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Ask HN: Why does being in an accelerator pre-YC lessen your YC chances?

40 points by stringbeans ↗ HN
Our startup was in an accelerator previous to applying to YC, and this was the reason why we were rejected after the interview. I understand the concern that we should already be "accelerated" by now but its hard to compare the previous program we were in to the caliber of YC.

Why does being in an accelerator pre-YC lessen your YC chances? Has anyone had similar experiences with this? Are there any YC alumni that had their company in an accelerator pre-YC?

23 comments

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aegiso
Pretty sure the reason that you didn't get into YC wasn't simply because of some binary metric like your previously going though an accelerator. Give them more credit than that and look deeper, regardless of what the email said.

-A fellow YC reject from a few years back

stringbeans
You're right, it's probably not JUST because of the pre-YC accelerator and the original post should be worded differently. I think however being in an accelerator pre-YC has some definite weight in the decision. Curious if anyone has any insight into this. The interview was going fantastic and all the partners seemed impressed by our traction and opportunity until they brought up the previous accelerator (which coincidentally turned out to be the last question before time was up)
pg
We have a much higher threshold for startups that have already been through an "accelerator" program. Mainly because we expect them to have thereby been accelerated; if they're not doing well, we worry they might be unacceleratable. It's also a problem that such startups will be twice as diluted at Demo Day, which decreases their fundraising options.

I can think of two startups we've funded that had been through things calling themselves "accelerators" before YC.

stringbeans
That provides a lot of clarity. Thanks PG :)
wololo_
Does that also apply to angel/pre-seed/seed funded teams ?
pg
No, not it's not usually a problem if a company has merely raised some money, unless they've sold so much of the company that we know it will deter post Demo Day investors.
ritchiea
How much of your company would you have to sell for it to become a deterrent to demo day investors?
wololo_
I'm guessing 30%+ for an early stage company. (Usually investors out of the valley would take that much in it's first round)
rbchv
Wow that seems like a lot for angel funding. Even 20% seems like a lot for an angel round.
avalaunch
Based on the way that's worded, is it safe to assume you hold a low opinion of the programs those two startups (FlightCar and another?) went through prior to being accepted into YC?

If so what do you think was lacking in those two "accelerators"?

pg
I don't know much about either of them. There are so many of these things now. It seems like every few days I hear about another one I hadn't heard of. And I don't really know what goes on inside of any of them. Except Imagine K-12, which was started by friends of mine with my encouragement, and one of whose founders, Geoff Ralston, is also a partner at YC. IK12 is definitely good, and we recommend education startups apply to them.
HorizonXP
Heh, I have an Airbnb guest staying with me tonight that's in Imagine K-12 right now. I should drop by and see what it's about, considering it's 10 minute walk from my place!

I'm curious what makes them different from the others?

woah
I'm guessing that the difference is that he trusts them?
pg
We essentially gave IK12 our source code. When Tim and Geoff were starting it, we told them everything about how YC works, and even brought them in to watch how we did things.
hotpockets
Yo pg, can you swing me some of that source code? I been thinking about accelerating it up, and me and my bro hungry pete are what you'd call pretty cool dudes. Hungry pete can attest! Get back. -Peace-
webwright
AirBnB took quite a while before they started growing. If they had done YC in the first month of their existence, do you think that growth would've happened A LOT sooner? I think it would've helped considerably but I think some startups just need to "age" for a while. Ben / Pinterest had a similar long/flat growth line before they started to take off. On the other hand, maybe those "taking off" moments were a result of advice from smart folks (like YC).
pg
Yes. All startups evolve, but most that have evolved slowly could have evolved faster.
ig1
IIRC Prizeo and Kivo both went through @EntreFirst and Vayable went through @500Startups prior to YC.
bambax
The quotes around "accelerator" makes the comment inconsistent. If other "accelerators" are not really "accelerators", then it shouldn't matter that a startup that went through them hasn't accelerated much; it should certainly not mean that the startup is unacceleratable.

If you try to learn to read with someone who doesn't know how to read herself, and you fail, it doesn't mean you're forever incapable of reading.

techtivist
I think one needs to have the right expectations about what they want to achieve from an accelerator. If you are a company with a broad audience like consumer web or consumer mobile, an accelerator will help you build your company fundamentals, guide you through the generic process of starting up and at the end of it all give you audience with the investors; and if you are in a program like YC garner you a little more attention. So I really fail to see how useful it is to go through two different accelerators other than the just the last two reasons.

If I were running an accelerator and you were applying to mine after having gone through another program, I wouldn't just look at if I will gain (financially or otherwise) from you but really question how you will gain from having you in in the accelerator, having already gone through a similar, perhaps even conflicting process.

For a company with a more specialized market like education or health, while the requirements above stay the same, there are important differences. So going through a generalized accelerator to build those fundamentals and then going through an accelerator specific to your industry makes sense because while building strong fundamentals in business may be the smae, scaling up, selling and operating successfully in these industries is rather different and perhaps even more different than the consumer space, like Imagine K12 for education and Rockhealth for health; or even the other way round.

paulsutter
Any low-value credentials on an application make a company look bad. Another example: winning a business plan competition. The problem is that you thought mentioning it would improve your chances of getting accepted. If that's the best you've got, you haven't got much.
nivertech
There are some corporate accelerator programs who licensed TechStars model. If they will see startup who went thru accelerator and didn't raised money - they will ask thought questions. The funny thing is, that even being in coworking space and not raising money was also a negative signal.