4 ms·

Y Not - YC rejects of the world, unite!

22 points by mdemare 19y ago

Is anybody is interested in moving to SV anyway? After all, weekly dinners and a demo day are not that hard to organize. You might meet potential co-founders, or at least find people willing to discuss your start-up with, share apartments, etc. I'm just thinking out loud here.

yrashk 19y ago
I am interested, though I need someone to invite me to US to let me apply for visa. P.S. That is basically what I was talking about yesterday (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70071 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70071 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70107 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70107) P.P.S. I am interested to move, to communicate frequently and to share apartments to reduce costs.
- corentin 19y ago
  The silicon valley probably ain't a bad place to be but: - there is this thing called the Interweb that helps communicate efficiently from all over the world (I find amusing the idea that you have to be in a certain place in one country to work on Internet stuff; doesn't sound like "eating your own dogfood" if you ask me); - instead of all european entrepreneurs moving to the US, why not organize in Europe? Most people want to move to the US because it's easier, with less bureaucracy... yet they have to face complicated immigration issues. Just because pg is a brilliant entrepreneur who identified a few specific rules to help replicate what he did ten years ago doesn't mean it's the only way. Far from it. Think different.
  - davidw 19y ago
    > have to be PG never said "have to", he said you'll have better luck, everything else being equal. > complicated immigration issues. This is very true. It was even before 9/11 - search for Torvalds in this page: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E0DC1039F93AA15757C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E0DC1039F... > organize in Europe? That's where the problems start - where in Europe? England and Ireland are probably the most company friendly countries.
    - kailangel 19y ago
      Do it in Finland. Tons of highly skilled workforce, lots of other startups, etc. I don't think the bureaucracy bit is too much of a challenge, especially when compared to US immigrations.
      - davidw 19y ago
        I'm actually a US citizen, but I'm sick of silicon valley and don't really fancy going back, unless it's for my wife (she's in biotech, and they're way more cluster-dependent than we are in computers). Part of the reason I don't want to go back there is quality of life issues. While I'm sure Finland is a nice place for many things, it looks too cold and flat for my tastes. Also, the language is supposedly not very easy, and even though most people probably speak english well, it's always a plus to be able to integrate as much as possible. Anyway, that's just my personal take on it, which comes down to my tastes, not anything objectively wrong.
      - mynameishere 19y ago
        And don't forget the dancing and the singing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm1-VsiznAU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm1-VsiznAU
      - fauigerzigerk 19y ago
        What is the cost of living there? How about social security contributions and health insurance while you're not making any (or just a little) money?
  - yrashk 19y ago
    I am basically okay to unite with other European enterpreneurs here in Europe, that's a good idea, too (if I will have no possibility to move to SV) I still believe in face-to-face communications, they bring so much value!
  - mdemare 19y ago
    On the internet, nobody can see you fail. Peer pressure, weekly dinners, demo day - you can't really replicate that on the web. As for organising in Europe, where? London is very expensive, and nothing else springs to mind.
    - yrashk 19y ago
      Spain? Never been there though :)
      - fauigerzigerk 19y ago
        Spain is hugely bureaucratic and their social security system is insane for startup founders.
        yrashk 19y ago
        any need to interfere with their social security and bureaucracy being incorporated elsewhere?
        fauigerzigerk 19y ago
        If you want to stay on the legal side you must tell them. Unless you have no income from your business I guess. edit: I'm assuming you're talking about more than just 3 months on a beach ;-)
        adnam 19y ago
        > "Spain is hugely bureaucratic and their social security system is insane for startup founders." Do you have experience with this?
    - jgrahamc 19y ago
      SV is very expensive. I think London is a perfectly good place. John.
