
The Anti-Portfolio - bbourn
https://www.bvp.com/portfolio/anti-portfolio
======
Stratoscope
I almost didn't read this because the submitted title spelled "meh" to me.

But I'm glad I looked. This is hilarious!

(And it has nothing to do with YC or YC applicants. The actual title is much
better: "Honoring Those We Missed: The Anti-Portfolio")

It also makes me feel not _quite_ so bad about some of my own personal
mistakes...

~~~
tudorw
refreshing isn't it, nothing shouts integrity louder than sharing failure.

~~~
hoodoof
Really? I see no connection between the two. explain more? _Perhaps_ honesty.
Not integrity. More likely good marketing skills. "Nothing shouts "good
marketing skills!" more than sharing failure.

They're VC's... so a much higher standard of proof is required to establish
integrity. (cough cough Eduardo Saverin)

Gotta remember, all angels and VCs are desperate to increase their "deal
flow", that means they need startups to know their name when they go looking
for money. So the VC puts on a sort of phoney humility... a kind of "hey we're
worth billions but same as you its been hard!" type thing. "Look at how we
made mistakes where instead of making tens of billions we only made billions".
That way when you are looking for money you might think "Hey those Bessemer
guys seemed pretty down to earth, like me!"

It's more like a good PR agency wrote it than 'refreshing'. No one there
actually writes... they're al playing golf. It was Sally at the PR agency who
wrote the thing that evoked a sense of integrity from you. She needs a pay
rise.

~~~
fhood
Yeah, but the fact that they let Sally publish it means that while they may
not have integrity, they at least are not idiots.

------
jedberg
Remember folks, the acceptance rate for YC is lower than Harvard. If you
didn't skip college because Harvard rejected you, then don't stop doing your
startup because YC rejected you. :)

~~~
austenallred
We were rejected four times before getting in. I've talked to others that were
rejected six times before getting in. Most people that get into YC have been
rejected before. Don't sweat it.

~~~
agibsonccc
I was rejected 4 times over the years before getting in. We ended up being
among the top in our batch after just being around for 2.5 years (this is my
4th company)

~~~
robinraszka
I was rejected multiple times as well. This time it was different.

------
fillskills
This is hilariously wonderful! At least they have a sense of humor about it.
And gives me a lot of hope for my venture and future ones. No one knows a
company as well as founders do. Thats why if you still believe in your idea
and execution, work on it day and night. Dont be turned off by a few VC
rejections. Take their comments in stride and learn from it. Also, remember
that most VCs just like most people have personal biases. Maybe you dont fit
in the right box yet.

------
mathattack
Bessemer has a good sense of humor. They are also involved in Bubbleproof.

[https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/17/watch-the-first-four-
episo...](https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/17/watch-the-first-four-episodes-of-
the-silicon-valley-mockumentary-bubbleproof/)

~~~
avip

      Failure is not an option. It's a feature
    

That one really made my day. Thanks for the link.

------
peterburkimsher
"As for Compaq, I told him there was no real future in transportable computers
since IBM could do it."

\- This is the point I made in a comment yesterday.
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15537940](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15537940)

hprotagonist was fretting about the "freight train is barreling down on them
in the form of Apple and Google"

I said there, and I'll say again here: Waiting for large companies to innovate
is like saying "I won't build the Apple II because I'd rather wait for the IBM
PC to be invented".

I think that big companies are under too much market pressure to really
innovate freely. Startups are a good thing, and Y Combinator is helping. If
you have an idea, please don't just give up and wait for the market leaders -
make a startup and make it real.

~~~
thisisit
Same goes for "Finally, cornered in a lunch line, Jeremy delivered some sage
advice "Kid, haven't you heard of Friendster? Move on. It's over!""

------
hoodoof
It's easy, and possibly even fun to talk about your antiportfolio and how you
didn't succeed, when you are already worth hundreds of millions, as they are
at this company.

~~~
blizkreeg
That's irrelevant. Every missed opportunity stings the same. It's relative.

~~~
hoodoof
Piffle.

There's no such thing as an antiportfolio or "missed opportunities". You may
as well say "why didn't I pick the correct lotto numbers". The answer is
"because you didn't".

Why didn't I make every decision in my life the right decision? Answer:
"because you didn't".

I could have made a billion dollars if I had know all the right stocks to
pick. The VC antiportfolio is the same thing.

Proximity to an opportunity seems to make people feel a greater sense of that
they "lost" the opportunity, but in fact that lost opportunity is precisely
the same as the whole world full of other opportunities that the person could
have taken at that moment.

~~~
majewsky
> You may as well say "why didn't I pick the correct lotto numbers". The
> answer is "because you didn't".

Lotto numbers all look the same up front. Startups all look different, so a
good VC can be better than a bad VC if they just know which differences to
look for.

