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Startup School: Every Company That Applied Is Now Accepted
- firemelt 8y agoI wish I applied :(, any chance for me to get all the course materials?
- dang 8y agoYes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17806627 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17806627
- mockingbirdy 8y agoIs there a mail list or something to get notifications when it's ready? Would love to see this. Seen many of the https://startupclass.samaltman.com https://startupclass.samaltman.com videos
- super-serial 8y agoI applied almost as a joke because I knew I wouldn't be accepted... I'm a single founder, no traction, and a silly, seamingly pointless product. Also I have a full-time job. Now I'm excited I get a chance to be in a network, compete, and see how peers are handling things on the forums. It's going to be awesome and an excellent motivator. Thanks YC!
- muhneesh 8y agoHey guys - this is awesome and compassionate; thank you
- itsevrgrn 8y agoexcited to see how we are able to connect with other founders. This is something I have wanted for a long time.
- acutesoftware 8y agoNice save, well done. Understand that the advisors won't be able to give personal feedback, but I am happy to be discussing ideas / issues / feedback with other peers.
- itsthisjustin 8y agoExcited to chat with you there as a fellow peer!
- mercat 8y agoMore than 15000 startups... I wonder how that will play out.
- proofread 8y agoI bet that 25-40% complete the course fully. They expected 4000 so it will be around there. We will see. Great move by YC and really excited to experience the program!
- Tunecrew 8y agoI was thinking the same thing - probably the number that actually starts the course will be in the 90%s of the total and there will be a fair amount of attrition as the course proceeds. It would be interesting to see what these numbers look like as well over the ten weeks.
- chrismorgan 8y ago15,000, huh? That’s a lot more than I expected. How many had you originally accepted? (And thus, how many have advisors?)
- geoff 8y agoWe had originally accepted about 4000 - although our goal has always been to make our MOOC as much about "open" as we possibly can. Our own misstep has caused us to accelerate things.
- eddieh 8y agoI applied, but haven't received a rejection or and acceptance email. Does this announcement mean I'm in?
- megasquid 8y agoThanks for the second chance. Will be cool to be able to connect with other founders and access the private community forum.
- kashprime 8y agoA great way to save the situation. And the resulting community created by 15k startups might lead to interesting directions and developments. I'm looking forward to participating and meeting our peers out there.
- aliakhtar 8y agoThis is fantastic. It would be great if there could be a way for teams to 'level up' and get access to an advisor + the AWS / Stripe credits. Is that possible @yc ?
- sandslash 8y agoWe have a limited number of advisors but YC partners/staff will be on the forum to help out in any way we can.
- sodafountan 8y agoThis would be awesome, especially after reading the numbers. Apparently, 15,000 applied and YC was going to take in about 4,000 companies. That's roughly 1/3 of applicants; if you factor in that I'm sure quite a few of the companies that would have been denied in the first place might not participate anyway then I'm sure this is probably doable.
- meesterdude 8y agoI thought what happened earlier was pretty shitty - this is 100% the right action to take and totally above & beyond. Congratulations to all startups who applied and get to move forward!
- rboyd 8y agosweet, looking forward to those discount codes
- fouc 8y agoJoke, or is that a thing?
- ModernMech 8y ago"Stripe will be giving startups discounted payment processing and an invitation to Stripe Atlas to incorporate and open a company bank account. In addition, startups will receive over $50,000 in credits to a variety of other services, Digital Ocean, Amazon Web Services, and Clerky."
- dang 8y agoThose deals aren't offered by YC directly but from talking to sandslash I think we're going to try to get the companies to agree to that.
- nodesocket 8y agoIf you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk.
- handymarks 8y agoThank you.. !!!
- ericglyman 8y agoStartup School lesson one: keep iterating :)
- snowmaker 8y agoVery true :)
- dreammaker 8y agoThe lesson zero: just give it a try and some kind of success you get in any way :)
- halfjoking 8y agoFirst rule of Startup Club... you DO NOT get accepted to Startup club. Second rule of Startup Club... you ARE NOW ACCEPTED to Startup Club. Third rule... if either of these notices from the other two rules affected the trajectory of your startup you are not a true founder. So get to work and stop worrying if someone else approves your startup or not.
- mindcrime 8y agoNice. Understand this is going to stress the infrastructure pretty severely, but it seems like both A. the right thing to do, and B. an interesting experiment / learning opportunity. Looking forward to the class.
