I went through TechStars Seattle 2010. In watching the 9 other companies, it is obvious that the best predictor of success for my peers has been the strength of the relationships between co-founders. I'm measuring success (at this early stage) as some fuzzy function of how easy the team made it look to build a product, gain traction, raise money, and keep smiling.
I can only guess that Y Combinator really values co-founders because the patterns I've seen in 10 companies must be painfully obvious with 100 companies. That's not to say that there won't be outliners/exceptions, but when you're placing bets...
Sorry for the bad sarcasm community. I love Jon and Janette. I met Jon way back in 2009 and he was hustling with just an idea then. As a fellow Midwest entrepreneur it's awesome to see him "graduate" from our area and succeed in the valley.
Who downvoted this? That's not cool. Asking for an explanation is always ok.
Anyways, Yuri Milner (with Ron Conway) recently announced a blanket offer to all YC companies: $150k in no cap convertible debt. The title could have been to a story where a YC company dropped, presumably forfeiting the offer, only to be tracked down specifically and offered much more.
YC accepts single founders, the bar is just higher.
Applying with co-founders and having them disappear is probably worse than applying as a single founder, because co-founders jumping ship is one of the things that often happens shortly before a startup dies. I'm sure YC was acutely aware of this pattern, and that makes the Storenvy story all the more impressive.
In 2010, I got accepted and kicked out of Y Combinator, lost my cofounders, and raised $1.5M from A-list investors
Sounds like it was more "our team was accepted even though they had no idea what I was up to, I subsequently lost my cofounders, and Y Combinator revised their decision based on that."
I'm surprised that YC accepted "them" after meeting just one of the co-founders. Also, what is not very clear is why he went by himself to get money and how he continued the company by himself without his cofounders. Meaning that it sounds like it's just that they didn't want to move to SF with a week-notice, not that they gave up completely on the startup...
I came to SF the first time by myself because I was the hustler in the group. I talked to my team members every day. They knew I was in SF talking to investors and they knew I was interviewing for YC. They just hadn't heard of it until I was already doing the interview.
As to how I was able to continue, as I explain in the article, they spun off a t-shirt printing business that we had been running. It was a more predictable business. Less risky for them. More of a 9-5 thing with a steady income.
To be fair, they still believed in the business. They just didn't want to tattoo it across their face and sell their first born son like I want to.
That's what I'm wondering, I bet there's good money in child-flipping. You know buy a 3 month old, get them to the walking+talking phase and boot them off to someone willing to drop top dollar.
(FYI for the downmodders: that's what's called a sick joke)
Not at all - ideas are worth nothing, but if you can prove the execution you're good to go. So own the idea, go forth, and execute some kids better than anyone else.
Ah, but she only seems to deal with kids beyond the walking-talking phase, so there's potential for a partnership supplying her with kids for her to mentally whip into later life therapy.
I'm surprised that YC accepted "them" after meeting just one of the co-founders
This was the first time we had a late application process and I made the mistake of not insisting that Jon submit an application form. That would have surfaced the issues much earlier. We've since established that we won't fund anyone without them filling out an application form and meeting all co-founders in person.
Congrats to Jon, that's a fantastic list of investors to have.
The article makes it sound that PG and co allowed this guy to pick up and move to SF only to tell him to suck it the next day.
If that is what happened, they deserve some scorn for playing with a person's life like that. That's just not on. If, however, they were clear about their reservations and just wanted to meet the guy again to discuss, it was really stupid of him to transport himself from his home to a hotel.
Such a cavalier attitude to risk actually might be a very good reason that this guy should not be running anything, and YC made a sound choice.
Either way, don't know any of the actors in the story and wish them all the best. Thanks for sharing this rather strange story.
"Such a cavalier attitude to risk actually might be a very good reason that this guy should not be running anything"
I read this story very differently. Jon was fearless, took a calculated risk, and, when the initial outcome didn't role in his favor, just kept plugging in the face of obstacles - to his success.
If you think that "Flying out to Silicon Valley on a reasonable chance that Y Combinator was going to fund his startup that already had a community, but with several months of cash regardless of that funding" is a cavalier attitude to risk, I would love to think what your thoughts about what some of the _really_ hair brained things that startups do to become successful.
The sheer _act_ of deciding to create a startup is easily one of the most risk prone acts one can take - so, ironically, per your logic, anyone who does so should not be running anything. :-)
I loved the story, loved how he rolled with the punches, and loved his positive attitude at the end towards everyone. I have almost no doubt that he's going to deliver great things.
It was risky. But, I also believe that there are two key points from the story that made it easier.
1. He married a woman who is extremely supportive and dialed in.
2. He had a savings that he could fall back on. So, getting kicked out of Y Combinator was heartbreaking but not soul crushing.
Basically, he had some good protective factors which made it possible for him to take risks.
