14 ms·

Ask HN: YC misses that went on to do well (like veed.io)

81 points by arunsivadasan 4y ago

Its quite possible that even YC would miss a few good founders. One that I came across recently was veed.io. They have raised 35 million in funding from Sequoia. What other startups that YC rejected went on to do well?

aranibatta 4y ago
Fairly sure that Notion and Roam are both YC rejections. While Roam isn't quite at the same level, Notion is a healthy business at venture scale, a meaningful miss to the YC portfolio.
- pyb 4y ago
  Do you have a source for Notion?
  - evanfarrell 4y ago
    i don’t personally have anything in writing, but i had lunch with the notion founders in 2019 and they mentioned they got rejected by YC when notion was “more of a research tool”
nathanyz 4y ago
My guess is that a bunch of startups that have gone on to do well and were rejected aren't broadcasting that around. Too many other priorities to deal with when things are succeeding and no reason to create any negative feelings about being rejected by YC. Just think about this. Every successful startup was rejected by some VC. It is par for the course and not really a big deal if you are winning.
- mhluongo 4y ago
  I think it's useful to hear the stories. When you're a 1-3 person startup early stage rejection is harder to get over, and it helps to know others have succeeded regardless.
  - fillskills 4y ago
    YC reject here. Created a B2C company doing 5M/month revenue in 4 years. Exited. Applied with second company to YC (B2B), rejected again. Hoping to grow it bigger than last time.
    - ignoramous 4y ago
      50M+ ARR is insane! Congratulations on the exit, btw.
    - bluelightning2k 4y ago
      Congratulations on your success. What was the business
    - KBeyo 4y ago
      Hi, I’m also really interested in scalable projects that are focused on environmental and social amelioration. Please email me (in profile) if you’d like to connect.
    - graderjs 4y ago
      Were you not from the states? Are you a solo founder? Are you not "politically" aligned with California? I'm just wondering how can they reject someone of this calibre. Even if your application was different to your eventual success, a mantra is "we invest in people, not ideas".
  - joshmanders 4y ago
    You really don't need YC rejects to validate that being rejected by YC isn't a death sentence. 90% of all startups that are successful have done it without YC. Many have done it without any VC.
    - mhluongo 4y ago
      Of course! But it doesn't hurt. In my founder "generation" at least, many of us got excited and felt heard reading PG's old blog posts. A YC rejection can feel more personal when you've lionized them for years.
- neojebfkekeej 4y ago
  There’s also a lot of YC companies that failed to gain traction. This is also seldom talked about
  - ignoramous 4y ago
    Some don't even feature on https://ycombinator.com/companies https://ycombinator.com/companies
mhluongo 4y ago
I co-founded Fold [0], which went on to raise a $13M Series A from Craft and has some pretty incredible numbers. We were rejected a few times, one after a pretty spicy in-person interview where one of the partners told me to "have fun in jail" because we dared to mess with Bitcoin while the US regulatory system worked itself out. The parent company became Thesis, a venture studio where we raised a $21M Series A, and have incubated a few more projects (Keep, tBTC, Saddle, Tally). A friend's company, Wyre, was rejected. They ended up being acquired for 1.5B [1]. It would've been nice to do YC in 2013/14. From what I've heard from other founders, I'm not sure the value today is nearly so high. [0] - https://foldapp.com https://foldapp.com [1] - https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-startup-wyre-being-acquired-by-payments-company-bolt-for-1-5-billion-11649325602 https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-startup-wyre-being-acqui...
- NetOpWibby 4y ago
  Haha, “have fun in jail”?! Sheesh. Interesting anecdote about today’s value add. I wonder why?
- jonathan-adly 4y ago
  That’s rich, considering that last year they funded a literal ponzi running on Luna lol where the founders are probably going to jail. Good job on fold by the way - I am a user and it’s great!
  - 55555 4y ago
    They FOMO'd in.
- arunsivadasan 4y ago
  You should blog about this "have fun in jail" incident
  - mhluongo 4y ago
    Ah, live and learn. Fun to share here, but as another commenter pointed out I don't want to spend too much time on it or burn bridges. They did great with Coinbase, but by and large missed crypto due to that attitude. Maybe they'll reflect on that now that Garry is back.
endisneigh 4y ago
Funding is not success.
- purim 4y ago
  Came here to point this out. I've seen many cash flow positive strong businesses end up in the hands of VCs by raising money. Remember that when you raise money and you don't hit "KPI" or any goalpost that can be manipulated and moved, you are gambling. In the age of cheap capital, this might have been an attainable goal: Raise money, pump valuation and dump on retail. If not, get acquired by another startup unicorn. That is no longer the case. Many startups are going to run out of capital and not only is IPO out of the picture in 2023 and beyond, the "failacquired" is just going to be straight up "shut down" when they can't find buyers. I saw this happening heading towards 2018 briefly and I am seeing even more number of desperate startup founders who turned their cash positive business into a cash negative by raising money. It always puzzled me why startups were being told to lose money to grow quickly and its made me uneasy knowing that when the tide goes out, it does so rapidly.