      - yrashk 19y ago
  - german 19y ago
    Why don't we organize it in South America?, it's cheaper than US or Europe.
- brl 19y ago
  Where are you now? We are coming from Argentina so we have immigration challenges too. Does anybody know if it's legal for us to work on our startup in the US without having a work visa (if we aren't taking a salary) _after_ we incorporate in the US?
  - yrashk 19y ago
    I am currently in Ukraine. IANAL, but I suppose it is ok to have a kind of usual visa for three month or so and commit to your own US company wherever you are (while you have no salary). I am a co-founder of US company already.
  - kailangel 19y ago
    I have a US work visa, when I first came here I came with an E visa (Executive or something), because I worked for a finnish start-up that was launching their US operations here. I later heard that it's a good visa class (not sure why) and quite difficult to get. I'm from Finland btw, your home country does affect your chances with some of the visa types.
brl 19y ago
This is something I was thinking about after reading the rejection thread. How many other rejects are still going ahead with the plan to move their startup to SV this winter even though they aren't participating in YC? (or are already there after not getting accepted into previous cycles?) We'll be there for sure, and would be highly interested in organizing something with other 'Y Not' startups to have some kind of social environment and network and have fun with other groups.
- yrashk 19y ago
  I'd personally like to move to SV for three or four months
- joeguilmette 19y ago
  I live in Santa Cruz right now, and am going to be moving up to the bay. We found YC about 3 months early, unfortunately, and are just now working on a demo to shop around for seed funding. I'm going to be moving up sometime in January. If people want to get together and rent and apartment, I'd be really interested. I'm thinking a 3 bedroom, with bunk beds and the whole nine yards. Also, just getting together and eating dinner and talking would be immensely helpful. Is anyone interested? How can we organize this? I've created a facebook group (hold the lynching mob please). http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5381210911 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5381210911
andreyf 19y ago
Let's just not call it YC rejects ... I know they say that all PR is good PR, but I don't see the point of labeling yourself by one person's turn-down.
- kmt 19y ago
  "Y Not"s sound pretty good, actually.
  - brl 19y ago
    Yeah, that name is awesome :-)
    - yrashk 19y ago
      I second it :)
      - cooldyood 19y ago
        that's a brilliant name..
        kmt 19y ago
        I think based on that and my other comment in this thread (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70299 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70299) I'd like to start http://ynot.bg http://ynot.bg for all of us who may be willing to go to Bulgaria and work on their ideas there. Hey, I think I even have 200m2 of class A office space available there. Hmmmm :-)
naivehs 19y ago
Well if you weren't interested why did you even apply at all?
- brlewis 19y ago
  I think he means "Who is interested in moving to SV despite being rejected?"
- mdemare 19y ago
  You misread my post, it isn't a rhetorical question, but an call for action. I've clarified it now.
  - davidw 19y ago
    You should not call it 'rejects', but 'YCommunity' or something like that. If I were in the area, I'd be interested, but I'm not a YC reject (I'm a didn't even apply:-) Heck, maybe some of the YC-accepted would be interested in meeting up and sharing information.
    - yrashk 19y ago
      I don't care how to call this community. Name is not that important comparing to the value of community itself :)
  - naivehs 19y ago
    That was my bad, sorry.
Jaggu 19y ago
YC is great because you get environment and advise from people who were part of successful startups. Also their connection helps. After the rejection - it is better i do my work myself and then if needed - for connection and advise - I will apply again in YC for next round. You might be next BillGates or PaulGraham but at this time you are just like me and other developers who wants to be their own boss. So, as you don't have proven track record - I am not gonna move to SV just so that I can stay with other like minded. I am motivated enough to do same by staying at my place. I might be wrong but people should rethink about what they wanna achieve by moving...
- gscott 19y ago
  YC is great, but I have realized this round that you need an easy mass appeal type idea to get in. So a club of interested parties called 'Y Not' sounds good to me, I am not too far away to drive to SV (from San Diego, CA).