It was more an issue of timing. The conversations started with my cofounders about 72 hours before the first YC dinner. I was already scheduled to move out of my apartment and had airfare booked. It wasn't until I was literally heading to the airport the night before the first dinner that I found out that things might be in trouble. I'd already spent the last couple days moving all of my stuff into a storage unit.
I talked to Paul on the phone as I was boarding the plane and he told me, "I don't know if I'd come out here just yet." But I didn't want to miss the first dinner (still naïvely thinking things will work out). He definitely gave me fair warning and I knew the risks, but it seemed silly to turn around at that point. I knew I could always fly back home in a few days, if I needed to. It was worth the risk. And in hindsight, I'm insanely thankful I got on that plane.
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[ 1.7 ms ] story [ 190 ms ] threadRejected != GotKickedOutOf
No co-founder....no soup for you!
To be fair, they did get accepted based on having the whole team.
Do you think you would have been excepted if you applied as just yourself?
- Jon (The guy who wrote this story. :)
But then it's like he's bald.
http://xkcd.com/541/
I can only guess that Y Combinator really values co-founders because the patterns I've seen in 10 companies must be painfully obvious with 100 companies. That's not to say that there won't be outliners/exceptions, but when you're placing bets...
"What? they don't count as 'co-founder''? you must be kidding, this is XXI'
Anyways, Yuri Milner (with Ron Conway) recently announced a blanket offer to all YC companies: $150k in no cap convertible debt. The title could have been to a story where a YC company dropped, presumably forfeiting the offer, only to be tracked down specifically and offered much more.
[edit: typo]
Applying with co-founders and having them disappear is probably worse than applying as a single founder, because co-founders jumping ship is one of the things that often happens shortly before a startup dies. I'm sure YC was acutely aware of this pattern, and that makes the Storenvy story all the more impressive.
I was asking Ray what made him an exceptional single founder.
I'm curious why you list SF as the location, giving how well everything started out for you even though you were spread out geographically.
Sounds like it was more "our team was accepted even though they had no idea what I was up to, I subsequently lost my cofounders, and Y Combinator revised their decision based on that."
I'm surprised that YC accepted "them" after meeting just one of the co-founders. Also, what is not very clear is why he went by himself to get money and how he continued the company by himself without his cofounders. Meaning that it sounds like it's just that they didn't want to move to SF with a week-notice, not that they gave up completely on the startup...
As to how I was able to continue, as I explain in the article, they spun off a t-shirt printing business that we had been running. It was a more predictable business. Less risky for them. More of a 9-5 thing with a steady income.
To be fair, they still believed in the business. They just didn't want to tattoo it across their face and sell their first born son like I want to.
(FYI for the downmodders: that's what's called a sick joke)
That, or a sitcom.
This was the first time we had a late application process and I made the mistake of not insisting that Jon submit an application form. That would have surfaced the issues much earlier. We've since established that we won't fund anyone without them filling out an application form and meeting all co-founders in person.
Congrats to Jon, that's a fantastic list of investors to have.
If that is what happened, they deserve some scorn for playing with a person's life like that. That's just not on. If, however, they were clear about their reservations and just wanted to meet the guy again to discuss, it was really stupid of him to transport himself from his home to a hotel.
Such a cavalier attitude to risk actually might be a very good reason that this guy should not be running anything, and YC made a sound choice.
Either way, don't know any of the actors in the story and wish them all the best. Thanks for sharing this rather strange story.
I read this story very differently. Jon was fearless, took a calculated risk, and, when the initial outcome didn't role in his favor, just kept plugging in the face of obstacles - to his success.
If you think that "Flying out to Silicon Valley on a reasonable chance that Y Combinator was going to fund his startup that already had a community, but with several months of cash regardless of that funding" is a cavalier attitude to risk, I would love to think what your thoughts about what some of the _really_ hair brained things that startups do to become successful.
The sheer _act_ of deciding to create a startup is easily one of the most risk prone acts one can take - so, ironically, per your logic, anyone who does so should not be running anything. :-)
I loved the story, loved how he rolled with the punches, and loved his positive attitude at the end towards everyone. I have almost no doubt that he's going to deliver great things.
1. He married a woman who is extremely supportive and dialed in. 2. He had a savings that he could fall back on. So, getting kicked out of Y Combinator was heartbreaking but not soul crushing.
Basically, he had some good protective factors which made it possible for him to take risks.
Congratulations and best to you and Storenvy.
I talked to Paul on the phone as I was boarding the plane and he told me, "I don't know if I'd come out here just yet." But I didn't want to miss the first dinner (still naïvely thinking things will work out). He definitely gave me fair warning and I knew the risks, but it seemed silly to turn around at that point. I knew I could always fly back home in a few days, if I needed to. It was worth the risk. And in hindsight, I'm insanely thankful I got on that plane.
Once again good luck to you!