- spaceman_2020 4y ago
  In the last 2-3 years, it certainly seems to now equal “success”. Founders at least are offloading so much equity in every round that every raise essentially becomes an “exit”. I’m very surprised by this change. When I first started in this world, it wad drilled into my head that founder equity must be controlled at all costs. But now, the prevailing wisdom seems to be to sell off as much as you can with every round.
  - purim 4y ago
    Basically we are at the Ponzi finance stage and approaching a Minsky moment. By participating in this destructive greed driven financial system, nothing new is created, the world isn't any better. It will take some time but there's a side of this coin that nobody with money likes to talk about, its the slow realization that your material attainment creates a cycle of apathy and that you have an impact on the world that you've squandered ultimately in the vain chase of exuberance. You try to get over this feeling of emptiness by doing a variety of things but because you are so comfortable you can't find a way to undo it. Many fall into addictions, sex, drugs, purchases but its fleeting and you hit a wall. With all the money and comforts in the world an outsider would be puzzled but this is the burden of haves. While it isn't quite the same as have nots, its of the same pedigree. Everybody chases what everybody else is chasing without realizing what it is they are chasing. This is the type of conversations we avoid. We don't stop, pause, and collective question what we do is correct. No there's no trickle down effect either. It's the other way around and I've seen many successful people destroy their lives once they let wealth get to their heads.
ak_111 4y ago
You can tell that being rejected by YC isn't that strong indicator for success given the number of YC startups who have been public about having only got into YC in their third or even fourth attempt. In my book that is equivalent to being rejected, and YC only accepted them after they basically made it. YC is also very public that a significant number of every batch have been rejected a couple of times. So basically being rejected by YC is not even a strong indicator that you won't be a YC success.
- NetOpWibby 4y ago
  Yeah I don’t see the point in applying anymore (I’ve applied twice). Why bother? I found a bunch of “first check” VCs but out of the ~30 I contacted, only 4 responded with some level of, “Ahh, that market hasn’t been proven but keep in touch!” With YC it’s, “You didn’t get selected but keep trying!” The only need I have for VC money is freedom to work on my ideas full-time and continue to feed my family. I guess I’ll keep bootstrapping. A close friend once told me, “Rejection is protection and redirection.” (:
  - tthun 4y ago
    Do you have a handy list of first check VC’s that you can share ?
    - NetOpWibby 4y ago
      I'll have to go through my list but for now, here's a thread of VCs who don't require a warm intro: https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849 https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849
    - NetOpWibby 4y ago
      Went through my Pinboard to extract all these: - https://797capital.com/ https://797capital.com/ - https://www.indexventures.com/ https://www.indexventures.com/ - https://www.sparkcapital.com/ https://www.sparkcapital.com/ - https://www.hcp.com/ https://www.hcp.com/ - https://hvflabs.com/ https://hvflabs.com/ - https://www.republiccapital.co/ https://www.republiccapital.co/ - https://plus.vc/ https://plus.vc/ - https://www.rarebreed.vc/ https://www.rarebreed.vc/ - https://www.dragonfly.xyz/ https://www.dragonfly.xyz/ - https://macventurecapital.com/ https://macventurecapital.com/ - https://parafi.com/ https://parafi.com/ - https://www.chingona.ventures/ https://www.chingona.ventures/ - https://www.plexocap.com/ https://www.plexocap.com/ - https://lowercarboncapital.com/ https://lowercarboncapital.com/ - https://www.blckvc.org/ https://www.blckvc.org/ - https://www.gsr.io/ https://www.gsr.io/ - https://rbf.capital/ https://rbf.capital/ - https://www.allraise.org/ https://www.allraise.org/ - https://betaworksventures.com/ https://betaworksventures.com/ - https://www.gfrfund.com/ https://www.gfrfund.com/ - https://www.hustlefund.vc/ https://www.hustlefund.vc/ - https://www.atelierventures.co/ https://www.atelierventures.co/ - https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/ https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/ - https://www.nfx.com/ https://www.nfx.com/ - https://645ventures.com/ https://645ventures.com/ - https://backstagecapital.com/ https://backstagecapital.com/ - https://panteracapital.com/firm/ https://panteracapital.com/firm/ - https://femalefoundersfund.com/ https://femalefoundersfund.com/ - https://susaventures.com/ https://susaventures.com/ - https://atomic.vc/ https://atomic.vc/ - https://homebrew.co/ https://homebrew.co/ - https://www.cowboy.vc/ https://www.cowboy.vc/ - https://foundersfund.com/ https://foundersfund.com/ - https://www.kaporcapital.com/ https://www.kaporcapital.com/ - https://www.felicis.com/ https://www.felicis.com/ - https://www.cleocap.com/ https://www.cleocap.com/ - https://www.ggvc.com/ https://www.ggvc.com/ - https://www.haystack.vc/ https://www.haystack.vc/ - https://www.menlovc.com/ https://www.menlovc.com/ - https://www.battery.com/ https://www.battery.com/ - https://www.nea.com/ https://www.nea.com/ - https://www.greycroft.com/ https://www.greycroft.com/ - https://group.softbank/ https://group.softbank/ - https://twosigmaventures.com/ https://twosigmaventures.com/ - https://www.redpoint.com/ https://www.redpoint.com/ - https://www.angellist.com/ https://www.angellist.com/ - https://luxcapital.com/ https://luxcapital.com/ - https://lsvp.com/ https://lsvp.com/ - https://www.bvp.com/ https://www.bvp.com/ - https://upfront.com/ https://upfront.com/ - https://uncorkcapital.com/ https://uncorkcapital.com/ - https://greylock.com/ https://greylock.com/ - https://www.khoslaventures.com/ https://www.khoslaventures.com/ - https://www.accel.com/ https://www.accel.com/ - https://www.generalcatalyst.com/ https://www.generalcatalyst.com/ - https://www.gv.com/ https://www.gv.com/ - https://www.footwork.vc/ https://www.footwork.vc/ - https://www.flybridge.com/ https://www.flybridge.com/ - https://trueventures.com/ https://trueventures.com/ - https://www.socialcapital.com/ https://www.socialcapital.com/ - https://angel.co/unpopularvc/syndicate https://angel.co/unpopularvc/syndicate - https://vibe.vc/ https://vibe.vc/ - https://www.sahilbloom.com/fund https://www.sahilbloom.com/fund - https://www.untitledventures.xyz/ https://www.untitledventures.xyz/ - https://outsetcapital.com/ https://outsetcapital.com/ - https://www.breadandbutterventures.com/ https://www.breadandbutterventures.com/ - https://fiftyyears.com/ https://fiftyyears.com/ - https://precursorvc.com/ https://precursorvc.com/ - https://www.sterlingroad.com/ https://www.sterlingroad.com/ - https://www.laconiacapitalgroup.com/ https://www.laconiacapitalgroup.com/ - https://www.malaikaventures.com/ https://www.malaikaventures.com/ - https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849 https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849 - https://theopportunityfund.com/ https://theopportunityfund.com/ - https://www.january.ventures/ https://www.january.ventures/ - https://www.ganas.vc/ https://www.ganas.vc/ - https://www.lightship.capital/ https://www.lightship.capital/ - https://velocityincubator.com/ https://velocityincubator.com/ - https://www.barodaventures.com/ https://www.barodaventures.com/ - https://www.alchemy.com/ventures https://www.alchemy.com/ventures - https://panteracapital.com/ https://panteracapital.com/ - https://chapterone.com/ https://chapterone.com/ - https://www.at.inc/ https://www.at.inc/ - https://hyper.com/ https://hyper.com/ - https://www.afore.vc/ https://www.afore.vc/ - https://m13.co/ https://m13.co/ - https://www.adaptvc.co/ https://www.adaptvc.co/ - https://variant.fund/ https://variant.fund/ - https://www.bigbrain.holdings/ https://www.bigbrain.holdings/ - https://500.co/ https://500.co/ - https://hypersphere.ventures/ https://hypersphere.ventures/ - https://race.capital/ https://race.capital/ - https://www.visiblehands.vc/ https://www.visiblehands.vc/ - https://www.hashed.com/ https://www.hashed.com/ - https://www.newmancapital.com/ https://www.newmancapital.com/ - https://ngc.fund/ https://ngc.fund/ - https://kindredventures.com/ https://kindredventures.com/ - https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/ https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/ - https://elevate.vc/ https://elevate.vc/ - https://www.konvoy.vc/ https://www.konvoy.vc/ - https://baincapitalcrypto.com/ https://baincapitalcrypto.com/ - https://slow-prod.herokuapp.com/ https://slow-prod.herokuapp.com/ - https://blockchain.capital/ https://blockchain.capital/ - https://www.sequoiacap.cn/en https://www.sequoiacap.cn/en - https://india.sequoiacap.com/ https://india.sequoiacap.com/ - https://arc.sequoiacap.com/ https://arc.sequoiacap.com/ - https://www.sequoiacap.com/ https://www.sequoiacap.com/ - https://tobacapital.com/ https://tobacapital.com/ - https://twitter.com/susanfsu/status/1481332788859064322 https://twitter.com/susanfsu/status/1481332788859064322 - https://www.lererhippeau.com/ https://www.lererhippeau.com/ - https://www.cooleygo.com/what-you-should-know-about-safes/ https://www.cooleygo.com/what-you-should-know-about-safes/ - https://amentum.org/ https://amentum.org/ - https://www.shrug.vc/ https://www.shrug.vc/ - https://www.operatorlps.com/ https://www.operatorlps.com/ - https://chapterone.com/en/ https://chapterone.com/en/ - https://www.weekend.fund/ https://www.weekend.fund/ - https://www.bananacapital.vc/ https://www.bananacapital.vc/ - https://www.marcyvp.com/ https://www.marcyvp.com/ - https://www.openvc.app/ https://www.openvc.app/ - https://www.overlookedventures.com/ https://www.overlookedventures.com/ - https://tychepartners.com/ https://tychepartners.com/ - https://www.bbgventures.com/ https://www.bbgventures.com/ - https://kickstartfund.com/ https://kickstartfund.com/ - https://www.realistventures.com/ https://www.realistventures.com/ - https://www.worklife.vc/ https://www.worklife.vc/ - https://feld.com/archives/2006/02/why-most-vcs-dont-sign-ndas/ https://feld.com/archives/2006/02/why-most-vcs-dont-sign-nda... - https://angeltrack.firstround.com/ https://angeltrack.firstround.com/ - https://www.allvuesystems.com/ https://www.allvuesystems.com/ - https://firstround.com/ https://firstround.com/ - https://a16z.com/ https://a16z.com/ - https://forerunnerventures.com/ https://forerunnerventures.com/ - https://www.pjc.vc/ https://www.pjc.vc/ - https://harlem.capital/ https://harlem.capital/ - https://brandfoundry.com/ https://brandfoundry.com/ - https://montageventures.com/ https://montageventures.com/ - https://www.ubiquity.vc/ https://www.ubiquity.vc/ - https://imaginary.co/ https://imaginary.co/ - https://www.nycfounderguide.com/ https://www.nycfounderguide.com/ - https://www.maveron.com/ https://www.maveron.com/ - https://www.forerunnerventures.com/ https://www.forerunnerventures.com/ - https://www.primary.vc/ https://www.primary.vc/ - https://apx.vc/ https://apx.vc/ - https://fifthwall.com/ https://fifthwall.com/ - https://formcapital.com/ https://formcapital.com/ - https://www.noemisventures.com/ https://www.noemisventures.com/ - https://www.reachcapital.com/ https://www.reachcapital.com/ - https://torchcapital.vc/ https://torchcapital.vc/ - https://www.designerfund.com/ https://www.designerfund.com/ - https://framework.ventures/ https://framework.ventures/ - https://www.usv.com/ https://www.usv.com/ - https://www.pear.vc/ https://www.pear.vc/ - https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ - https://initialized.com/ https://initialized.com/ - https://www.expa.com/ https://www.expa.com/ - https://www.serenaventures.com/ https://www.serenaventures.com/ They aren't all "first-check" VCs, just every VC I've bookmarked.
