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Some advice to people who got a no: 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 con
by icey 19y ago
Some advice to people who got a no:
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.
- keating 19y ago> 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.
- jfornear 19y agoI only received 2 page views from them on April 2nd. I probably shouldn't have waited until the last minute to apply.
- xenoterracide 19y agoMay 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.
- pius 19y agoMay I ask where the web logs I should look at are? I think he's saying that you can check the logs of your own server.
- xenoterracide 19y agoah... seems like yc had a note about checking something here for comments/questions. I thought he was referring to that.
- keating 19y agoIf they have... had a question it would show up at the top of the page on this site.
- JayNeely 19y agoHe means, if you included an online demo, presumably on your own hosting space, check your web stats to see if/when/for how long they looked at it.
- icey 19y ago"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.
- keating 19y ago> If it doesn't sound compelling enough after the first sentence then you probably need to work on your pitch. 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...
- theudude2002 19y agoto me most those pitches sound compelling: Straight forward, tackle a big problem and you know what they're trying to do in well, one line ;-)