4 ms·

I wish people wouldn't treat us like an oracle that can predict startups' success. If only. The fact is we read applications fast and make plenty of mistakes.

by pg 14y ago

I wish people wouldn't treat us like an oracle that can predict startups' success. If only. The fact is we read applications fast and make plenty of mistakes. One thing YC has taught me is that this must be true of practically every application process. For some reason, both the people who are accepted and rejected in any application process tend to read too much into it. (Is there a name for this phenomenon?)

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
RKoutnik 14y ago
Yes, it's known as the "Spotlight Effect." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201111/the-spotlight-effect http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201111... We humans tend to assume that everyone sees something about us, when a much smaller amount actually notice (and an even smaller amount actually care). This has rejected startups thinking "What did I do" when it really has nothing to do with them at all (just that someone else was better).
- TrevorJ 14y ago
  Not even necessarily that someone was better - people who read applications are human too, they have things that resonate with them, they have opinions, fallible memories, biases and gut feelings. At the end of the day, this comes in to play too, as well it should. Getting rejected doesn't mean you were empirically worse than any given candidate, it may just mean the two parties involved in the possible relationship don't have the chemistry that would make the endeavor the best it could be. At the end of the day, there's a limit to what you can infer about the relative merits of your idea from a rejection letter.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
OoTheNigerian 14y ago
Perhaps you are to 'blame' for the reading too much into decisions. When we read your essays, you kind of open up a window to your mind and thought process. Process being the key word. It would seem that there is a methodology to what you do and do not necessarily 'wing it'. So therefore, people would certainly think that process applies to them when you decide their 'fate'. As for YC being an oracle, it is a great brand that will almost certainly do more good than harm for startups to be associated with it.
gcheong 14y ago
Attribution bias? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_bias
obviouslygreen 14y ago
Understandable... but perhaps you need to accept that you have put yourself in a position that has a serious effect on not only people's success but also their perception of you and their own efforts.
natural219 14y ago
For better or worse, it's often likely the only metric people have to go on. You command a lot of respect and admiration from people who follow YC and read your essays. It's easy to dismiss criticism from peers and institutions who "don't get it", but to hear it from somebody you respect deeply can give a disproportional weight to your feedback, even if it's ridiculous to expect your feedback to be the final word on an idea's success or failure.
jusben1369 14y ago
It sounds a little like in this case (young?) people look at YC as a critical external validation around their professional worth. What I thought most interesting was that YC is now the customer for this individual. Typically a startup finds the most important validation around that first or 10 paying customers. That's because you feel fantastic realizing you were right - that your idea does matter enough to others to write a check for it. Secondly, that validation is the most important part for the other pieces coming together; attracting other bright minds to your startup, raising an angel round, getting into YC, getting more customers. As I read this I couldn't help but feel as though YC was the intended customer for said startups. So rejection was devastating because they'd built a product with just one customer in mind and they passed.
PAULHANNA84 14y ago
Too many wantrepreneurs is complicating the filtration process there :)
mjf2 14y ago
Well, I think it's very hard to accept the fact that human decisions can be arbitrary, especially when it comes to the judgement of something that you worked very hard to create. It's along the same lines as calling someone's child ugly. Even if it's a random person, that remark will still sting, you will wonder if everyone else feels the same way. If you really wanted to avoid the emotional consequences of this decision, you could make it completely random. It would be not only stress-relieving but an act of humility given the truth: that you will never be able to predict the success of these companies. You have a peice of information they do not: you know that it's nothing personal. But if you tell a reject that it isn't personal there are two scenarios that are most prominent in their minds: that you tell the truth, or you're trying to make them feel better while there is something subtle wrong about themselves that they can't find. The latter option has much more weight put on it because the consequences are more dire. If they have two options with equal probabilities, as far as they know, but with one result being far more devastating than the other, it would be stupid to neglect this possibility, because what if it's true? If this was tribal warfare this could mean life or death, people aren't just going to believe your words.
rdl 14y ago
One of the strengths of the YC process is that being rejected one time isn't prejudicial against future applications. So, even if the process is somewhat imprecise in any given year, applying again is possible (unlike, say, college admissions), and those who apply multiple times and show improvement are more likely to get in.
- jonpeda 14y ago
  Colleges will most certainly welcome re-applications (transfers or post-gap-years), but the window is generally small, as elite colleges are a young-person's institution.
  - argonaut 14y ago
    Colleges don't limit applicants by age. However, re-applications are definitely dinged, or so I've heard from reading books/articles about the admissions process.
Hitchhiker 14y ago
We're all on a journey and there are phases where some of us loose the way.. and end up thinking others can predict our fate. " Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. " - Said by Cassius in `Julius Caesar' Act I, Scene 2
jamesrcole 14y ago
Your Black Swan Farming essay seems relevant http://www.paulgraham.com/swan.html http://www.paulgraham.com/swan.html

by pg 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

RKoutnik 14y ago

Yes, it's known as the "Spotlight Effect." - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_effect - http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201111/the-spotlight-effect http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-big-questions/201111... We humans tend to assume that everyone sees something about us, when a much smaller amount actually notice (and an even smaller amount actually care). This has rejected startups thinking "What did I do" when it really has nothing to do with them at all (just that someone else was better).