edouard-harris 4y ago
SendGrid (acquired by Twilio for $2B [1]) famously had their application rejected, and their later success caused YC to update its selection process. From this Quora answer [2]: > Apparently, only one partner, Robert Morris, reviewed the SendGrid application, and he gave it a highly negative score, calling it a "spam company." That pushed it so far down the application queue that no other partner reviewed it. Paul talks about how they changed the application process after that so that any applications negatively scored by Robert would also get reviewed by Paul. (Interestingly, venture returns skew so highly to big winners that SendGrid's objectively huge outcome would not even have had a material impact on YC's current portfolio value of nearly $1T [3]. I'm not aware of any current $10B+ companies that were rejected by YC, though there may be some.) [1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/twilio-to-acquire-email-api-platform-sendgrid-for-2-billion/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/twilio-to-acquire-email-api-pl... [2] https://www.quora.com/Why-was-SendGrid-rejected-from-YCombinator/answer/Brian-Chu-2 https://www.quora.com/Why-was-SendGrid-rejected-from-YCombin... [3] https://www.ycombinator.com/ https://www.ycombinator.com/
- Xx25 4y ago
  > YC's current portfolio value of nearly $1T I don't think you mean portfolio value. That would mean YC actually owns $1T in the companies they funded, at their current valuation. The following on YC front page is more meaningful: "Our companies have a combined valuation nearing $1T."
  - edouard-harris 4y ago
    Yes, the combined valuation number you cited is the one I was referring to. You're right that it's not correct to call this "portfolio value"; thanks for pointing out the mistake. (But it is still the correct number to compare SendGrid's $2B exit value to.)
- colordrops 4y ago
  > calling it a "spam company" Was he wrong? Honest question. Looking at their homepage I'm guessing a good portion of unsolicited emails in my inbox went through SendGrid.
threeseed 4y ago
SendGrid. LaunchDarkly. Dropbox was rejected first time around. And I would take a guess Bolt probably got rejected.
pyb 4y ago
Dune Analytics, Udemy, Metamask
- NetOpWibby 4y ago
  Wow, all three are huge!
- arunsivadasan 4y ago
  I had no idea Udemy was rejected! I know so many people in my circle who use Udemy
andsoitis 4y ago
How much revenue and earnings does veed.io make?
nkotov 4y ago
Raising money doesn't indicate success.
remote_phone 4y ago
What percentage of YC companies fail to take off?
mtmail 4y ago
12 month ago "Growing Veed.io from $0 to $5 million ARR in 2 years" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYS3QKJHUDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYS3QKJHUDM YC is mentioned at timestamp https://youtu.be/pYS3QKJHUDM?t=715 https://youtu.be/pYS3QKJHUDM?t=715 I attended the talk. The founder said they'll grow organically and won't need any VC money. I can't find the sections are not in the youtube video (missing minutes?). So I'm interested why the founder changed his opinion.
- dceddia 4y ago
  They wrote a post about their thoughts on this and why they raised money even though they were profitable: https://www.veed.io/blog/raising-series-a/ https://www.veed.io/blog/raising-series-a/
  - NetOpWibby 4y ago
    Ah, so they raised money for more stability for their growing team and so they won't have to focus so much on revenue. Seems like Sequoia's a great fit for them. The way they broke down the traditional venture path with YC was eye-opening. Lots of divvying up the pie.
lovek3292 4y ago
[dead]
aranibatta 4y ago
Fairly sure Roam and Notion are both rejected. While Roam isn't there yet, Notion is a very healthy business at venture scale.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
maccaw 4y ago
I was rejected with clearbit.com Was told the business required a degree of enterprise sales that my skills weren't suited for. It's now worth $350m (on paper at least). That said, no hard feelings. They see so many applications - they're bound to make the wrong decision time to time.
- 55555 4y ago
  Congrats! You've killed it.
- ignoramous 4y ago
  > ...the business required a degree of enterprise sales that my skills weren't suited for. 10mins isn't enough time and their judgement is likely to be off (it is also mostly also down to the interviewee / founders to sell themselves in whatever time they have). I've heard this similar "no skill" story before from another start-up (which isn't doing as good... yet). > It's now worth $350m (on paper at least). YC's bar is $10b exits. I hope you get there!
- bot41 4y ago
  Looks like clearbit is "just" a broad services company. I thought YC invests in more specific products/services like dropbox or airbnb. (I don't think there's anything wrong with clearbit just to be clear)

