4 ms·

A relevant question I asked PG a year ago: [Do you review rejected YC apps to find startups who then made it big?] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=712277

A relevant question I asked PG a year ago: [Do you review rejected YC apps to find startups who then made it big?] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7122774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7122774

rdlecler1 12y ago
I've mentioned this in another post. I'm a CPSC University of Calgary alum. James Gosling (Founder of Java) is also an alum. A bunch of my profs went to school with him back in the 70s and the stories they told about him. Well he was a legend. One day he came to do a talk when I was in undergrad. He told us that he applied to every major CPSC school for his PhD and was rejected EVERYWHERE except for Carnegie Mellon. As he was about to walk across the stage to be awarded his degree there, they pulled him aside and told him that each year they randomly select one person that they initially rejected and accepted that person, and that he was the first one that ever graduated. Even James needed luck. I would love to see the same experiment done with YC. IT would be one hell of an experiment.
- tsenkov 12y ago
  This is a very interesting case, indeed. I think YC used to accept awesome teams with (seemingly) bad ideas. Which is only partially like your example. But I don't believe they are doing it now with so many applications (40% more than S14). Anyone has any examples pointing the other?
graphene 12y ago
I can't find a source for LightSail having been rejected from YC, the linked reference is just a crunchbase entry that doesn't mention YC as investors. I'd be super interested to know more about this, since LightSail seems like exactly the type of company (and founder) that YC says it wants to fund: Working in a RFS domain (energy), massive potential upside, and founder with considerable domain expertise.
- ig1 12y ago
  IIRC it was in 2008 when YC was in a very different position from what it is now.
  - graphene 12y ago
    That seems to have been a web startup, see http://daniellefong.com/2008/04/11/one-response-to-rejection/ http://daniellefong.com/2008/04/11/one-response-to-rejection... Still food for thought that YC would reject a founder so obviously good (although perhaps not obviously then) as DaniFong.. I wonder if getting rejected was one of the reasons for her to start working on something more "zero to one", and closer to her area of expertise?

rdlecler1 12y ago

I've mentioned this in another post. I'm a CPSC University of Calgary alum. James Gosling (Founder of Java) is also an alum. A bunch of my profs went to school with him back in the 70s and the stories they told about him. Well he was a legend. One day he came to do a talk when I was in undergrad. He told us that he applied to every major CPSC school for his PhD and was rejected EVERYWHERE except for Carnegie Mellon. As he was about to walk across the stage to be awarded his degree there, they pulled him aside and told him that each year they randomly select one person that they initially rejected and accepted that person, and that he was the first one that ever graduated. Even James needed luck. I would love to see the same experiment done with YC. IT would be one hell of an experiment.

tsenkov 12y ago
This is a very interesting case, indeed. I think YC used to accept awesome teams with (seemingly) bad ideas. Which is only partially like your example. But I don't believe they are doing it now with so many applications (40% more than S14). Anyone has any examples pointing the other?

graphene 12y ago

I can't find a source for LightSail having been rejected from YC, the linked reference is just a crunchbase entry that doesn't mention YC as investors. I'd be super interested to know more about this, since LightSail seems like exactly the type of company (and founder) that YC says it wants to fund: Working in a RFS domain (energy), massive potential upside, and founder with considerable domain expertise.

ig1 12y ago
IIRC it was in 2008 when YC was in a very different position from what it is now.
- graphene 12y ago
  That seems to have been a web startup, see http://daniellefong.com/2008/04/11/one-response-to-rejection/ http://daniellefong.com/2008/04/11/one-response-to-rejection... Still food for thought that YC would reject a founder so obviously good (although perhaps not obviously then) as DaniFong.. I wonder if getting rejected was one of the reasons for her to start working on something more "zero to one", and closer to her area of expertise?