~~~
consz
>Startups all look different, so a good VC can be better than a bad VC if they
just know which differences to look for.

I don't think this is an obvious claim. There's no strong evidence that VCs
are capable of differentiating good startups from bad.

~~~
joshuamorton
VCs manage to turn a profit?

~~~
consz
My understanding is VCs (as an industry) fail to beat the S&P500 returns, so
no, they don't turn a profit.

------
Nelkins
I liked this. My main takeaway though is that these people are ridiculously
well-connected. It's difficult for me to imagine having that kind of access to
so many top-tier companies (even if they weren't recognized as such at the
time). And I'm guessing these companies actively sought them out! It really
just seems like a different world.

------
kriro
While it's cool they wrote this and fun to read it's also a good piece for
them in the sense that they advertise that they were/are involved in all the
"hot deals".

------
Gustomaximus
Out if interest I googled YC rejected companies that succeeded. Here's a
thread from a year back;

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11229700](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11229700)

------
taneq
Note that if YC rejects your pitch, it doesn't mean your company is bad, or
the pitch is bad - it just means they don't think you're a good investment for
them.

~~~
yesimahuman
It probably doesn't even mean that. They've said before that the companies
they are unsure about and pass on are the hardest to reason about which is
probably true for a lot of aspects of business. They just couldn't get across
the finish line, there's not much "there" there.

Anyone that got rejected that believes in their business should keep at it. We
got rejected several times from YC in the early days, and it really meant
nothing for the business in the grand scheme of things (so glad we didn't give
up!)

~~~
bbourn
I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that you (and other successful YC rejections)
will post a bit about your company to keep the rest of our spirits up through
this dip in our entrepreneurial roller coaster....

~~~
yesimahuman
Sure :) We're a dev tools/services company. We applied back in 2011 and 2012,
got one straight rejection and one interview rejection (not my first either, I
got an interview rejection with my first startup ever two years before that!).

We got really close but it wasn't in the cards. Ended up bootstrapping after
that, and went to TechStars instead based on a recommendation from a friend (I
really felt a need to do one of these programs, insecurity in hindsight). Came
back from that and kind of fell into what became Ionic
([http://ionicframework.com/](http://ionicframework.com/)) which was a side
project for us, found some good traction with it and it consumed us and we
ended up doing some VC rounds over the last few years (and continuing to grow
nicely, millions of devs, etc.).

There's a long ways to go still but if you believe in the team you have, then
you should do whatever you can to make it work. That combination of the right
people at the right time is one of the most precious things and something that
only _you_ can assess. Not everyone will see the potential, but you realize
quickly that they aren't the gate keepers: customers are.

------
ashtube
"Cowan’s college friend rented her garage to Sergey and Larry"

You mean Susan? The CEO of YouTube? :)

------
segmondy
I just got my rejection letter. I suppose I didn't do a good enough job
explaining my ideas.

Any other rejects interested in a mastermind group?

We could network with Slack/Hangout, encourage each other, and arrange our own
"Rejects demo day" at end of March.

If interested reach out to me.

~~~
Roybot
First time applying for me and first time rejected.

------
thisisit
I have always wondered, is VC funding only about money or making industry
connections too?

~~~
hkmurakami
Some of the upside include money, help raising your next round (intros to
other later stage VCs), providing you with additional money (insider bridge
round), hiring leads (VP level), operational input (finances), product input
(from partners who've run companies before), giving you legitimacy (companies
are worried if you'll be around in 2 years), and yes, sales lead intros
(rolodex networker style VCs).

------
rinaworks
Why haven't I receive my rejection email?

~~~
skashyap
Same here.

~~~
mamoriamohit
Same here.

------
pfarnsworth
What this actually means is that VCs have no idea if a company will be
successful or not and it's basically luck. The ones that survive are the ones
who manage to hit one of their gambles with outsized wins, similar to a
roulette table.

Why some continue to believe VCs actually know anything or add value is beyond
me. Even YC admits as much, saying their best guess is the caliber of the
founder, and that there should be at least 2 co-founders. Everything else is a
guess.

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _VCs have no idea if a company will be successful or not and it 's basically
> luck_

This anti-portfolio is a sample of Bessemer's Type II errors [1]. It does not
follow that they are useless. (Their returns are far from useless.)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors)

~~~
pfarnsworth
Wrong. If you have enough money, and your gains are sufficiently outsized from
a win, then any spread bet across dozens of companies will end up making
money. Being a VC in Silicon Valley over the last 20 years is a game you can't
lose, as long as you have enough money. And let's not forget, they're not even
playing with their own money, they are playing with their investors money.

