Why did I get rejected?
The following are my thoughts on why were rejected, and a few concerns which still slumber in the back of my mind: I believe that 3 main issues caused our application to be firmly placed in the rejected pile. I do not believe that it was a close call.
The number 1 reason: Team. Originally, I had the idea for my startup 5 years ago, and since then I have moved continent, started a family, gotten jobs, left jobs, and struggled to launch my startup. I guess, one of the side-effects of moving country is your network goes from level 80, to level 0. I tried some cofounder dating, and actually found a great CTO to join me, but after 2 months of working together, he was asked to become the new Vice Minister of Technology for the country, and therefore had to quit the startup. Thereafter, I "convinced" a technical and strategic partner to join my company, even though we lived 7 timezones apart, we believed that we could manage (spoiler alert, we couldn't). The project was not moving ahead at the pace we wanted it. And finally, my new CTO quit, after being offered a senior position at AWS. Alone again... I am now working with a former co-worker, and friend, but he has been clear from the beginning, that is not interested in the CTO position. He wishes to continue his employment for the coming 5 years or so. In the same period, I found a CMO to join the team, but that didn't work out either, as I felt he was not invested in the project.
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 19.7 ms ] threadThe final nail in the coffin: Timing. Our venture is in Travel Tech, which is not the most promising industry to be in 2020. We believe that this represents an opportunity, but others may disagree. And I believe, from the viewpoint of YC, that with 2 red flags already identified, the 3rd one can only be identified as a negative too.
Now I ask myself, as a serial failed entrepreneur, with some OK experiences under his belt, and a serious imposter complex: "Will I ever be accepted?" Should I perhaps hang up the hat and try with another project? Or try to correct the above errs and try again? I can fix the 2 issue, and I am trying to fix that now. But I doubt I can fix the 1st, and biggest issue. Should I then just hope that me, and my passion will shine through? Or should I apply with another startup? Another idea, which I might be less passionate about, but that might have a bigger chance, because of Team, Traction and Timing? And I continue thinking: "Does it even matter if I ever get accepted into YC?" Should it matter? Is it the recognition I am looking for? The applause? The validation? Or perhaps it is a Napoleon complex which is driving me towards YC... Anyways, I am left with mildly damaged self-esteem, but I'll continue doing the only thing I think I can do at this time, keep moving forward...
Thank you for reading, any feedback will be appreciated
Ok. Ask for advice then down vote to remove points. Great.
And a good question: "What do you do?" I guess I do accounting, recruiting, legal, product, design. And to your advice: "Maybe learn a skill and have a functional product before selling". Learning a skill, sure, I can learn a lot of skills, python to start with, but how long time before I am as a good as a CTO should be? And "have a functional product before selling" I fundamentally disagree with that point. Rather launch mvp after mvp, iteration after iteration.
Great feedback, thanks, good karma, good energy, good luck!