81 points by arunsivadasan 4y ago

aranibatta 4y ago

Fairly sure that Notion and Roam are both YC rejections. While Roam isn't quite at the same level, Notion is a healthy business at venture scale, a meaningful miss to the YC portfolio.

pyb 4y ago
Do you have a source for Notion?
- evanfarrell 4y ago
  i don’t personally have anything in writing, but i had lunch with the notion founders in 2019 and they mentioned they got rejected by YC when notion was “more of a research tool”

nathanyz 4y ago

My guess is that a bunch of startups that have gone on to do well and were rejected aren't broadcasting that around. Too many other priorities to deal with when things are succeeding and no reason to create any negative feelings about being rejected by YC. Just think about this. Every successful startup was rejected by some VC. It is par for the course and not really a big deal if you are winning.

mhluongo 4y ago
I think it's useful to hear the stories. When you're a 1-3 person startup early stage rejection is harder to get over, and it helps to know others have succeeded regardless.
- fillskills 4y ago
  YC reject here. Created a B2C company doing 5M/month revenue in 4 years. Exited. Applied with second company to YC (B2B), rejected again. Hoping to grow it bigger than last time.
  - ignoramous 4y ago
    50M+ ARR is insane! Congratulations on the exit, btw.
  - bluelightning2k 4y ago
    Congratulations on your success. What was the business
  - KBeyo 4y ago
    Hi, I’m also really interested in scalable projects that are focused on environmental and social amelioration. Please email me (in profile) if you’d like to connect.
  - graderjs 4y ago
    Were you not from the states? Are you a solo founder? Are you not "politically" aligned with California? I'm just wondering how can they reject someone of this calibre. Even if your application was different to your eventual success, a mantra is "we invest in people, not ideas".
- joshmanders 4y ago
  You really don't need YC rejects to validate that being rejected by YC isn't a death sentence. 90% of all startups that are successful have done it without YC. Many have done it without any VC.
  - mhluongo 4y ago
    Of course! But it doesn't hurt. In my founder "generation" at least, many of us got excited and felt heard reading PG's old blog posts. A YC rejection can feel more personal when you've lionized them for years.
neojebfkekeej 4y ago
There’s also a lot of YC companies that failed to gain traction. This is also seldom talked about
- ignoramous 4y ago
  Some don't even feature on https://ycombinator.com/companies https://ycombinator.com/companies

mhluongo 4y ago

I co-founded Fold [0], which went on to raise a $13M Series A from Craft and has some pretty incredible numbers. We were rejected a few times, one after a pretty spicy in-person interview where one of the partners told me to "have fun in jail" because we dared to mess with Bitcoin while the US regulatory system worked itself out. The parent company became Thesis, a venture studio where we raised a $21M Series A, and have incubated a few more projects (Keep, tBTC, Saddle, Tally). A friend's company, Wyre, was rejected. They ended up being acquired for 1.5B [1]. It would've been nice to do YC in 2013/14. From what I've heard from other founders, I'm not sure the value today is nearly so high. [0] - https://foldapp.com https://foldapp.com [1] - https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-startup-wyre-being-acquired-by-payments-company-bolt-for-1-5-billion-11649325602 https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-startup-wyre-being-acqui...

NetOpWibby 4y ago
Haha, “have fun in jail”?! Sheesh. Interesting anecdote about today’s value add. I wonder why?
jonathan-adly 4y ago
That’s rich, considering that last year they funded a literal ponzi running on Luna lol where the founders are probably going to jail. Good job on fold by the way - I am a user and it’s great!
- 55555 4y ago
  They FOMO'd in.
arunsivadasan 4y ago
You should blog about this "have fun in jail" incident
- mhluongo 4y ago
  Ah, live and learn. Fun to share here, but as another commenter pointed out I don't want to spend too much time on it or burn bridges. They did great with Coinbase, but by and large missed crypto due to that attitude. Maybe they'll reflect on that now that Garry is back.

endisneigh 4y ago

Funding is not success.

purim 4y ago
Came here to point this out. I've seen many cash flow positive strong businesses end up in the hands of VCs by raising money. Remember that when you raise money and you don't hit "KPI" or any goalpost that can be manipulated and moved, you are gambling. In the age of cheap capital, this might have been an attainable goal: Raise money, pump valuation and dump on retail. If not, get acquired by another startup unicorn. That is no longer the case. Many startups are going to run out of capital and not only is IPO out of the picture in 2023 and beyond, the "failacquired" is just going to be straight up "shut down" when they can't find buyers. I saw this happening heading towards 2018 briefly and I am seeing even more number of desperate startup founders who turned their cash positive business into a cash negative by raising money. It always puzzled me why startups were being told to lose money to grow quickly and its made me uneasy knowing that when the tide goes out, it does so rapidly.
spaceman_2020 4y ago
In the last 2-3 years, it certainly seems to now equal “success”. Founders at least are offloading so much equity in every round that every raise essentially becomes an “exit”. I’m very surprised by this change. When I first started in this world, it wad drilled into my head that founder equity must be controlled at all costs. But now, the prevailing wisdom seems to be to sell off as much as you can with every round.
- purim 4y ago
  Basically we are at the Ponzi finance stage and approaching a Minsky moment. By participating in this destructive greed driven financial system, nothing new is created, the world isn't any better. It will take some time but there's a side of this coin that nobody with money likes to talk about, its the slow realization that your material attainment creates a cycle of apathy and that you have an impact on the world that you've squandered ultimately in the vain chase of exuberance. You try to get over this feeling of emptiness by doing a variety of things but because you are so comfortable you can't find a way to undo it. Many fall into addictions, sex, drugs, purchases but its fleeting and you hit a wall. With all the money and comforts in the world an outsider would be puzzled but this is the burden of haves. While it isn't quite the same as have nots, its of the same pedigree. Everybody chases what everybody else is chasing without realizing what it is they are chasing. This is the type of conversations we avoid. We don't stop, pause, and collective question what we do is correct. No there's no trickle down effect either. It's the other way around and I've seen many successful people destroy their lives once they let wealth get to their heads.