ideas101 19y ago
I'm interested in the idea for weekly dinner and demo day - just wondering how would you get all the VCs to attend?
- gscott 19y ago
  Get a techcrunch posting and also start rumors that your demo day has change the world startups with amazing profit potencial. Get 20/30 people just to go around places and just mention it in a offhand way.
- davidw 19y ago
  > how would you get all the VCs to attend You're not going to get that. If there is no way to keep bozos out, there is no guarantee of quality, and thus less interest. So just stick to fun meetings once in a while, rather than anything smacking of an 'organization'.
kmt 19y ago
How about gathering in one of the countries that recently joined the EU: Bulgaria, Romania... Living is cheap, labour is cheap, people are smart. Anyone interested? On the other hand conditions there not that professional and engineers don't have adequate experience. Hmm...
- danny76 19y ago
  I'm living in Romania. It would be a great place to join up with other entrepreneurs. My biggest problem is finding entrepreneurally-minded people (co-founders). Finding experienced programmers to hire is not a problem, there are plenty. There's an entire outsourcing industry working for US and Western Europe clients. Finding "professional conditions" (office space? net? or what?) is not a problem either. Living costs are still cheap, but rising, and so are wages.
  - kmt 19y ago
    I'd be interested to learn more about Romania. Danny76, please contact me if you wish to discuss this further: kmt at ftml dot net.
    - cstejerean 19y ago
      Personally I wouldn't recommend Romania as a place to do a startup yet, at least not to incorporate in Romania. I moved to the US from Romania about 7 years ago and while some things have improved in the mean time I think the current system in Romania would impose too many road bloacks for a startup. Great place however to outsource.
      - kmt 19y ago
        Well, you could incorporate in Delaware but be located in Romania for a while. Also, Romania has probably improved a bit since you left.
        danny76 19y ago
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
ivankirigin 19y ago
Why not just organize some regular BarCamps?
breck 19y ago
If anyone who wasn't accepted wants to move to Cambridge, my roommate and I may have a deal for you. We'll provide you(or ya'll--up to 2) with free room & board in return for doing some development for our company(an angel funded web 2.0 startup). Then you can spend your time working on your company in the center of innovation in Cambridge. I'm not saying this will definitely happen, but if you're nice enough and seem like you just need a boost like this to get going I just may. Email me breck at breckyunits.com if interested. BTW- Our company started the YC application but our customers are closer to Cambridge so we never finished the app. Judging by the acceptance rate we most likely would have gotten rejected anyway but it still was too bad we couldn't apply. I've been living in North Carolina for 5 years, is there something about the winter in Boston I should know ;)
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
perezd 19y ago
I live in Santa Clara, here in SV, I'd love to meet up, please feel free to contact me.
ardit33 19y ago
Please don't come here. Stay where you are and try to make it work. Rents are already thru the roof from too many people moving in.
deleted 19y ago
[deleted]
tobin 19y ago
First I'd like to say congrats and good luck to those who were selected to go to the next round! I'm sure this is going to be a very exciting, yet very nerveracking experience. For those of you in europe, although it's not quite the same thing as Y Combinator I've been following the Seed Camp blog. This seems to be something that may be of interest to you not in the US. http://www.seedcamp.com/ http://www.seedcamp.com/ As for those who got rejected (like me and my partner), just keep on working at it and keep your eyes open to opportunities. We tried and by far that's far better than not trying at all. t.
imasr 19y ago
At this point, I wonder if we should start sharing YC applications, checking mutual interests and after that decide where, whom and when. Let's take the best out of a loss. If anyone is interested in South America (Buenos Aires) and build a p2p development platform, or need a highly skilled/experienced C++/webstuff programmer, drop me a line: rafael_imas[at]yahoo[dot]com.
kingnothing 19y ago
It's completely off topic, but after reading through this thread, I have to say it: I love this community.

