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How I got a YC interview as a single founder and blew it at the final hurdle
- Peroni 14y ago...PG hit me with a particular question about acquiring a particular type of user, one I should have been able to answer, one I’d practiced dozens of times over the past few days, one I had several strong answers to. I don’t understand why, but my mind simply went blank. The interview ended a minute or two after. Sounds like an incredibly minor detail to base the decision on considering everything else appeared to go well. I've no doubt PG and the team are all about small details but that doesn't quite add up for me. Either way Steve, you did great to get as far as you did and a YC rejection is only a minor hurdle along the way so best of luck bud.
- julien_c 14y agoGreat post, but your choice of colors make reading it incredibly hard on my eyes (it's the end of the day here).
- manaskarekar 14y agoCause astigmatism: http://blog.tatham.oddie.com.au/2008/10/13/why-light-text-on-dark-background-is-a-bad-idea/ http://blog.tatham.oddie.com.au/2008/10/13/why-light-text-on... I absolutely hate reading websites that do light on dark. I use this Chrome extension and it works great. http://www.chromeextensions.org/appearance-functioning/change-colors/ http://www.chromeextensions.org/appearance-functioning/chang... I used to use some extension on firefox as well, can't recall the name. EDIT: Perhaps this https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/color-that-site/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/color-that-si...
- sjtgraham 14y agoWhat's the easiest to read Tumblr theme? I'll happily change it. Sorry it makes it difficult to read.
- julien_c 14y agoThe fact that I read it through is proof to how compelling your post is. Your story on trying to get the domain name by all (reasonable) means really resonated with me. Are you based in London?
- sjtgraham 14y agoYessir! Email address in HN profile. Hit me up.
- citricsquid 14y agohttp://www.tumblr.com/theme/36037 http://www.tumblr.com/theme/36037 Just anything that isn't light on dark.
- tolos 14y agoI found the colors (light text on dark background) to be somewhat of a strain but I couldn't stop reading.
- nicholassmith 14y agoAfter the story of you flying over to doorstep a hedge fund manager, navigating the many layers to get there and ultimately solving the problem, I don't see YC saying no to be a problem. Learning experiences and such, grind it out and keep going.
- hack_edu 14y agoYes, though the problem they likely saw was he virtually has no product, business plan, nor seems interested in selling it as much as himself. Its a trope you see here in the post mortem after every YC season selection. "I hacked the process and all I got was this stinking blog post." Edit: This front-paging HN will more than likely land him a job somewhere, for better of for worse, and was likely his real goal in writing it.
- nicholassmith 14y agoHe did say that he had a product ready to demo but they didn't want to see it. Selling yourself is almost as important as the idea, if you have the best idea in the world but you seem a bit wishy washy then no one is going to be interested, but if you can sell yourself and get them to believe almost anything is possible in your hands then you're in with a better chance.
- sharkweek 14y agoI have seen PG and others on numerous occasions say they're interested in the smartest of people, some of whom may just have a bad idea and need mentoring in that regard. It's a lot easier to point a smart/hard working person in the right direction
- sjtgraham 14y agoI'm not looking for a job.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- CaveTech 14y agoHonestly I don't get it. While the story is cool, it really just seems like you're comfortable blowing several thousand dollars on what, lets be honest, is a very, very unlikely chance at securing a domain name. I know this story speaks of SV culture in some way; huge risk, huge rewards and the idea that no one can stop you. If the venture pays off, it makes you a hero. If it doesn't, well you get a cool story. But you're aiming to be head of your own company, you need to make wise business decisions. This doesn't look like one, and just shows (me) that you're willing to make large gambles for a chance at winning the lottery. Where do you draw the line?
- wilfra 14y agoJust because he was not successful (yet) does not mean it was a foolish effort. It's attitudes like yours that make hustling work, simply because so few people are willing to even send an email to somebody because they think it's unlikely they'll get an affirmative response. Getting rejected is like ketchup on french fries.
