

You Didn’t Make It to Y Combinator or TechStars, Now What? - alain94040
http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/04/07/you-didnt-make-it-to-y-combinator-or-techstars-now-what/

======
old-gregg
We took our rejection 2 years ago as a wakeup call: If you can't sell yourself
to YC, number one thing you need to learn is how to sell, period. Because "how
to sell" part will start matter more and more down the road, approaching "how
to code" in importance.

If you couldn't sell yourself to YC, you may not sell to your customers
either, or other investors, or future employees, etc etc etc

Learn how to sell. Your idea is probably fine - 95% of YC-accepted companies
are building tiny incremental improvements to existing products.

~~~
ALee
If you can't sell, get closer and closer to having a product or getting to
having a business. Talk is cheap, but having made something matters more.

A basketball team will be more likely to draft you because you've de-risked
yourself, you are probably already on your way to winning the NCAA.

I wrote a little about this before on my blog about getting into YC, etc.:
[http://andrewlee.com/2009/03/01/startup-march-
madness-2009-g...](http://andrewlee.com/2009/03/01/startup-march-
madness-2009-getting-into-launchbox-and-ycombinator-techstars-etc/)

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brk
Your post really sounds like you massively misunderstand the program.

You mention using the $15K in funding to buy a graphic design,or to pay for
some PR. The idea behind the $15K in funding is (as I understand it, never
having directly participated) is that it is just enough to cover _reasonable_
living expenses. It is enough to take your mind off of "how will I pay my
rent", but not enough to put your mind on "what clubs will I party at this
weekend after I spend a day surfing (ocean surfing, not web surfing).

You make reference to Googleing obsessively on certain topics to learn. But
how do you know that which you do not know? I've been involved in startups for
years, and I still learned things in the very first Startup School ('05, I
think), that I had never considered before. No amount of Google-fu would have
been as efficient or effective. It is safe to assume that having 1-1 time with
pg and his ilk would be massively more valuable than having direct access to
Googles entire cache of startup-related data.

You also overly discount the value of what you label as "notoriety". No matter
what you build, you have to get your message out there somehow. Being
prefiltered as a valuable or insightful company can accelerate the growth of
your product/company.

At the end of the day, YC and programs like it are not the only way to launch
a company. But I think the value, especially to "entry level entrepreneurs" is
pretty significant.

------
jlees
_whenever you have the choice between worrying about what will happen,
applying to a program, preparing a presentation, or making progress on your
product… always choose the latter. Keep coding. Ignore the distractions.
You’ll end up ahead._

You've got to eat somehow. Not everyone's lucky enough to have the resources
to code in isolation for months without thinking about business development.
Plus when you finish coding and have to present, you've missed out on valuable
practice opportunities ;)

~~~
alain94040
Does the $15K help you eat for any significant amount of time?

Let's say t will take a year for your startup to take off or make it to a
funding event. For 3 people, you'd be splitting $415/month. Some people can
make that kind of income with one day of IT consulting, so there _are_
workarounds to getting into YC.

Again, don't get me wrong: if you are accepted, by all means take the offer!

~~~
jlees
I didn't really just mean YC's money, more the unfeasability of ignoring all
concerns but the code. Obviously some people (the IT consultant you mention,
or those laid off with a nice severance, etc) don't really have their empty
fridges as so much of a motivation ;)

I wouldn't really expect a startup to operate on $15k for a year; the whole
point is you use it as a springboard for further funding, surely?

------
okeumeni
Try AlphaLab <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=550892>

------
pclark
interesting way to rationalize not getting in: "it isn't very good"

~~~
alain94040
Don't get me wrong. YC is good. But not getting in is not the end of the
world. It's the difference between taking a shortcut or having to do the work
yourself.

~~~
pg
From quotes like this

"It’s great if you are the kind who learns by sitting passively on a chair
listening to someone."

it's clear you don't understand what happens within YC.

We don't have classes where people sit and listen to us talk about stuff that
they could, if they were sufficiently diligent, find by searching in Google.
Nearly all interactions we have with startups are about their specific
situation: things like what features to build first, when to launch, what to
say on the frontpage, how to deal with specific investors they're talking to,
etc.

~~~
alain94040
Thanks for the clarification. I updated the blog accordingly with your
comment.

I wasn't referring to YC specifically when I wrote the original paragraph, I
had other incubators in mind. Sorry if it sounded too harsh.

