
Rejected from YC? Here is what you're missing out on - andymoe
http://www.techendo.co/posts/tell-techendo-rejected-from-yc-here-is-what-you-re-missing-out-on
======
pg
I was curious about who this guy was, since this is full of inaccuracies and
yet shows some inside knowledge. It turns out the author is not a YC founder,
but a programmer who worked for one of the companies we funded, and who didn't
stay with the company long. So for example it's not merely because "this has
been covered so many times it’s not really worth mentioning" that he doesn't
go into detail about the interview. It's because he wasn't _at_ the interview.

~~~
lowglow
Author here:

What was inaccurate about this write-up?

I wasn't hired part way through the batch, I joined them as they were going
through the interview process, true. I didn't stay with the company until the
very end, you're right. I had a different vision than they did. I still was on
the YC Founders list. I still went to every YC event, meeting, and dinner as a
founder. Just trying to share what I know and learned from YC so people can
still find success and community.

After I left the company I was taken off the founders list, that was fine by
me. Does that make me any less a part of YC or the spirit of this community?

~~~
pg
The most striking inaccuracy is the superficial description of YC, both in
breadth and depth. You can't accurately describe the interview, or the many
interactions we've had with the company since Demo Day, since you weren't
there for those, so you effectively omit them. And you can't describe the many
individual conversations YC partners had with the CEO and founders of the
company you worked for outside of office hours (many of which were about what
to do about you), because you weren't there for those either. So the
impression you give of YC is that it consists of dinners plus Demo Day plus a
few office hours, because that was what you saw of it.

~~~
MJR
_(many of which were about what to do about you)_

What does this mean? Is this as an attack on the author's credibility,
character, skills or otherwise?

It seems like there should be a distinction on whether he shouldn't have
written this because he didn't have the full experience of a founder or
because he is not a credible witness because he was an employee that was going
against the grain and that the founders were struggling to deal with in some
capacity.

~~~
pg
The troubles the company had with him don't reflect on his credibility as a
witness of the things he did see. My point is that there was also a lot he
didn't see.

~~~
MJR
Thanks pg. Based on filling in the details you provided I agree with you. As a
reader I assumed this was his analysis as a true founder - present from pitch
to alumni. Clearly, that's not the case.

------
sillysaurus2
Question for dpg. I heard that as a founder you get access to a mailing list
read by every other YC founder.

Out of curiosity, how many founders read it nowadays? Most of them? YC's
funded 440 companies, so there've been around ~1k founders. I was just
wondering how many of them still use it.

It's quite cool to see the alumni network growing so large.

~~~
drusenko
there are usually a couple dozen emails per week, but easy to skim through. i
read most of them, as i'm sure many do.

~~~
rdl
It isn't really a discussion list so much as people sending important
announcements or sometimes sending posts asking a question, soliciting private
answers, then compiling and potentially anonymizing the results before posting
a consolidated response a few days later -- super efficient.

Per batch email, group discussion (FB mostly, for us), group chat, etc usually
involves a subset, or direct asks of other groups. I personally know nothing
about consumer stuff, so no one ever asks me for CSS advice, but plenty of
times hosting, security, etc questions come up.

Plus the purely social stuff is usually with a self selected subset; YC is
diverse in interests. There is even basically a YC gun club, and a bunch of YC
anti-gun activists, coexisting peacefully :)

~~~
kumarski
Wait, where's the YC gun club?

------
ar7hur
So is YC worth it?

I think that for a first-time entrepreneur, that's definitely worth it. I wish
I started my first company (ten years ago) at something like YC. We did so
many mistakes we could have avoided , it would have been a huge time saver.

The question I'm asking myself today is: is it worth it for an experienced
entrepreneur? As a so-called successful entrepreneur who has had good exits in
the past, you already have a network of investors, credibility, and while any
advice is always good to hear, it's not like you are just starting for the
first time. But still, with YC you get the alumni network, a lot of audience
for your product launch, and more competition among investors (which alone
could "reimburse" the 2%~9% you'll "lose" to YC).