- joejerryronnie 8y agoNice job guys, totally the right call. Is this the beginning of a fully crowd sourced Y Combinator?
- kcorbitt 8y agoWe're definitely experimenting with different ways of opening YC's benefits up to a larger group of companies. Startup School is one initiative of many that we're trying.
- escapecharacter 8y agoY-not Combinator?
- syntaxing 8y agoFor someone out of the loop, what exactly are in the discount code and the 10K equity free grant? Does everyone get it on the completion of the course or does YC choose a selected few?
- bigwheeler 8y agoYC chooses a selected group of 100 startups. Time to start studying!
- sandslash 8y agoSince this is a brand new update to Startup School, we're going to work on figuring out how we can offer discounts/deals to all founders in the program. Stay tuned!
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- dang 8y agoFor anyone who hasn't seen the previous thread where this all played out, it's https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17804371 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17804371.
- darklrd 8y agoThank you for sharing the link.
- bobmazanec 8y agoGutsy moves starting YC & offering SS to begin with. Public stumble today—it happens. Gutsy recovery. Thanks. Now it's up to all of us to make the most of it and make it more than it would have been.
- seanlinehan 8y agoI hope somebody runs the data in the future to see if there was a statistical difference in outcomes between the companies intended to be accepted vs. not :-)
- snowmaker 8y agoThat is a good idea! We conducted an inadvertent A/B test :)
- samstave 8y agoWhen the BOFH gives you segfaults, make self healing systems???
- bigwheeler 8y agoDon't forget to share the results with us!
- seanlinehan 8y agoThat's what I was thinking!
- solveit 8y agoIs there any chance you can blind yourselves to any extent? Or does everyone involved already know too much about which companies were initially accepted?
- DoreenMichele 8y agoany chance you can blind yourselves I wouldn't worry too much about that angle, personally. The human mind can follow a community of about 150. This is two orders of magnitude larger. I think they will be lucky if they can even remember names of folks they are dealing with.
- samstave 8y agoThis would be a seriously missed opportunity for YC if they dont: Immediately start tracking all the applicants and what stages they are in, how much funding/traction/etc they have and which segment vertical they are in and then seeing how well they all do. This will be a very interesting experiment.
- Waterluvian 8y agoI'm out of the loop. What are the actual costs of advisorless groups? Is it just bandwidth and server costs or are there further services.
- kcorbitt 8y agoMainly we just didn't build the course's functionality or navigation with that volume of users in mind. We also want to make sure we provide a great experience to everyone, whether their group has an advisor or not. We're going to be working very hard over the next week making sure we're able to do that for everyone.
- jamesogunjimi 8y agoThank you.
- 40acres 8y agoWow! Thanks to YC for this opportunity. The valley is in no way perfect but its these sort of moments that make you excited to be in technology. I'm sure one of the companies that did not make it initially will earn the $10,000 credit.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- hyperpallium 8y agoWill the course materials also be available to those who did not apply?
- kcorbitt 8y agoYes! All the videos and content from the course will eventually become public for everyone – we're trying to optimize for maximum impact.
- dreammaker 8y agoSo, can you explain, what is the main difference between 'new-way'-accepted participants and people who even did not apply to Startup School and will be able to watch the videos also?
- mic500 8y agoI feel like that one of the spirit of YC is try something new, well done. I still have a question, can I join the class on Tuesdays? I mean be a live audience. We're willing to give up $10k, and ask no questions in the class.
- kcorbitt 8y agoThere will be an application process open to all SS participants for the in-person class (unfortunately our room has limited seating). We hope that everyone who wants to will be able to attend at least one lecture in person!
- wmattei 8y agoThat's exciting to hear! I filled out the class attendance application attached to the mistaken acceptance email before the correction was sent -- is that the form you are referring to or will there be a new one?
- kcorbitt 8y agoThat form works fine! We're keeping track of all the form responses from both the old and new emails we sent out, so your application made it in.
- d2161 8y agoJust saw this. Hah!
- chelak 8y agoA bold and compassionate solution, that only YC would have the guts and integrity to do. Well done.
- snowmaker 8y agoThank you so much! I was feeling terrible earlier today and your comment really helped.
- proofread 8y agoSince everyone is in now, are the spots that we signed up for in the live in person classes still available to all?
