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You must have heard from YC by now? What's the verdict? I can't take the suspense!

by russ 19y ago

jsjenkins168 19y ago
We unfortunately did not get funded. Ironically, we suspect it was at least in part due to more of a strategic "political" reason than an insufficient idea. Our startup would have directly competed with a prominent current YC funded company which for obvious reasons is undesirable for YC, despite the fact we believe our approach is superior from a technical standpoint. The argument was that this current company is already "well established" and might already have momentum to expand into the area we proposed. They certainly aren't doing it yet though, and we build fast and never give up. I'm sure Larry and Surgey were told the same thing from investors about Altavista. History shows being "well established" doesnt mean squat. I wont get into any more specifics though, as we are still pursuing the idea and would like to keep it under wraps. Paul, Jessica, and Trevor are really cool people though. As were the other teams present. We saw some good ideas and smart people. Without a doubt the next batch of startups will be very impressive. I wish all of those teams who were offered funding the best of luck!
- jason13 19y ago
  so your trying to help people share live streaming video. It would really help to have a video camera with a decent bandwidth connection to the internet to do that.
- gyro_robo 19y ago
  > The argument was that this current company is already "well established" and might already have momentum to expand into the area we proposed. Makes you wonder why they dragged you out there then!
  - BrandonM 19y ago
    I would guess that they liked the applicants (based on the applications) and wanted to see if they had any other ideas that they would be interested in pursuing.
    - RyanGWU82 19y ago
      Or they didn't realize just how directly the new company would compete with their existing portfolio company.
    - gyro_robo 19y ago
      Except that for this round pg said you don't need an idea in order to apply. That implies that they'll help decide on an idea if they like the founders, so an idea conflict should be resolvable by switching to something else pg et al. have in mind.
      - blader 19y ago
        Let me just say this: "the idea doesn't matter" is a statement that we found to be highly, highly unreliable. Don't expect to get funded without a solid idea that is different. I'll elaborate on this later, but trust me on this one.
- Leonidas 19y ago
  At least you got to meet the Y team and the other cool Y applicants. Keep working on your startup and best wishes!
- SwellJoe 19y ago
  Most investors do not invest in competing or significantly overlapping companies. There are a few exceptions (Ron Conway), but it's rare enough that they feel like making that clear on every possible occasion.

You must have heard from YC by now? What's the verdict? I can't take the suspense!

by russ 19y ago

You must have heard from YC by now? What's the verdict? I can't take the suspense!

We unfortunately did not get funded. Ironically, we suspect it was at least in part due to more of a strategic "political" reason than an insufficient idea. Our startup would have directly competed with a prominent current YC funded company which for obvious reasons is undesirable for YC, despite the fact we believe our approach is superior from a technical standpoint. The argument was that this current company is already "well established" and might already have momentum to expand into the area we proposed. They certainly aren't doing it yet though, and we build fast and never give up. I'm sure Larry and Surgey were told the same thing from investors about Altavista. History shows being "well established" doesnt mean squat. I wont get into any more specifics though, as we are still pursuing the idea and would like to keep it under wraps. Paul, Jessica, and Trevor are really cool people though. As were the other teams present. We saw some good ideas and smart people. Without a doubt the next batch of startups will be very impressive. I wish all of those teams who were offered funding the best of luck!

jason13 19y ago
so your trying to help people share live streaming video. It would really help to have a video camera with a decent bandwidth connection to the internet to do that.
gyro_robo 19y ago
> The argument was that this current company is already "well established" and might already have momentum to expand into the area we proposed. Makes you wonder why they dragged you out there then!
- BrandonM 19y ago
  I would guess that they liked the applicants (based on the applications) and wanted to see if they had any other ideas that they would be interested in pursuing.
  - RyanGWU82 19y ago
    Or they didn't realize just how directly the new company would compete with their existing portfolio company.
  - gyro_robo 19y ago
    Except that for this round pg said you don't need an idea in order to apply. That implies that they'll help decide on an idea if they like the founders, so an idea conflict should be resolvable by switching to something else pg et al. have in mind.
    - blader 19y ago
      Let me just say this: "the idea doesn't matter" is a statement that we found to be highly, highly unreliable. Don't expect to get funded without a solid idea that is different. I'll elaborate on this later, but trust me on this one.
Leonidas 19y ago
At least you got to meet the Y team and the other cool Y applicants. Keep working on your startup and best wishes!
SwellJoe 19y ago
Most investors do not invest in competing or significantly overlapping companies. There are a few exceptions (Ron Conway), but it's rare enough that they feel like making that clear on every possible occasion.