ak_111 4y ago

You can tell that being rejected by YC isn't that strong indicator for success given the number of YC startups who have been public about having only got into YC in their third or even fourth attempt. In my book that is equivalent to being rejected, and YC only accepted them after they basically made it. YC is also very public that a significant number of every batch have been rejected a couple of times. So basically being rejected by YC is not even a strong indicator that you won't be a YC success.

NetOpWibby 4y ago
Yeah I don’t see the point in applying anymore (I’ve applied twice). Why bother? I found a bunch of “first check” VCs but out of the ~30 I contacted, only 4 responded with some level of, “Ahh, that market hasn’t been proven but keep in touch!” With YC it’s, “You didn’t get selected but keep trying!” The only need I have for VC money is freedom to work on my ideas full-time and continue to feed my family. I guess I’ll keep bootstrapping. A close friend once told me, “Rejection is protection and redirection.” (:
- tthun 4y ago
  Do you have a handy list of first check VC’s that you can share ?
  - NetOpWibby 4y ago
    I'll have to go through my list but for now, here's a thread of VCs who don't require a warm intro: https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849 https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849
  - NetOpWibby 4y ago
    Went through my Pinboard to extract all these: - https://797capital.com/ https://797capital.com/ - https://www.indexventures.com/ https://www.indexventures.com/ - https://www.sparkcapital.com/ https://www.sparkcapital.com/ - https://www.hcp.com/ https://www.hcp.com/ - https://hvflabs.com/ https://hvflabs.com/ - https://www.republiccapital.co/ https://www.republiccapital.co/ - https://plus.vc/ https://plus.vc/ - https://www.rarebreed.vc/ https://www.rarebreed.vc/ - https://www.dragonfly.xyz/ https://www.dragonfly.xyz/ - https://macventurecapital.com/ https://macventurecapital.com/ - https://parafi.com/ https://parafi.com/ - https://www.chingona.ventures/ https://www.chingona.ventures/ - https://www.plexocap.com/ https://www.plexocap.com/ - https://lowercarboncapital.com/ https://lowercarboncapital.com/ - https://www.blckvc.org/ https://www.blckvc.org/ - https://www.gsr.io/ https://www.gsr.io/ - https://rbf.capital/ https://rbf.capital/ - https://www.allraise.org/ https://www.allraise.org/ - https://betaworksventures.com/ https://betaworksventures.com/ - https://www.gfrfund.com/ https://www.gfrfund.com/ - https://www.hustlefund.vc/ https://www.hustlefund.vc/ - https://www.atelierventures.co/ https://www.atelierventures.co/ - https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/ https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/ - https://www.nfx.com/ https://www.nfx.com/ - https://645ventures.com/ https://645ventures.com/ - https://backstagecapital.com/ https://backstagecapital.com/ - https://panteracapital.com/firm/ https://panteracapital.com/firm/ - https://femalefoundersfund.com/ https://femalefoundersfund.com/ - https://susaventures.com/ https://susaventures.com/ - https://atomic.vc/ https://atomic.vc/ - https://homebrew.co/ https://homebrew.co/ - https://www.cowboy.vc/ https://www.cowboy.vc/ - https://foundersfund.com/ https://foundersfund.com/ - https://www.kaporcapital.com/ https://www.kaporcapital.com/ - https://www.felicis.com/ https://www.felicis.com/ - https://www.cleocap.com/ https://www.cleocap.com/ - https://www.ggvc.com/ https://www.ggvc.com/ - https://www.haystack.vc/ https://www.haystack.vc/ - https://www.menlovc.com/ https://www.menlovc.com/ - https://www.battery.com/ https://www.battery.com/ - https://www.nea.com/ https://www.nea.com/ - https://www.greycroft.com/ https://www.greycroft.com/ - https://group.softbank/ https://group.softbank/ - https://twosigmaventures.com/ https://twosigmaventures.com/ - https://www.redpoint.com/ https://www.redpoint.com/ - https://www.angellist.com/ https://www.angellist.com/ - https://luxcapital.com/ https://luxcapital.com/ - https://lsvp.com/ https://lsvp.com/ - https://www.bvp.com/ https://www.bvp.com/ - https://upfront.com/ https://upfront.com/ - https://uncorkcapital.com/ https://uncorkcapital.com/ - https://greylock.com/ https://greylock.com/ - https://www.khoslaventures.com/ https://www.khoslaventures.com/ - https://www.accel.com/ https://www.accel.com/ - https://www.generalcatalyst.com/ https://www.generalcatalyst.com/ - https://www.gv.com/ https://www.gv.com/ - https://www.footwork.vc/ https://www.footwork.vc/ - https://www.flybridge.com/ https://www.flybridge.com/ - https://trueventures.com/ https://trueventures.com/ - https://www.socialcapital.com/ https://www.socialcapital.com/ - https://angel.co/unpopularvc/syndicate https://angel.co/unpopularvc/syndicate - https://vibe.vc/ https://vibe.vc/ - https://www.sahilbloom.com/fund https://www.sahilbloom.com/fund - https://www.untitledventures.xyz/ https://www.untitledventures.xyz/ - https://outsetcapital.com/ https://outsetcapital.com/ - https://www.breadandbutterventures.com/ https://www.breadandbutterventures.com/ - https://fiftyyears.com/ https://fiftyyears.com/ - https://precursorvc.com/ https://precursorvc.com/ - https://www.sterlingroad.com/ https://www.sterlingroad.com/ - https://www.laconiacapitalgroup.com/ https://www.laconiacapitalgroup.com/ - https://www.malaikaventures.com/ https://www.malaikaventures.com/ - https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849 https://twitter.com/TheLizNunez/status/1557354399093198849 - https://theopportunityfund.com/ https://theopportunityfund.com/ - https://www.january.ventures/ https://www.january.ventures/ - https://www.ganas.vc/ https://www.ganas.vc/ - https://www.lightship.capital/ https://www.lightship.capital/ - https://velocityincubator.com/ https://velocityincubator.com/ - https://www.barodaventures.com/ https://www.barodaventures.com/ - https://www.alchemy.com/ventures https://www.alchemy.com/ventures - https://panteracapital.com/ https://panteracapital.com/ - https://chapterone.com/ https://chapterone.com/ - https://www.at.inc/ https://www.at.inc/ - https://hyper.com/ https://hyper.com/ - https://www.afore.vc/ https://www.afore.vc/ - https://m13.co/ https://m13.co/ - https://www.adaptvc.co/ https://www.adaptvc.co/ - https://variant.fund/ https://variant.fund/ - https://www.bigbrain.holdings/ https://www.bigbrain.holdings/ - https://500.co/ https://500.co/ - https://hypersphere.ventures/ https://hypersphere.ventures/ - https://race.capital/ https://race.capital/ - https://www.visiblehands.vc/ https://www.visiblehands.vc/ - https://www.hashed.com/ https://www.hashed.com/ - https://www.newmancapital.com/ https://www.newmancapital.com/ - https://ngc.fund/ https://ngc.fund/ - https://kindredventures.com/ https://kindredventures.com/ - https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/ https://www.behindgeniusventures.com/ - https://elevate.vc/ https://elevate.vc/ - https://www.konvoy.vc/ https://www.konvoy.vc/ - https://baincapitalcrypto.com/ https://baincapitalcrypto.com/ - https://slow-prod.herokuapp.com/ https://slow-prod.herokuapp.com/ - https://blockchain.capital/ https://blockchain.capital/ - https://www.sequoiacap.cn/en https://www.sequoiacap.cn/en - https://india.sequoiacap.com/ https://india.sequoiacap.com/ - https://arc.sequoiacap.com/ https://arc.sequoiacap.com/ - https://www.sequoiacap.com/ https://www.sequoiacap.com/ - https://tobacapital.com/ https://tobacapital.com/ - https://twitter.com/susanfsu/status/1481332788859064322 https://twitter.com/susanfsu/status/1481332788859064322 - https://www.lererhippeau.com/ https://www.lererhippeau.com/ - https://www.cooleygo.com/what-you-should-know-about-safes/ https://www.cooleygo.com/what-you-should-know-about-safes/ - https://amentum.org/ https://amentum.org/ - https://www.shrug.vc/ https://www.shrug.vc/ - https://www.operatorlps.com/ https://www.operatorlps.com/ - https://chapterone.com/en/ https://chapterone.com/en/ - https://www.weekend.fund/ https://www.weekend.fund/ - https://www.bananacapital.vc/ https://www.bananacapital.vc/ - https://www.marcyvp.com/ https://www.marcyvp.com/ - https://www.openvc.app/ https://www.openvc.app/ - https://www.overlookedventures.com/ https://www.overlookedventures.com/ - https://tychepartners.com/ https://tychepartners.com/ - https://www.bbgventures.com/ https://www.bbgventures.com/ - https://kickstartfund.com/ https://kickstartfund.com/ - https://www.realistventures.com/ https://www.realistventures.com/ - https://www.worklife.vc/ https://www.worklife.vc/ - https://feld.com/archives/2006/02/why-most-vcs-dont-sign-ndas/ https://feld.com/archives/2006/02/why-most-vcs-dont-sign-nda... - https://angeltrack.firstround.com/ https://angeltrack.firstround.com/ - https://www.allvuesystems.com/ https://www.allvuesystems.com/ - https://firstround.com/ https://firstround.com/ - https://a16z.com/ https://a16z.com/ - https://forerunnerventures.com/ https://forerunnerventures.com/ - https://www.pjc.vc/ https://www.pjc.vc/ - https://harlem.capital/ https://harlem.capital/ - https://brandfoundry.com/ https://brandfoundry.com/ - https://montageventures.com/ https://montageventures.com/ - https://www.ubiquity.vc/ https://www.ubiquity.vc/ - https://imaginary.co/ https://imaginary.co/ - https://www.nycfounderguide.com/ https://www.nycfounderguide.com/ - https://www.maveron.com/ https://www.maveron.com/ - https://www.forerunnerventures.com/ https://www.forerunnerventures.com/ - https://www.primary.vc/ https://www.primary.vc/ - https://apx.vc/ https://apx.vc/ - https://fifthwall.com/ https://fifthwall.com/ - https://formcapital.com/ https://formcapital.com/ - https://www.noemisventures.com/ https://www.noemisventures.com/ - https://www.reachcapital.com/ https://www.reachcapital.com/ - https://torchcapital.vc/ https://torchcapital.vc/ - https://www.designerfund.com/ https://www.designerfund.com/ - https://framework.ventures/ https://framework.ventures/ - https://www.usv.com/ https://www.usv.com/ - https://www.pear.vc/ https://www.pear.vc/ - https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ https://www.kleinerperkins.com/ - https://initialized.com/ https://initialized.com/ - https://www.expa.com/ https://www.expa.com/ - https://www.serenaventures.com/ https://www.serenaventures.com/ They aren't all "first-check" VCs, just every VC I've bookmarked.