- dpeck 8y agoGood on yc. Now I’m disappointed that I’m just auditing the course this term as I bet the forums will be a very interesting place with this many teams. Best of luck to all.
- pilingual 8y agoHi everyone! I went through SS last year, and I was going to email them suggesting this exact solution. Know that trying to decide 1000 out of 15000 startups is incredibly challenging, especially given the fact that the application asks for very little data. So don’t ever think you weren’t meant for this, because it is a school program and everyone has the potential to dominate. This isn’t a zero sum game. As for startup school, there are two critical things: being accountable and having a support network. Everyone will get those things which is great. I’m not trivializing the role advisors play, but YC noted that everyone will get access to advisors in the forums. Some startups will find them a useful resource for specific problems, but you don’t necessarily need them every single week; indeed some startups waived their five minutes some weeks. Congratulations! Now let’s get to work! :D
- proofread 8y agoGreat response, cheers!
- kcorbitt 8y agoYep – having a community of peers available to hold you accountable for your progress at regular intervals is huge. And we're going to be working overtime to provide a great Startup School experience for all the participants!
- chrischoy 8y agoTotally agree. I am happier with bigger community.
- lauremerlin 8y agoYou're certainly showing us what the original Jessica Livingston @YC rule means : no asshole, thank you for being a generous you ! Let's make this shine and inspire more YC alumni to become Advisors for this #epicbatch @startupschool
- mLuby 8y agoDo they really call it SS? Not to summon Godwin here but historically that wasn't a great organization to be in…
- wprapido 8y agoI initially received the rejection letter, to be followed with the letter of acceptance. Good to know that the letter of acceptance wasn't a comforting reward! The startup I've applied with is not the one same as my username.
- confiscate 8y agocan we also increase the 100 slots for the 10k grant, to 400 slots? because it used to be 4000 startups and now it's 15000!
- dang 8y agoI asked Sam that exact question earlier and he was already working on it. But it's complicated for fiduciary reasons, and not the sort of thing that can be put together in a few hours.
- confiscate 8y agothanks for trying!
- jaysonelliot 8y agoAs someone who was critical at first of the way the situation was handled, I have to say that YC has been exemplary in their followup. The response from all of the YC folks in the threads was respectful and empathetic, and didn't try to make excuses or shift the blame. They just took the heat and acted with honor. I think we've just learned our first lesson from Startup School: how to handle a bad situation with grace, and recover well.
- alvis 8y agowell said.
- desireco42 8y agoI am with you. I was really upset as I called my young cofounder to tell her we were in. I felt she needs this way more then me and when I got a reject letter it was a huge letdown. Anyhow, they offered good save, it will not be easy for them, and they came up with that quickly, before this blew up more. I think they handled this way better then many CEO's handle their company firedrills.
- calimac 8y agohilarious
- msea82 8y agoNice job James Bond-ing the solution. Totally the right call.
- escapecharacter 8y agoHuzzah!
- adityapurwa 8y agoI was so happy seeing the email of me being accepted to Startup School, but then I saw another email about it being an error, I am a bit sad, but then after reading I'm feeling happy again, than you to YC for giving us an opportunity.
- sudosteph 8y agoI can't stay mad at y'all after this response. I am looking forward to making your application reviewer peeps feel silly after this is all over though. Team 2nd chance has a lot to prove, and I think many of us do really appreciate YC's new commitment to supporting ALL founders at this point, even if it took a mistake to get there.
- cetalingua 8y agoAgree!
- anthonys 8y agoAgree- it's up to us to make the most of this opportunity now. I hope YCom get some good data and learning for next years course off the back of it too.
- jamesogunjimi 8y agoTrue
- mindcrime 8y agoTeam 2nd chance has a lot to prove Hah! "Team 2nd chance"... love it! We should get t-shirts made with that on them and everything. You do make a good point though. This is a great chance for a lot of us to show the doubters that they were wrong, and to prove that we do belong.
- smu 8y agoHa, you read my mind! You can forever keep the chip on your shoulder here: https://teamsecondchance.threadless.com/ https://teamsecondchance.threadless.com/ * Profit (if any) will go to a charity we can decide upon in the thread below. I nominate doctors without borders because they always do good work. * Help with design is appreciated. I'm just a clueless engineer... * Should you spend time designing a better version, the thought might occur to you that you are not spending that time on your startup and that might be a reason why you're team 2nd chance... ;-)
- lauremerlin 8y ago
- Tunecrew 8y agoI think this is the best outcome - cheers to YC for handling this in this way.
