

Ask HN: Rejected from YC? What's your startup? - derwiki

This isn&#x27;t meant to be an angry discussion; simply state your idea, and wait for helpful feedback from your HN peers.
======
derwiki
I didn't apply, but because I thought my business wasn't mature enough for
YCombinator. BUT last time I started this thread, I was criticized for not
being as forthright. So! my bootstrapped startup:

www.CameraLends.com, P2P camera rental. We've reached 500 users and nearly 100
transactions to date (and growing and accelerating week-over-week). We did not
apply to YC because all YC alums who gave me advice said that YC is looking
for "10% week-over-week growth" and our numbers are low enough to not be able
to show that consistently.

~~~
ecolner
Nice. I like the design and good product photos. Not sure of the market size.
That would be a good part to focus on if you apply in the future imo.

~~~
derwiki
Thanks for the kind words! Re: market size, BorrowLenses was acquired by
Shutterfly for ~$14m in equity ([http://www.imaging-
resource.com/news/2013/10/25/shutterfly-a...](http://www.imaging-
resource.com/news/2013/10/25/shutterfly-acquires-borrowlens-rental-service)).
The market for pure consumer cameras is shrinking based on industry reports
(~$100m/year and decreasing) but professional cameras aren't bleeding as bad.
And Calumet (a HUGE national rental shop) closed it's doors recently, leaving
a lot of photographers not knowing where to rent from.

~~~
ecolner
Ya, I figure your market is the SMB that needs high end equipment. Very cool.
I know guys that could use this.

But I bet you'd have great funding success if you broadened the concept beyond
just cameras and became Borrow.it or something. I was recently wishing there
was a service that rents espresso machines since I've never used one before
and the ones I want start at $700. Similar theme but another passionate crowd
:)

~~~
derwiki
We're testing the waters for lighting equipment (which is as expensive as
cameras) and high-end video, like the RED ONE and Epic-M. It's funny that you
suggest becoming more generic -- that was specifically why we began focused on
camera gear. There are existing "P2P rent anything" sites like Zilok,
Snapgoods, and the now defunct Rentalic. The main problem is that most items
aren't expensive enough to be worth the hassle. The frustration that lead to
CameraLends was my girlfriend complaining that renting a sewing machine for a
few days would require $100 and renting a car to drive across town to pick up,
whereas buying a brand new one on Amazon was only $150.

~~~
ecolner
Ah snap! That's good stuff right there. What else can we think of renting? P2P
game rentals?

~~~
sharemywin
nothing in it really for the renter. you would need a decent size collection.
how are you going to large advantage enough over these guys to make it worth
while: gamefly, redbox, gamestop

------
samelawrence
We had ambitious, though perhaps misguided plans to revolutionize recipe
publishing across the web (and also didn't have the idea for long before
applying). Since applying, and talking a few other folks, we've realized that
what we really want to do is pick up the torch of the early work on RecipeML
and make an open format for the web to encode recipe data in. Ideally, we'd
like to see companies like Epicurious and Allrecipes.com use this format and
compete on features rather than data. We believe all recipes should be open
and public to the web, allowing anyone to cook anything, anywhere.

So, we're still on the task, but maybe this is about creating a consortium to
manage an open format / standard, rather than a company... though I certainly
think profitable companies could come from this.

You can view our submission here:
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/n99prz9wkxjb223/s2014form.htm](https://www.dropbox.com/s/n99prz9wkxjb223/s2014form.htm)

Just open in a browser (or text editor, if you really feel like it).

~~~
juu4
What's in it for Epicurious and Allrecipes, considering they currently own the
data and competing just on features probably means they lose market power?

~~~
samelawrence
Well, one of them would have to race to have market dominance, but imagine
being the publisher / host for every recipe on the web. You could really only
achieve that by opening in your platform / format to 3rd party devs and other
services, to allow other tie-ins.

So... Instagram didn't invent JPEG... they just made it really simple and easy
for everyone to share images, and the 3rd party services that have sprung up
around it have strengthened their ecosystem. That's a bad example... but...
you get what I'm saying I hope.

------
s3f0
Hi guys we have built a search engine for local apps, 98% of the apps in the
stores has less than 50.000 downloads, that is not a healthy ecosystem. For us
each application has a place and each location is a store. Is no the first
time we got rejected ;) Apple did not allow to publish our search engine back
in July and later on they publish "Popular" Near me. We will keep fightint for
a fair store and organic positioning for every indie dev. Hope you like what
we are trying to do.
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.mapplas.co...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.mapplas.com)
www.mapplas.com

~~~
Lionga
I just want to warn you, google will also remove your app once they notice it.
Apple & Google do not want anyone competing with their stores.

~~~
jamesfranco
What are you talking about? Quixey.com is an app that let users discover apps
and hasn't been removed from the android app store. Plus it has raised
millions from Eric Schmidt's fund, Innovation Endeavors.

~~~
s3f0
And xyo.net has an app aswell, google is not apple.

------
vgrichina
My startup is visual programming system ala Spreadsheets + Zapier, here is my
YC application – [http://spreadsheets-on-
steroids.tumblr.com/post/82903500034/...](http://spreadsheets-on-
steroids.tumblr.com/post/82903500034/my-failed-application-to-yc-summer-2014)

Would like some feedback on my application.

------
wmaiouiru
Applied, but didn't get invited for an interview.

We are creating a door to door travel itinerary search engine.
(www.travelmacho.com) Currently, most of the travel website only provides you
with one leg of the travel such as flights, but there is still the problem of
figuring out how to get to the airport. So what the users typically do is open
up multiple windows to plan their travels.

We would like to create a platform that aggregates all modes of transportation
(bus, train, flight, airport shuttle, taxi etc) into one search engine. The
users will be able to find the best way to travel in one website.

Let us know what you think!
[http://www.travelmacho.com](http://www.travelmacho.com)

------
omnisci
Hi all, 4th attempt w/ recommendations from YC founders and no interview this
time. I think I know why (single founder, little traction).

My company, Stirplate.io, is an app for scientists to store, share and analyze
their data in the cloud.

Science needs help managing it's data, so my company helps with that process.
We also automate data analysis for scientists, making hours of excel work take
about 15seconds.

------
m0dE
[http://www.innGrid.net](http://www.innGrid.net) 4 months old. 100 sign-ups.
10 paying customers.

~~~
dgarrett
Fyi, the smooth scrolling JS you use on your homepage is very awkward with a
Macbook trackpad (in Chrome). It kind of accelerates erratically.