- Irregardless 14y agoHe flew from London to NY and showed up at their office uninvited only to find out the CEO was in Aspen. After spending countless hours stalking the guy and hundreds (or thousands) on a plane ticket, he missed by 2,000 miles... If that happened to me, I'd be too embarrassed to repeat that story even to a group of close friends, let alone tout it as my proudest "life hack".
- wilfra 14y agoMost people would agree you with you. But that doesn't make you, or them, correct. You should learn to embrace failure as a completely normal and natural part of success, instead of fearing it. This story, and the fact that he is proud of it, is evidence that he gets that. I have no idea who this guy is but if I could buy stock in his future right now, I would. I can't say the same for anybody who reads this and thinks he's foolish.
- jdevonport 14y agoRemember seeing you introduce Twillio at Tomorrow's Web a while back and was hugely impressed. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of very cool stuff from Zap in the future ;-)
- brador 14y agoAnyone got a TLDR on this? It looks interesting, but I don't have the minutes to read it to get the juice.
- pplante 14y agotl;dr: guy wanted domain zap.com, owned by a hedge fund. he tried emailing and calling people there with no luck. he decided to spend many thousands of dollars flying from london to NYC to meet with CEO. got shot down again, ended up getting email to CEO by blindly bccing different formats, CEO asked for business plan. domain is still owned by hedge fund.
- steve120818 14y agoI recall it from his comments to ' YC Rejection Emails Are Out " 'A lot of people do that, and unsurprisingly some people (maybe all) working at YC do not appreciate it. Personally I would advise against it and think of a different way to get to the partners, n.b. Instacart, rather than show up to YC when everyone is extremely busy and putting YC staff in difficult positions." Now just think what he did with hedge fund manager ?.
- Irregardless 14y agoSpent lots of time and money stalking a big time hedge fund manager in an attempt to acquire Zap.com domain. Failed to acquire domain, but still considers this a "life hack" because the manager downloaded his business plan. Later, messed up one question in YC interview and got rejected. Baffling...
- ragmondo 14y agoHow do we know the guy downloaded his plan? It could have been anybody - a deputy, underling, hell, even the secretary that absolutely refused him access. It doesn't matter that the CEO was running a hedge fund, I guarantee you he knows how to type in "how much is my domain worth" into google to get a rough figure for it. In my earlier and somewhat more flush years, I used to have a saying "just throw money at the problem until it goes away". And you know what.. it worked. Well .. until I ran out of cash that is. This is what this sounds like to me. Flying London to New York on the off chance to meet this guy? One would have been better off finding out what gym he's a member of, which bars he drinks at, where he shops etc one was that desperate. mini-rant over.
- richardofyork 14y agoFirst, thank you very much for detailing your Y Combinator experience with the rest of us; you will no doubt help out many other startups planning to apply to Y Combinator. During the entire interview, I imagine PG and his partners were likely analyzing and processing your idea, your capacity to execute your idea, and your potential to succeed compared with the potential for other top-tiered candidates to succeed. Also, they were likely looking for signs, any sign (based on prior failures), that were predictor of failure. In my opinion, you were likely turned down because either they weren't convinced that you (along with your idea) have the potential to succeed more than the candidates they were considering, or your case showed signs of potential failure. Note that the signs of potential failure is not necessarily reflective of you or your idea, it is simply based on actual factors that Y Combinators have seen in startups that had eventually failed. I have read about this from PG himself right here on HN. If Y Combinator turned down a potentially primed-to-succeed applicant because the applicant did not convincingly answer one question (while being very convincing on all the other questions), then I am definitely mistaken about all I have read about PG and Y Combinator. These chaps are well-reasoned and thoroughly experienced investors, I don't think they will turn down a potential DropBox for missing one question—well, I hope not.
- ChaseB 14y ago"but when I finished I filled the BCC with as many permutations of what his email address could be and then hit send." I've figured out a great way around this. Install rapportive in gmail, compose a new message and start guessing emails. If the email is correct, rapportive will pull up all the information for that person. Bingo! There's the correct address!
- wilfra 14y agozap.com is a public company http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ZPCM http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ZPCM That probably explains why there is little interest in selling you the domain. It would probably be a huge PITA for them, even if they wanted to do it.