- jakegold 8y agoVery exciting stuff. I hope this experiment is successful and it paves a way towards a completely open model. It seems only logical that any startup should be able to enter the arena and fail or succeed on their actual merit itself, and not some kind of proxy or guess. This really does seem like one of those magical "listen to your users" moments in a startup's life. Startup School teaching by example and practicing what it preaches.
- justme24 8y agoI think this is a great solution! I hope this year will be amazing.
- olliej 8y agoI really like this response, I would totally understand if they sent up follows ups "we're really sorry...", but this seems like a really neat response. I'd be really interested if at the end of the cycle they published the success stats vs. their original invitee success stats. I would expect a lower overall success result - I'm sure there are startups that would never work ("our business model is to just directly give our VC money to our users and profit on scale") they would be denied, but it would be curious how the stats diverged. e.g. comparing overall performance when controlling for gender, race, religion, field, etc
- Suncho 8y agoHey! Our business model involves just directly giving money to our users. =)
- olliej 8y agoOof, that seems like a challenge. I’m not sold on basic income, I think a solid welfare system would in effect be “basic income” for low/no income people, but By essentially having a tapering payout as the recipients earnings increase you resolve a number of issues BI produces. I do think it’s an interesting idea to have essentially a private fund do a real world experiment, I’m just not sure of the long term feasibility. The problem you have is that the addition of a basic income does not result in any increase in the funds available to you. For a government back system, BI theoretically should result in an over all increase in tax revenue that can then fund said BI, while also reducing the amount spent on poverty related disease, illness, crime, etc. (to be clear I’m not saying poor people are criminals, just that some crime is a result of poverty - theft of food, “crimes” like prostitution, etc). Anyway, good luck to you fine folk!
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- wiradikusuma 8y agoThe more the merrier! I got accepted last year, and I remember they have a group chat or something, but pretty quiet. Running your own startup can be lonely, and joining a graveyard group chat doesn't help much. I hope this time is different! Note: I have joined a couple accelerators, online and offline. By far, Founder Institute has the best comradeship. I think it's bcoz you're still working fulltime, while learning startup with tough weekly assignments that can get you kicked out anytime from the program, creating strong group bonding.
- eghri 8y agoThis is great! I may honestly be even more motivated now to prove YC wrong for initially declining me :-)
- ModernMech 8y agoBe careful -- If it turns out that those rejected end up with the $10k, YC might start making it a policy of rejecting companies and accepting them on their second application :P
- jackconnor 8y agoMan, credit where credit is due, this showed a lot of integrity. There was one good solution, it was just a painful one, yet they still did it. Well done YCombinator! P.S. They make the point that this is an experiment, and I think all of us who join should prove that it is a good one. Nobody rails against applications and qualifying scores like HN peeps (check the comments of any article, ever, about SAT/GMAT/GRE scores for evidence). And since YC choose to go the universal route, standing strong to the HN ethos, I think we can prove that decisions like this do work for the best by being focused, engaged, and building some kickass tech companies.
- perdet 8y agoAgreed. Let's prove to them we can do this.
- funnynoodles 8y agoDisagree
- solarkraft 8y agoWhy?
- funnynoodles 8y agoRespectfully, you don’t see any reasons this would be a bad idea?
- w_allDueRespect 8y agoRespectfully, what are all of the reasons that this would be a bad idea?
- ModernMech 8y agousername checks out.
- 8y ago
- jamesogunjimi 8y agoWas a bit disheartening getting that second mail. I mean, I'd already shared the news with Anita, the cofounder. When I woke up to the third mail, I wasn't sure what to think. 'Getting in' is okay, right? But knowing you 'got in' on merit is easier than knowing you got pushed in because of a system malfunction. Was almost not going to participate, but reading comments here, maybe I will. Hopefully, we get to learn and make something really worthwhile from this.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoIf you think the primary value of acceptance is some social signal rather than access to the system, wow. This is not the first comment of this sort I have seen suggesting this will be a lousy deal. And I am resisting the temptation to say "I'll be happy to take your slot if you don't want it" only because I have other plans, basically.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- fapjacks 8y agoI was a bit surprised to read that comment, as well. Opportunities multiply as they are seized. OTOH, do not interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake (that was a joke). Anyone in this position has an opportunity many many others do not.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoMetaphorically, getting into a YC program is not evidence that you are a good egg. Instead, it is a guarantee of being kept warm so you have a chance to hatch. Even without an advisor, this gives applicants access to important stuff, like discussion with other like-minded individuals who are also reviewing the same materials. That's huge.