edouard-harris 4y ago

SendGrid (acquired by Twilio for $2B [1]) famously had their application rejected, and their later success caused YC to update its selection process. From this Quora answer [2]: > Apparently, only one partner, Robert Morris, reviewed the SendGrid application, and he gave it a highly negative score, calling it a "spam company." That pushed it so far down the application queue that no other partner reviewed it. Paul talks about how they changed the application process after that so that any applications negatively scored by Robert would also get reviewed by Paul. (Interestingly, venture returns skew so highly to big winners that SendGrid's objectively huge outcome would not even have had a material impact on YC's current portfolio value of nearly $1T [3]. I'm not aware of any current $10B+ companies that were rejected by YC, though there may be some.) [1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/twilio-to-acquire-email-api-platform-sendgrid-for-2-billion/ https://www.zdnet.com/article/twilio-to-acquire-email-api-pl... [2] https://www.quora.com/Why-was-SendGrid-rejected-from-YCombinator/answer/Brian-Chu-2 https://www.quora.com/Why-was-SendGrid-rejected-from-YCombin... [3] https://www.ycombinator.com/ https://www.ycombinator.com/

Xx25 4y ago
> YC's current portfolio value of nearly $1T I don't think you mean portfolio value. That would mean YC actually owns $1T in the companies they funded, at their current valuation. The following on YC front page is more meaningful: "Our companies have a combined valuation nearing $1T."
- edouard-harris 4y ago
  Yes, the combined valuation number you cited is the one I was referring to. You're right that it's not correct to call this "portfolio value"; thanks for pointing out the mistake. (But it is still the correct number to compare SendGrid's $2B exit value to.)
colordrops 4y ago
> calling it a "spam company" Was he wrong? Honest question. Looking at their homepage I'm guessing a good portion of unsolicited emails in my inbox went through SendGrid.

threeseed 4y ago

SendGrid. LaunchDarkly. Dropbox was rejected first time around. And I would take a guess Bolt probably got rejected.

pyb 4y ago

Dune Analytics, Udemy, Metamask

NetOpWibby 4y ago
Wow, all three are huge!
arunsivadasan 4y ago
I had no idea Udemy was rejected! I know so many people in my circle who use Udemy

andsoitis 4y ago

How much revenue and earnings does veed.io make?

nkotov 4y ago

Raising money doesn't indicate success.

remote_phone 4y ago

What percentage of YC companies fail to take off?

mtmail 4y ago

12 month ago "Growing Veed.io from $0 to $5 million ARR in 2 years" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYS3QKJHUDM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYS3QKJHUDM YC is mentioned at timestamp https://youtu.be/pYS3QKJHUDM?t=715 https://youtu.be/pYS3QKJHUDM?t=715 I attended the talk. The founder said they'll grow organically and won't need any VC money. I can't find the sections are not in the youtube video (missing minutes?). So I'm interested why the founder changed his opinion.

dceddia 4y ago
They wrote a post about their thoughts on this and why they raised money even though they were profitable: https://www.veed.io/blog/raising-series-a/ https://www.veed.io/blog/raising-series-a/
- NetOpWibby 4y ago
  Ah, so they raised money for more stability for their growing team and so they won't have to focus so much on revenue. Seems like Sequoia's a great fit for them. The way they broke down the traditional venture path with YC was eye-opening. Lots of divvying up the pie.

lovek3292 4y ago

[dead]

aranibatta 4y ago

Fairly sure Roam and Notion are both rejected. While Roam isn't there yet, Notion is a very healthy business at venture scale.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

maccaw 4y ago

I was rejected with clearbit.com Was told the business required a degree of enterprise sales that my skills weren't suited for. It's now worth $350m (on paper at least). That said, no hard feelings. They see so many applications - they're bound to make the wrong decision time to time.

55555 4y ago
Congrats! You've killed it.
ignoramous 4y ago
> ...the business required a degree of enterprise sales that my skills weren't suited for. 10mins isn't enough time and their judgement is likely to be off (it is also mostly also down to the interviewee / founders to sell themselves in whatever time they have). I've heard this similar "no skill" story before from another start-up (which isn't doing as good... yet). > It's now worth $350m (on paper at least). YC's bar is $10b exits. I hope you get there!
bot41 4y ago
Looks like clearbit is "just" a broad services company. I thought YC invests in more specific products/services like dropbox or airbnb. (I don't think there's anything wrong with clearbit just to be clear)