TrevorJ 14y ago
Not even necessarily that someone was better - people who read applications are human too, they have things that resonate with them, they have opinions, fallible memories, biases and gut feelings. At the end of the day, this comes in to play too, as well it should. Getting rejected doesn't mean you were empirically worse than any given candidate, it may just mean the two parties involved in the possible relationship don't have the chemistry that would make the endeavor the best it could be. At the end of the day, there's a limit to what you can infer about the relative merits of your idea from a rejection letter.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

OoTheNigerian 14y ago

Perhaps you are to 'blame' for the reading too much into decisions. When we read your essays, you kind of open up a window to your mind and thought process. Process being the key word. It would seem that there is a methodology to what you do and do not necessarily 'wing it'. So therefore, people would certainly think that process applies to them when you decide their 'fate'. As for YC being an oracle, it is a great brand that will almost certainly do more good than harm for startups to be associated with it.

gcheong 14y ago

Attribution bias? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_bias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attribution_bias

obviouslygreen 14y ago

Understandable... but perhaps you need to accept that you have put yourself in a position that has a serious effect on not only people's success but also their perception of you and their own efforts.

natural219 14y ago

For better or worse, it's often likely the only metric people have to go on. You command a lot of respect and admiration from people who follow YC and read your essays. It's easy to dismiss criticism from peers and institutions who "don't get it", but to hear it from somebody you respect deeply can give a disproportional weight to your feedback, even if it's ridiculous to expect your feedback to be the final word on an idea's success or failure.

jusben1369 14y ago

It sounds a little like in this case (young?) people look at YC as a critical external validation around their professional worth. What I thought most interesting was that YC is now the customer for this individual. Typically a startup finds the most important validation around that first or 10 paying customers. That's because you feel fantastic realizing you were right - that your idea does matter enough to others to write a check for it. Secondly, that validation is the most important part for the other pieces coming together; attracting other bright minds to your startup, raising an angel round, getting into YC, getting more customers. As I read this I couldn't help but feel as though YC was the intended customer for said startups. So rejection was devastating because they'd built a product with just one customer in mind and they passed.

PAULHANNA84 14y ago

Too many wantrepreneurs is complicating the filtration process there :)

mjf2 14y ago

Well, I think it's very hard to accept the fact that human decisions can be arbitrary, especially when it comes to the judgement of something that you worked very hard to create. It's along the same lines as calling someone's child ugly. Even if it's a random person, that remark will still sting, you will wonder if everyone else feels the same way. If you really wanted to avoid the emotional consequences of this decision, you could make it completely random. It would be not only stress-relieving but an act of humility given the truth: that you will never be able to predict the success of these companies. You have a peice of information they do not: you know that it's nothing personal. But if you tell a reject that it isn't personal there are two scenarios that are most prominent in their minds: that you tell the truth, or you're trying to make them feel better while there is something subtle wrong about themselves that they can't find. The latter option has much more weight put on it because the consequences are more dire. If they have two options with equal probabilities, as far as they know, but with one result being far more devastating than the other, it would be stupid to neglect this possibility, because what if it's true? If this was tribal warfare this could mean life or death, people aren't just going to believe your words.

rdl 14y ago

One of the strengths of the YC process is that being rejected one time isn't prejudicial against future applications. So, even if the process is somewhat imprecise in any given year, applying again is possible (unlike, say, college admissions), and those who apply multiple times and show improvement are more likely to get in.

jonpeda 14y ago
Colleges will most certainly welcome re-applications (transfers or post-gap-years), but the window is generally small, as elite colleges are a young-person's institution.
- argonaut 14y ago
  Colleges don't limit applicants by age. However, re-applications are definitely dinged, or so I've heard from reading books/articles about the admissions process.

Hitchhiker 14y ago

We're all on a journey and there are phases where some of us loose the way.. and end up thinking others can predict our fate. " Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. " - Said by Cassius in `Julius Caesar' Act I, Scene 2

jamesrcole 14y ago

Your Black Swan Farming essay seems relevant http://www.paulgraham.com/swan.html http://www.paulgraham.com/swan.html