- hvass 8y agoWell done.
- cetico 8y agoIs there a way for companies to tell if they are on the Advisory Track, besides the emails? That's totally OK, mistakes happen, but I'm not sure what the emails say. If startupschool.org perhaps had the final status (advisory track or not), that would be super helpful.
- chrischoy 8y agoI got the rejection email first then acceptance email. Regardless of those emails, I am actually happier now cause everyone is getting in so that this startup community is bigger. I think it's hard to decide which companies can be in, but I know everyone is working so hard for their startup. So, everyone being accepted is the best outcome I want to see. Good job YC! Looking forward to exchanging ideas and getting advice from everyone!
- phoenix24 8y agowow, this should be fun.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- iphoneman123 8y agoDo all 15,000 still get AWS / Digital Ocean credits? Or is that only reserved for the 100 selected companies?
- snowmaker 8y agoWe're working hard to renegotiate the credits with the companies offering them. We'll definitely be able to offer some credits to all 15,000 companies but we're not sure exactly which ones yet.
- iphoneman123 8y agoThank you! I was one of the ones who got the second email, and I really appreciate the integrity YC has shown. Lot of respect for you all.
- maz1b 8y ago1. Is it possible to find out why a startup was (initially) placed in the audit track? 2. Does this mean all startups will get access to benefits such as DO, AWS? And the chance to win $10k? Rollercoaster of emotions, but thanks to the YC team for handling this well!
- snowmaker 8y agoYep, everyone will be eligible for the $10K equity free grant (on an equal playing field). We're talking to our partner companies and working hard on securing access to credits for all 15,000 companies. You'll definitely get a lot of credits and we're going to make it as close to the original list as we can.
- swamiyeswanth 8y agoClassic "It's not a bug, it's a feature" scenario :) Amazing move, SS!
- BoardSpeak 8y agoThank you!!!
- dotBen 8y agoHow can we volunteer to advise groups who didn't get an existing advisor?
- r_singh 8y agoInteresting question. Now that the forum is going to be open to all applicants, I guess you (and others like you) can post some information about yourself and how you can help what kind of startups and how many. And then startups can choose whether they'd like you and / or can get you to be their advisor.
- dotBen 8y agoI don't believe I have access to the forum - I think you had to apply to startup school... which is why I'm asking YC if they have a plan here for this!
- r_singh 8y agoYeah, it didn't occur to me that you weren't an applicant, sorry. Sounds like something YC or Startup School applicants could do something about. Although, realistically speaking, YC may not have anything to gain from connecting the rest of the students to outside advisors, keeping in mind that this would require some effort. This may be something the students will have to do themselves, using the forum as a place to coordinate.
- dreammaker 8y agoThere are 11000/25 = 440 'new-way' accepted groups in, а lot of us want to be advised. :)
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- contingencies 8y agoI only received this email, and no other rejection or acceptance email. We are deeply sorry, but an error occurred in the software that triggers acceptance emails and you were actually supposed to receive the email below accepting you into the Startup School Advisor Track. I guess that means, unlike the apparent screwup narrative for others here, we were actually accepted and really did make the cut.
- dang 8y agoIt sounds like it, but it's odd that you didn't receive the prior incorrect email. Have you checked your spam bin?
- contingencies 8y agoYep, not there. Probably GMail's fault not yours, it's been randomly dropping emails recently (have same addresses since 1990s ... heaps of spam .. apparently exceeded daily limits for free GMail tier) so I am in the process of attempting migration to Fastmail. Unfortunately they don't allow Chinese phone numbers to sign up, and their SMS never arrives at my HK number, sigh. Nothing ever easy.
- pacavaca 8y agoLet's see what they do for the real YC W19 :D
- SpeckOfDust 8y agoSo were all companies that applied accepted onto the Advisor Track? Or are the Advisor Track companies a subset of the 15k companies that applied? If so, what are the numbers like?
- snowmaker 8y agoWe mostly removed the differences between the tracks. Everyone is part of the same community. About 4,000 companies will be explicitly assigned an advisor. The other 11,000 companies won't have a dedicated advisor, but the advisors (and YC employees) will participate in the discussion forums with them. Everything else will be the same.