- mrkmcknz 14y agoFrom what I can see ZPCM isn't a public company it trades on what is referred to as the pink sheets. It has no revenue or business activity meaning it was probably once a public company or had the intention of becoming one.
- Murkin 14y agotl;dr; 1. Spent lots of time and money(thousands of pounds) trying to meet with CEO of hedge fund just to get one of the domains in their portfolio. 2. Failed. 3. Explained that he is co-founder of twillio europe. 4. Used above story as some kind of self proof of ability 5. Decided that he failed YC interview because of a silly mistake 6. Drew lots of lessons and conclusions. yawn
- stephengillie 14y agoI'm kind-of amazed at how much this person was willing to spend at the drop of a hat. I see someone carelessly jumping on planes, spending thousands of dollars without blinking, and I start to wonder if the person may be bipolar and experiencing a manic episode.
- objclxt 14y ago>"I start to wonder if the person may be bipolar and experiencing a manic episode." ...I would think that depends on how many thousands of dollars you have in the bank. It would be nuts to do this if you had no money to your name and were struggling to make ends meet, sure. But if you're got a high disposable income, or you know you can make it up with work, why not? I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Stevie, and I know nothing about his financial situation. I suspect neither do you. Regardless, you could easily cover the cost of a last-minute LHR-NYC flight with three, four days of contracting (I should know, I used to freelance iOS in London). Doesn't seem quite so crazy when you frame it like that. What I probably wouldn't do is throw around the idea that simply because somebody buys a ticket on a whim that makes them a manic depressive.
- omarchowdhury 14y agoHe also billed it off as a vacation, so it's not really a loss.
- wpietri 14y agoTo me it wasn't just the cost, it was jumping on a plane instantly when there was no particular advantage to it. Salespeople who are too aggressive frighten prospects, and his target is a billionaire who hears from all sorts of people who want something from him. If he were sincerely after the Zap name, I think he would have been much better off pursuing it consistently over 6 months, rather than in a dramatic, unprepared rush. Especially since this particular name is a nice-to-have.
- _hgt1 14y ago> "PG knew exactly what I wanted to do, it was the quickest anyone has grokked my idea. I could almost see this divide conquer algorithm working in his brain as he traversed the idea space, it was spectacular to behold." These PG hagiographies are getting good.
- vc2012 14y agoYou shouldn't have left Silicon Valley so soon. There are several VCs who would have had a meeting with you.
- sjtgraham 14y agoi had to get back to the uk to sort some business stuff out. email address is in profile for anyone interested.
- salimmadjd 14y agoI sent him an email with a similar thought. The fact that he left and didn't try other venues could make some people question his true grit. I liked his story and wanted to meet him just to hear the story in person.
- gadders 14y agoTo be honest I thought this was going to be the usual YC navel-gazing, but actually found it to be an amusing, interesting read.
- tzm 14y agoFwiw, I had a very similar YC experience as a solo founder in front of PG, Trevor, Robert and Jessica (S12). After the rejection email I had an acquisition offer from a market leader (term sheet). Decided to turn it down and raise a round. Going after the market. Currently closing with top-tier investors and launching product.
- srameshc 14y agoI love the story. The title of this story sounded like it was a note venting out frustration and telling everyone that though dejected, I will make it without YC. But unlike the title, you are so full of positive energy and I hope others at YC could have seen that. I am sure you will make you dream come true. Keep hustling and wishing you the very best of luck.
- sjtgraham 14y agoThank you!
- joshbert 14y agoMost people would rather have an excuse to fail than have a reason to be successful.
- leoh 14y agoDo these "how I blew it" articles make anyone else uncomfortable? They always seem so self-deprecating, presumptuous, and often very seriously glorify YC and/or PG. Reflecting on an experience, especially one that you were hopeful about, but didn't go the way you wanted is good. But being so attached......
- sjtgraham 14y agoFurther to the money fixation. Has no one considered that I might have actually tried to raise money from Falcone? When I get him in a room, you can bet that I'll be trying to get the domain and some capital from him before I'll try to buy it off of him with my own cash. What do you think is more likely to be successful, a billionaire throwing down a relatively small amount of coin to invest or him hearing out an offer to acquire the domain for 5-6 figures without laughing me out of the room. We might have different values but to me 2-3 grand for a holiday and a roll of that dice is chump change.