But it doesn't mean you're a smart VC it just means that you're a rich VC.
They have enough high profile misses to show they have no idea what is going
to be successful. They passed on Google, Apple and Facebook with a combined
market value of almost $1.5 trillion dollars.

~~~
JumpCrisscross
> _Being a VC in Silicon Valley over the last 20 years is a game you can 't
> lose, as long as you have enough money_

You won’t find a source for this because it isn’t true. Lots of VCs have
busted because despite diversification, the odds of a single company in a
portfolio of 20 to 100 making it big are very small.

~~~
pfarnsworth
Thanks for your anecdotes.

------
fazkan
having you heard of friendster, its over move on...This made me laugh so
hard.. This goes to show that there is no clear formula/predictor...

------
aezell
The ultimate humblebrag.

------
mamoriamohit
Are the invites sent out already? Haven't received any email -- neither invite
not rejection. :/

~~~
maryfoxmarlow
We haven't either. Good luck!

~~~
mvskiran
yes waiting for some information.

~~~
vijaibhatti
Anyone hear of companies getting invites yet ?

------
Mz
Subtitled:

 _Bessemer Venture Partners is perhaps the nation 's oldest venture capital
firm, tracing our roots back to the Carnegie Steel empire. This long and
storied history has afforded our firm an unparalleled number of opportunities
to completely screw up._

It is extremely funny.

------
umanwizard
dang: Can the title be changed? I'm not a startup founder so I don't usually
read YC-specific stuff, but this article has nothing to do with YC, its actual
title doesn't mention YC, and it is funny and of general interest.

------
oaixs
So I think for those of us who received the rejection emails right after 10pm
were pretty much in the "for sure" stack and for those who haven't received it
yet there's still hope.

~~~
vijaibhatti
Have you heard of anyone getting an invite yet ?

~~~
oaixs
No I have not. I suppose they're too busy celebrating.

------
hoodoof
Anyone rejected willing to tell us what your idea was?

~~~
nasirmaziz
Yes, mine was not any software related product. It was energy-related
technology that extends the range of existing and future Electric Vehicles.
The show must go on as planned...

------
coffeemakescode
A friend in my previous job was accepted after his fourth attempt. Don't give
up. And if YC never accepts you, then prove them wrong.

------
nasirmaziz
A proud recipient of the rejection email here! Is there a YC Alumni
Association of Rejects? Let's make one if not LOL!

~~~
sujits
Same here, Got a rejection mail.

------
vijaibhatti
Has anyone received rejections/invites yet ? I have received neither and it's
almost 11pm

~~~
fbonawiede
received it 20 minutes ago

~~~
vijaibhatti
Invite or rejection?

~~~
fbonawiede
rejection

------
Bonge
Jeremy Levine seems to have been the one who missed the most. Even the best
have their failures!

------
hyperpallium
What was the wig company?

------
allenleein
As a startup founder, I really enjoy reading this one.

------
jaypatel16
Anyone who got rejection mail for w2018 batch?

~~~
vijaibhatti
No ,anyone get an invite ?

------
orkanyilmaz
How many of us got a video call and rejected?

------
skashyap
Has everyone gotten their rejection emails ?

------
ronilan
I was rejected years ago and indeed nothing good ever came out of me. There is
no hope. ;)

~~~
ak39
Some guy I used to go fishing with once told me that startups are like
fishing. He said, you know, the traditional line & hook type of fishing. Not
the trawler, dredging type of fishing. It's a game of luck mostly. No one
really knows where the fish are at any given time. But make sure to only ever
fish in a pond in which others have been catching fish. Put your line in and
wait. And while you wait make sure you don't starve to death.

Also, while you wait, make sure to check up on your mom. Get into shape. Enjoy
the scenery.

I have since stopped going fishing with that fucker.

~~~
IndrekR
If you go fishing, you should cut the hook off the line before you cast.
Otherwise getting the fish may ruin the fishing.

Unfortunately some people think along the same line about running a company,
not necessarily a startup one.

Oh, and if you know the fish and tricks of the trade, it is not just a matter
of luck. Statistics in sports fishing say there really is a 10x angler.
Competition fishing has been a thing for a long time.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Freshwater_Angling_Champ...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Freshwater_Angling_Championships)

------
ringaroundthetx
I'm seeing a pattern of a lack of humility that bites him over and over again.