- SpeckOfDust 8y agoGot it. Thanks for clearing it up :)
- dimasf 8y agobesides having an advisor, is there any difference between those who were supposed to be accepted originally vs the rejected ones?
- dang 8y agoLooks like Jared answered this here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17807241 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17807241
- PatriciaR 8y ago"FUCK IT! WE'LL DO IT LIVE!" In all seriousness, great decision. Well done YC.
- ajiang 8y agoStartup School Battle Royale. Love it. Way to handle a really messy, potentially embarrassing situation. I feel for all of the founders that broke good news and then had to break bad. 10x more painful than just saying 'oh well' and moving on. I wouldn't be surprised if this becomes one of the best mistakes YC has ever made.
- Ch3ck 8y agoHere is a slack channel I created to keep all interested entrepeneurs connected and share our experiences. Feel free to join here: https://join.slack.com/t/startupschool18/shared_invite/enQtNDIxNTA5NTI0MzU4LTg5NTgyZDNlODEwYWYzODNmOGFhYjkxY2NiYTRhNDgxYjk1NDY4NjYyNjJhY2Y5ZDhhM2FhNTY3NWYxMDk2NzU https://join.slack.com/t/startupschool18/shared_invite/enQtN...
- peter_retief 8y agoProbably not really a mistake at all, the ss is a remarkably ambitious project as it is
- sanjanamane 8y agoI got a rejected email first and then I got the accepted email with an apology. So I am assuming I was among the originally accepted startups, now since everyone is going to be accepted, the originally accepted startups will have a disadvantage and will we still get an advisor? The thing to rejoice is being accepted out of a pool of competition but now since everyone is accepted, its just something usual.
- r_singh 8y agoDoes your email say you're accepted to the advisor track? That's how you know if you will be a part of a group that gets an advisor.
- sanjanamane 8y agoYes, it says I am in the advisor track but now since everyone is in the advisor track, I am expecting it to change?
- r_singh 8y agoNot everyone is in the advisor track. About 4000 out of the 15000 are in it—is what some of the comments are saying. The applicants that were initially erroneously accepted and then rejected are in something like an audit track, except they will have access to the forums and will stand a chance to compete for the $10k (I think). Hope that clears your doubt. Congrats! Are you a founder based in India? (just taking a wild guess from your username and time zone activity, asking because I'm from Mumbai, got accepted to the advisor track and would love to connect with my peers from Startup School as well!)
- throwmeoutoft11 8y agoUnpopular opinion here. The value of startupschool (as a previous graduate) is the individual attention we got from a hand selected instructor. I know yc screwed up with the emails, and their response was to please those that they have misled, accidentally of course. But I think they also devalued the class. It's gonna be much harder to offer the quality attention of the past. I think the right thing they should have done, which is harder, was for yc to apologize for their mistake and move on. I know it sucked for those who were selected then deselected, but if you are a startup owner you need to be prepared to be rejected, cause someone will reject you. I don't know what criteria startupschool goes through to select a company, but I think they must have seen something unique in those four thousands. I do congratulate them for this decision still because obviously the influx of students is gonna be a great challenge to surmount.
- fastball 8y agoMany companies are still on the advisor track and get that advisor. If you don't find any value without an instructor, then you don't need to participate, but the course material is still there if you want it. Seems like a no-lose to me.
- threeseed 8y agoWell technically there is a loss for those on the advisor track. Because you are now competing with 15K teams for the 100 sponsorship spots instead of 4K. But to be honest I don't think it would make all that much of a difference. The top 100 companies will deserve their spot regardless of the competition.
- samatman 8y agoYou already were competing with 15K teams. They're skipping the step where they eliminate the 11K which the advisor-tier have already beaten once. This will affect the odds of winning, but by how much? I guess we're going to find out when we see the final ratio of advised/unadvised startups who win sponsorship.
- 8y ago
- r_singh 8y agoI received a rejection mail at 02:15am IST and then an acceptance mail (saying I should've received it in the first place) around 2 hours later for the 'advisor track'. Making me wonder how many tracks are there? And what's the difference between them? There seems to be no mention about the track in this blog post.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- aliakhtar 8y agoWe have a slack group of people who previously didn't get in but are now in, feel free to join: https://join.slack.com/t/startupschool-rejects/shared_invite/enQtNDE5NTM5ODUxNjY1LTIxOGNhMDA3NGI0NjdlNjU5MWU1MWYxYjc5OTNmN2RjMDRmNmIwM2EyYmU3NjllZGZhOWE0ZWEyZDA1Y2Q3MDg https://join.slack.com/t/startupschool-rejects/shared_invite...