- jackgavigan 14y agoWait. Isn't Falcone one of the bad guys in 'Batman Begins'?
- MrMan 14y agoFalcone is a punch line in Real Life. This whole story is ridiculous on many levels. If Robert Altman were alive he would remake "The Player" set in HackerNews, err, Silicon Valley.
- 1337biz 14y agoI'm rooting for you. Great story, the only thing missing is a happy end. Keep it going - almost sad to see that the pessimists and skeptics have taken over in this discussion.
- eduardordm 14y agoI own a credit card company and maybe I could help you. I'll send an email later today :D
- tchock23 14y agoI also went through the single founder interview experience and blew it, but for different reasons. I had the domain knowledge and experience, but PG said my demo was too simple (which it admittedly was - it was a MVP to test some assumptions I had about the market). It was an intense, yet very fun 10 minutes of my life...
- SagelyGuru 14y agoI would not give money to a guy who writes on black background either.
- sixQuarks 14y agoI stopped reading after the first paragraph. Dark background/white text is absolutely horrible.
- seunosewa 14y agoIf your business is good, answering a single question incorrectly should not cause a good investor not to invest in it. If your business is bad, answering a single question correctly should not lead to an investment. A single answer should not be the difference between getting an investment and not getting one. Can you imagine Warren Buffett passing over a stock he was prepared to buy just because the CEO couldn't answer a particular question instantly?
- Kiro 14y agoHow much is zap.com worth? I would imagine at least 6 figures.
- usagishouse 14y agohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiUuL5uTKc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hiUuL5uTKc Great story. Shows just a glimpse of the many different angles you need to take as an entrepreneur to try and make things work. (or not work)
- tvladeck 14y agoI don't know if this story is illustrative, helpful, or whatever. But to me it's a damn fine read.
- dorkrawk 14y agoSort of off-topic but I thought that the use of "take a punt" was interesting. Before I realized he was European, I thought it a strange phrase. Obviously in (soccer) football, taking a punt (a kick to try to score) would be a good thing, but it first registered to me as an (American) football reference of punting (rather than going for a touchdown).
- mlinsey 14y agoI don't know if recs are weighted based on that particular recommender's history, but they are definitely weighted based on how well the recommender knows the applicant, and how strong the recommendation is. I still recommend that applicants seek out YC alumni when applying, but this is because they will give you good feedback on your application and advice on the interview process, not because their recommendation of someone they met once over coffee will move the needle.
- sammachin 14y agoFirstly great story and very entertaining :-) Certainly i would have used it on the application as it makes you stand out and gives the interviewers something interesting to ask about, thats what application forms are for after all. When it comes to jumping on a plane to try and blag the domain name I think its actually a pretty smart move, on the open market that name would have gone for 6 or 7 figures certainly far more than you could have afforded on seed funding, in which case its worth dropping a grand or so as a gamble that you might get it for much less, I'm guessing you were hoping they'd say they weren't using it and just sign it over to you? Hey you took a chance and gambled 1000 bucks in the hope of it paying off many times over, it didn't but thats life. Best of luck man :-)
- bconway 14y agoIf there's one thing that administering, taking part in, or hearing about interviews over the past few decades has taught me, it's that you never did as adjective as you think you did. In fact, you're usually pretty far off the mark.
- hornbaker 14y agoFrom Reuters: Zap.Com Corporation, incorporated in 1999, is a shell company. The Company was established for the purpose of creating and operating a global network of independently owned Web sites. Harbinger Group Inc., the Company's principal stockholder owns approximately 98% of its outstanding common stock. As of December 31, 2011, the Company has no business operations. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company had no revenue. "So you're telling me there's a chance." - Lloyd Zap is a great name. But there's no harm in starting with PayWithZap.com, like you're currently doing, then acquiring zap.com down the road when you have real capital or revenue. Owning zap.com now is a premature optimization, a nice-to-have.