22 points by mdemare 19y ago

yrashk 19y ago

I am interested, though I need someone to invite me to US to let me apply for visa. P.S. That is basically what I was talking about yesterday (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70071 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70071 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70107 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70107) P.P.S. I am interested to move, to communicate frequently and to share apartments to reduce costs.

corentin 19y ago
The silicon valley probably ain't a bad place to be but: - there is this thing called the Interweb that helps communicate efficiently from all over the world (I find amusing the idea that you have to be in a certain place in one country to work on Internet stuff; doesn't sound like "eating your own dogfood" if you ask me); - instead of all european entrepreneurs moving to the US, why not organize in Europe? Most people want to move to the US because it's easier, with less bureaucracy... yet they have to face complicated immigration issues. Just because pg is a brilliant entrepreneur who identified a few specific rules to help replicate what he did ten years ago doesn't mean it's the only way. Far from it. Think different.
- davidw 19y ago
  > have to be PG never said "have to", he said you'll have better luck, everything else being equal. > complicated immigration issues. This is very true. It was even before 9/11 - search for Torvalds in this page: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E0DC1039F93AA15757C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E0DC1039F... > organize in Europe? That's where the problems start - where in Europe? England and Ireland are probably the most company friendly countries.
  - kailangel 19y ago
    Do it in Finland. Tons of highly skilled workforce, lots of other startups, etc. I don't think the bureaucracy bit is too much of a challenge, especially when compared to US immigrations.
    - davidw 19y ago
      I'm actually a US citizen, but I'm sick of silicon valley and don't really fancy going back, unless it's for my wife (she's in biotech, and they're way more cluster-dependent than we are in computers). Part of the reason I don't want to go back there is quality of life issues. While I'm sure Finland is a nice place for many things, it looks too cold and flat for my tastes. Also, the language is supposedly not very easy, and even though most people probably speak english well, it's always a plus to be able to integrate as much as possible. Anyway, that's just my personal take on it, which comes down to my tastes, not anything objectively wrong.
    - mynameishere 19y ago
      And don't forget the dancing and the singing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm1-VsiznAU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm1-VsiznAU
    - fauigerzigerk 19y ago
      What is the cost of living there? How about social security contributions and health insurance while you're not making any (or just a little) money?
- yrashk 19y ago
  I am basically okay to unite with other European enterpreneurs here in Europe, that's a good idea, too (if I will have no possibility to move to SV) I still believe in face-to-face communications, they bring so much value!
- mdemare 19y ago
  On the internet, nobody can see you fail. Peer pressure, weekly dinners, demo day - you can't really replicate that on the web. As for organising in Europe, where? London is very expensive, and nothing else springs to mind.
  - yrashk 19y ago
    Spain? Never been there though :)
    - fauigerzigerk 19y ago
      Spain is hugely bureaucratic and their social security system is insane for startup founders.
      - yrashk 19y ago
        any need to interfere with their social security and bureaucracy being incorporated elsewhere?
        fauigerzigerk 19y ago
        If you want to stay on the legal side you must tell them. Unless you have no income from your business I guess. edit: I'm assuming you're talking about more than just 3 months on a beach ;-)
      - adnam 19y ago
        > "Spain is hugely bureaucratic and their social security system is insane for startup founders." Do you have experience with this?
  - jgrahamc 19y ago
    SV is very expensive. I think London is a perfectly good place. John.
    - yrashk 19y ago
- german 19y ago
  Why don't we organize it in South America?, it's cheaper than US or Europe.
brl 19y ago
Where are you now? We are coming from Argentina so we have immigration challenges too. Does anybody know if it's legal for us to work on our startup in the US without having a work visa (if we aren't taking a salary) _after_ we incorporate in the US?
- yrashk 19y ago
  I am currently in Ukraine. IANAL, but I suppose it is ok to have a kind of usual visa for three month or so and commit to your own US company wherever you are (while you have no salary). I am a co-founder of US company already.
- kailangel 19y ago
  I have a US work visa, when I first came here I came with an E visa (Executive or something), because I worked for a finnish start-up that was launching their US operations here. I later heard that it's a good visa class (not sure why) and quite difficult to get. I'm from Finland btw, your home country does affect your chances with some of the visa types.

brl 19y ago

This is something I was thinking about after reading the rejection thread. How many other rejects are still going ahead with the plan to move their startup to SV this winter even though they aren't participating in YC? (or are already there after not getting accepted into previous cycles?) We'll be there for sure, and would be highly interested in organizing something with other 'Y Not' startups to have some kind of social environment and network and have fun with other groups.

yrashk 19y ago
I'd personally like to move to SV for three or four months
joeguilmette 19y ago
I live in Santa Cruz right now, and am going to be moving up to the bay. We found YC about 3 months early, unfortunately, and are just now working on a demo to shop around for seed funding. I'm going to be moving up sometime in January. If people want to get together and rent and apartment, I'd be really interested. I'm thinking a 3 bedroom, with bunk beds and the whole nine yards. Also, just getting together and eating dinner and talking would be immensely helpful. Is anyone interested? How can we organize this? I've created a facebook group (hold the lynching mob please). http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5381210911 http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5381210911

andreyf 19y ago

Let's just not call it YC rejects ... I know they say that all PR is good PR, but I don't see the point of labeling yourself by one person's turn-down.

kmt 19y ago
"Y Not"s sound pretty good, actually.
- brl 19y ago
  Yeah, that name is awesome :-)
  - yrashk 19y ago
    I second it :)
    - cooldyood 19y ago
      that's a brilliant name..
      - kmt 19y ago
        I think based on that and my other comment in this thread (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70299 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70299) I'd like to start http://ynot.bg http://ynot.bg for all of us who may be willing to go to Bulgaria and work on their ideas there. Hey, I think I even have 200m2 of class A office space available there. Hmmmm :-)

naivehs 19y ago

Well if you weren't interested why did you even apply at all?

brlewis 19y ago
I think he means "Who is interested in moving to SV despite being rejected?"
mdemare 19y ago
You misread my post, it isn't a rhetorical question, but an call for action. I've clarified it now.
- davidw 19y ago
  You should not call it 'rejects', but 'YCommunity' or something like that. If I were in the area, I'd be interested, but I'm not a YC reject (I'm a didn't even apply:-) Heck, maybe some of the YC-accepted would be interested in meeting up and sharing information.
  - yrashk 19y ago
    I don't care how to call this community. Name is not that important comparing to the value of community itself :)
- naivehs 19y ago
  That was my bad, sorry.