- aliakhtar 8y ago(I.e those who got accepted, then rejected, and are now accepted again. I.e, Team 2nd chance!)
- anonytrary 8y agoTo send an email. Every mistake is an opportunity to learn something new! Hope this motivates the startups even more.
- L_226 8y agoWas this all just a PR stunt? /tinfoil
- r_singh 8y agoPretty sure it wasn't because a lot of originally accepted startups received the rejection email and to be honest it's slightly embarrassing to make such a mistake. However, saying that we're "accepting" all applicants does seem to be an attempt to turn this mistake into something positive, when all that's really changing is that all the applicants get forum access, whereas, only the originally accepted startups still get an advisor (as a part of a group).
- dang 8y agoAny stunt that painful would not feel like much of a stunt. No, it was quite real.
- ai_ia 8y agoI woke up to check my email. I was accepted, then rejected and then again accepted. Nonetheless, will be looking forward to see you guys.
- nodesocket 8y agoAren't the partners that provided exclusive discounts going to be upset about this? Seems to be fueling the extreme frugal ideology that hosting is an entitlement and free. Reminders me of tee-ball everybody gets a participation trophy, yet in the real world of business it does not work like that. > EXCLUSIVE DEALS Cut startup costs and get discounts from the best in the business (Stripe, Digital Ocean, Amazon Web Services, and more).
- dang 8y agoPresumably the benefit they get from providing discounts to 4k companies will apply as much or more with 15k? It remains to be seen if they'll go for it, but people here are going to try. The participation trophy analogy doesn't really hold because being open to all startups was what the original planners of Startup School (including pg, Sam, and others) really wanted to do. This forced things back in that direction, which hopefully we'll all be grateful for in the end.
- tenfold 8y agoI was originally accepted and then got the second mail about the mistake and it being opened up. This may sound sour but it’s just some honest feedback, even if it’s bitter to swallow. For an accelerator that prides itself on grooming some of the world’s best in technology this is a trivially amateur mistake that just shouldn’t have happened. There should have been a double check process for the notifications. Any other company would have been lynched on HN. Saying you’re opening it up is a popular response but talk is cheap. It’s easy to make it sound like it’s a better thing but the reality is it’s a devalued experience for those originally chosen. Both in terms of advisor bandwidth and the quality signalling of being selected. Any company who partakes in this course is now not considered special at all. YC took the easy road and sold out a pound of their credibility for that but that’s their prerogative. So I won’t be participating because of this as time is precious and it’s no longer worth it for where I’m at but good luck to the others who still do. Respect to everyone who breaks out of the conventional lanes to try and make the world a better and more exciting place.
- soyapi 8y agoThe deserving 4,000 startups are not getting a devalued experience. They will still have an advisor in groups of 25 startups. The remaining ~11,000 won't have an advisor (at least not yet). And innovators always make mistakes. YC has actually admitted to being "always slightly broken" https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/14/y-combinator-is-zeroing-in-on-bigger-breakaway-companies-with-a-new-growth-stage-program/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/14/y-combinator-is-zeroing-in...
- embalam 8y agoI share your sentiments. everyone is in takes out the juice from the whole thing.
- t0nyh0 8y agoThis is great news! Thanks YC for making things more accessible for everyone. Can't wait to get started.
- leon_moodley 8y agoI've just been catching up on mails at like 2.30am and I also received the initial acceptance and then the decline. I must admit that I didn't take the rejection as personally as some might have. This is a norm in startup life. Whilst I am thankful that everyone was accepted into the program, what would have been of great value to me was understanding why I wasn't accepted, learning from that feedback and applying again. Given the amount of competition in the tech space its nice to know what your shortcomings are. I think perhaps in the next batch there could be some scoring criteria perhaps. I assume that if X amount of people are shortlisted there was some sort of acceptance criteria and someone experienced rated your pitch anyway ? Big up to y combinator for owning up to the mistake made. Many other organizations would have just moved on.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- allanmacgregor 8y agoAs someone that is now in the Team 2nd Chance, this has been a fun emotional rollercoaster. Two great lessons can be taken from this experience, first for those that got accepted, then rejected then accepted; dealing with rejection is an essential part of a startup or any business, shit happens and is how to deal with it that makes or breaks companies. Second, YC just thought a masterclass on how to handle mistakes and how to fail forward. A mistake turned into an opportunity for them and the 11,000 people that got rejected. Looking forward to be learning side by side with y'all!