It would be great to hear the opinion of experienced entrepreneurs.

~~~
selmnoo
After having thought a great deal about it, it's worth it for two reasons in
my mind:

1) the recognition, the prestige, the 'YC' name that gets you really good
deals, which entails VCs (the good ones) coming to you, press taking you more
seriously, potential candidates being more enticed working for a 'YC' company
(so the normally difficult task of finding early employees/co-founders is made
considerably easier)

2) You get to be in the YC network (in some senses this is comparable to being
in the Harvard Alumni association, where being a friend of some guy can mean
you can become a C-level or VP of some company). Moreover: Being friends with
other talented founders, getting advice from people who know their stuff and
have done many things before, and a lot of times getting good deals from them
and their startups (if you happen to be low on cash [1]).

[1]: Speaking of which, a possible third reason is the seed money.

------
argumentum
_[1] a fellow YCer says you should be networking with investors as opposed to
working on product, contrary to what PG asks of you._

I remember at the beginning of my batch there were rumors of this "insider
tip". Turned out that the best companies did exactly what YC said: _make
something people want_ (build product, talk to users) and stay somewhat
healthy (exercise).

Anything else was a time-sink: worrying about hiring, adding co-founders,
interns, getting press, "networking" etc. Focus on them too early, and risk
serious injury or death. These have their place .. _after_ you make something
users want.

There were some good startups who were talking to investors, but they weren't
"networking" as much as closing deals because they were doing so well.

Also, at least 90% of our dinners (s12) were still served Oliver Twist style,
not catered, unless you can cater gruel ;)

Of the dinner speakers, there was one disappointment (canned speech), but most
were great with the absolute highlight of Brian and Joe from AirBnB. Before
dinner, PG was giddily floating around the room, every once in a while almost
whistling "the AirBnB's are here".

Two hours of $40 cereal boxes, rejections, troughs of sorrow, and cockroaches
later, I have a crystal clear memory of the room (of 300+) going silent as
Brian stated " _and then we started YC_ ". _Three_ hours after that, when ever
question was answered, I don't think anyone walked out of that room the same.

For me, that is the essence of YC: the sheer _energy_ in the air. The money's
great if you need it (we didn't and it helped kill us), the network is
powerful and helpful of course, the advice is often brilliant and more
importantly brilliantly obvious. But the _energy_ changes you, for many this
happens in time to make their YC startup explode (in a good way).

For other founders, the realization comes late. I have an inkling that Ben
Silbermann will not be the only YC alum to start a billion+ dollar startup
after not doing so great during YC.

------
stephenhacking
Why are so many people fretting about not getting into YC and why do crappy
stories like this get upvoted? If getting into Y-Combinator was your idea of
validation, your startup is doomed anyways.

~~~
feralmoan
Being part of YC adds a whole new dimension of political clout and credibility
irregardless. It's definitely a 'who you know' rather than 'what you know'
notch on the belt beyond simple validation. Saying you were part of it may be
worth something to the right people at the right time, one day.

~~~
stephenhacking
So, it's "bragging rights". But, temporary bragging rights considering the
fact that they have at least ~100 teams per year and unless your startup goes
somewhere after YC, you're just wasting your time.

------
onedev
I've talked to bunch of people who've gone through YC and it doesn't seem like
anyone is really missing out on much.

It seems to be more of support group than anything else, and really while a
support group is important it doesn't justify near as much hype as YC gets.

The future of Silicon Valley's greatness is not within the reach of YC. The
power of media and investment dollars is decentralizing fast and for the
better.

------
praxeologist
"In addition to office hours, there are dinners. Dinners are typically catered
now, but in the early days, PG would make some goulash for the handful of YC
companies."

What sort of stuff did PG cook?

~~~
immad
Mostly rice and chilli con carne.

Its been a while, so I can't remember exactly. It was made in massive batches
and wasn't that tasty (sorry pg).

It was fun though.

~~~
selmnoo
But it's pretty sweet though, that pg went to the lengths of _himself_ cooking
stuff up. I'd love it if pg cooked something for me.

------
presty
now in pictures [http://islandofatlas.net/2013/10/21/i-guess-this-is-how-
yc-f...](http://islandofatlas.net/2013/10/21/i-guess-this-is-how-yc-feels-
like.html)

------
johnrob
Any ideas for a Demo Day substitute? The deadline is probably just as
important as the investor connections (i.e. something that only produces the
former would still be valuable).

~~~
lowglow
I think that's on you and your group. Being realistic and setting goals, then
going to your support group and being accountable for hitting those is really
important. You feel guilty when you show up empty handed, meanwhile everyone
else is showing progress. It keeps you motivated.

------
adamzerner
So do you think that YC was even worth it?

~~~
martinshen
Do you believe YC will increase the value of your company by 5-8%? Yes.

Their brand brings better investors, more qualified employees, press and more
qualified employees.

~~~
adamzerner
I'm not implying that YC isn't worth it, just asking. For the record, I think
it probably is worth it, but I'm wavery on that thought. 5-8% is a lot.

~~~
petervandijck
Depends on 5-8% of what :)

------
morgante
Anyone know about, or interested in starting, something like this in NYC?

~~~
photorized
Started one in Stamford CT.

~~~
mekarpeles
Definitely need it if you're living there... Fellow connectican