Jaggu 19y ago

YC is great because you get environment and advise from people who were part of successful startups. Also their connection helps. After the rejection - it is better i do my work myself and then if needed - for connection and advise - I will apply again in YC for next round. You might be next BillGates or PaulGraham but at this time you are just like me and other developers who wants to be their own boss. So, as you don't have proven track record - I am not gonna move to SV just so that I can stay with other like minded. I am motivated enough to do same by staying at my place. I might be wrong but people should rethink about what they wanna achieve by moving...

gscott 19y ago
YC is great, but I have realized this round that you need an easy mass appeal type idea to get in. So a club of interested parties called 'Y Not' sounds good to me, I am not too far away to drive to SV (from San Diego, CA).

ideas101 19y ago

I'm interested in the idea for weekly dinner and demo day - just wondering how would you get all the VCs to attend?

gscott 19y ago
Get a techcrunch posting and also start rumors that your demo day has change the world startups with amazing profit potencial. Get 20/30 people just to go around places and just mention it in a offhand way.
davidw 19y ago
> how would you get all the VCs to attend You're not going to get that. If there is no way to keep bozos out, there is no guarantee of quality, and thus less interest. So just stick to fun meetings once in a while, rather than anything smacking of an 'organization'.

kmt 19y ago

How about gathering in one of the countries that recently joined the EU: Bulgaria, Romania... Living is cheap, labour is cheap, people are smart. Anyone interested? On the other hand conditions there not that professional and engineers don't have adequate experience. Hmm...

danny76 19y ago
I'm living in Romania. It would be a great place to join up with other entrepreneurs. My biggest problem is finding entrepreneurally-minded people (co-founders). Finding experienced programmers to hire is not a problem, there are plenty. There's an entire outsourcing industry working for US and Western Europe clients. Finding "professional conditions" (office space? net? or what?) is not a problem either. Living costs are still cheap, but rising, and so are wages.
- kmt 19y ago
  I'd be interested to learn more about Romania. Danny76, please contact me if you wish to discuss this further: kmt at ftml dot net.
  - cstejerean 19y ago
    Personally I wouldn't recommend Romania as a place to do a startup yet, at least not to incorporate in Romania. I moved to the US from Romania about 7 years ago and while some things have improved in the mean time I think the current system in Romania would impose too many road bloacks for a startup. Great place however to outsource.
    - kmt 19y ago
      Well, you could incorporate in Delaware but be located in Romania for a while. Also, Romania has probably improved a bit since you left.
      - danny76 19y ago

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

ivankirigin 19y ago

Why not just organize some regular BarCamps?

breck 19y ago

If anyone who wasn't accepted wants to move to Cambridge, my roommate and I may have a deal for you. We'll provide you(or ya'll--up to 2) with free room & board in return for doing some development for our company(an angel funded web 2.0 startup). Then you can spend your time working on your company in the center of innovation in Cambridge. I'm not saying this will definitely happen, but if you're nice enough and seem like you just need a boost like this to get going I just may. Email me breck at breckyunits.com if interested. BTW- Our company started the YC application but our customers are closer to Cambridge so we never finished the app. Judging by the acceptance rate we most likely would have gotten rejected anyway but it still was too bad we couldn't apply. I've been living in North Carolina for 5 years, is there something about the winter in Boston I should know ;)

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

perezd 19y ago

I live in Santa Clara, here in SV, I'd love to meet up, please feel free to contact me.

ardit33 19y ago

Please don't come here. Stay where you are and try to make it work. Rents are already thru the roof from too many people moving in.

deleted 19y ago

[deleted]

tobin 19y ago

First I'd like to say congrats and good luck to those who were selected to go to the next round! I'm sure this is going to be a very exciting, yet very nerveracking experience. For those of you in europe, although it's not quite the same thing as Y Combinator I've been following the Seed Camp blog. This seems to be something that may be of interest to you not in the US. http://www.seedcamp.com/ http://www.seedcamp.com/ As for those who got rejected (like me and my partner), just keep on working at it and keep your eyes open to opportunities. We tried and by far that's far better than not trying at all. t.

imasr 19y ago

At this point, I wonder if we should start sharing YC applications, checking mutual interests and after that decide where, whom and when. Let's take the best out of a loss. If anyone is interested in South America (Buenos Aires) and build a p2p development platform, or need a highly skilled/experienced C++/webstuff programmer, drop me a line: rafael_imas[at]yahoo[dot]com.

kingnothing 19y ago

It's completely off topic, but after reading through this thread, I have to say it: I love this community.