- mindcrime 8y agoThere's another lesson in this as well: There's still a group of people who aren't in this class... the people who didn't even apply in the first place. How many people were either too lazy to fill out the application, or thought "we won't get in, why bother", etc, who arguably would now be benefiting from this had they applied? To me this is a good example of how, while you can't literally "make your own luck", you can make decisions that put you in a position to benefit from fortuitous events. (For the same of argument, let's assume that getting in to SS, even as one of the 15,000+ is still beneficial). "You have to enter to win" as they say.
- 1996 8y agoor alternatively, thought that the value to be gained from this was lower that the next best use of their time? 10 grands at best, no mentoring - a consulting gig is worth more in money and experience.
- wj 8y agoThe email mentions organizing groups by yourself. My initial thought is that a group of startups in the same industry would be the most beneficial but maybe the cross-pollination from a wide-range on industries in a group would yield different viewpoints and better results in the long run. Any tips on organizing groups?
- RoastBeats 8y agoAm I the only cynic who wonders if the original “mistake” was fabricated? It doesn’t really cost YC anything extra, they get lots of good press and praise, and ultimately they wind up with an even fatter pipeline of companies they can select from. Win, win, win situation as far as they’re concerned.
- dang 8y agoI hate to ruin a good theory but it wasn't fabricated. People were genuinely upset, including all of us. I guess it's worth a cheer if the outcome was so good that anybody would be wondering if it was staged... but you'd have to be insane to stage something like that. Nobody sane would play that game with their reputation.
- xenator 8y agoFor Russian speaking attendees, we made Telegram channel. Please join if you want to share your progress and enthusiasm: https://t.me/joinchat/ATOCuBDWgp3s7S7y7rOQrw https://t.me/joinchat/ATOCuBDWgp3s7S7y7rOQrw RUS: Мы создали канал в Телеграме для общения и обмена опытом среди русскоязычных слушателей курса. Добавляйтесь и приглашайте своих друзей https://t.me/joinchat/ATOCuBDWgp3s7S7y7rOQrw https://t.me/joinchat/ATOCuBDWgp3s7S7y7rOQrw
- oddworldz 8y agothis link isn't working, maybe there is some typo in the id?
- yatoomy 8y agohttps://imgflip.com/i/2g9y7k https://imgflip.com/i/2g9y7k
- arxpoetica 8y agoYesssss.
- sbussard 8y agoDang this is really cool! This is an act of faith on YC's part - they believe in us. If nothing else, I think this is a great culture-shaping move that should help bring what makes Silicon Valley special out into the rest of the world.
- vardhankoshal 8y agoSo the folks who got the advisor track already started getting access to tools. Anyone without the advisor track who got access?
- chaask 8y agoI am from the advisor track. What tools are you talking about.
- titojankowski 8y agoAnyone founders want to join our study group in San Mateo? email me: tito@impossiblelabs.io
- allenleein 8y agoStartup School may have the potential to become another HN-like community(But focus on very early stage startup founder).
- xmly 8y agoI first got the rejected, then acceptance yesterday. For me the feeling is that, hurry up, a lot of works needs to be done to "win" 10k grant since we have so much more "competitions". Also a network of 15K founders would be very very helpful, especially for the company providing services for small startups like us. So let us forget about what happened and focus on providing the best product to our customers. Without product and customers, your journey is not started yet.
- xmly 8y agoFor wechat users... the wechat group qr code: https://goo.gl/wAmQ4F https://goo.gl/wAmQ4F
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- zilongli 8y agoSo, has anyone received instructions on how to access the private community and courseware?
- scottydelta 8y agoI had access to a group page where I could see companies in same group but now its returning 404.
- vardhanw 8y agoThose who registered for the audit track only, did you get any confirmation mail? I seem to not have got any and am unable to sign-in. I wanted to change to advisor track later but was already late - there was a "Get content updates" button/form which I duely filled, but still no email. Is there no login for audit track? Will the content be shared later for all? Is there any use of signing up for audit track?