn't about them, the naysayers and the unbelievers. This is about you and your conviction to build something great and lasting. Every NO is more than a test; every NO is a challenge. So what are you going to do about it?