
Y Combinator W2011 application (my rejection email) - citizenkeys
We're sorry to say we couldn't accept your proposal for funding.
Please don't take it personally.  The applications we receive get
better every funding cycle, and since there's a limit on the number
of startups we can interview in person, we had to turn away a lot
of genuinely promising groups.<p>Another reason you shouldn't take this personally is that we know
we make lots of mistakes.  It's alarming how often the last group
to make it over the threshold for interviews ends up being one that
we fund.  That means there are surely other good groups that fall
just below the threshold and that we miss even interviewing.<p>http://ycombinator.com/whynot.html<p>We're trying to get better at this, but it's practically certain
that groups we rejected will go on to create successful startups.
If you do, we'd appreciate it if you'd send us an email telling us
about it; we want to learn from our mistakes.<p>Y Combinator team<p>-----------------------------------<p>My pitch was WikiTorrents.org, which is user-created lists of downloadable videos.<p>If you want to help me with some seed money, regardless of amount, maybe I can turn this whole thing into a positive. Email me at citizenkeys AT gmail DOT com .<p>Here is the WikiTorrents.org collection of YCombinator applicant videos: http://wikitorrents.org/wiki/ycombinator_applicants
======
jlm382
inDinero saw rejection many times before getting into Y Combinator...

We applied (and got rejected in the first round) from the U.C. Berkeley
Business Plan competition first in spring of 2009, then again in the spring of
2010. We also got turned away from TechStars during Spring 2009. We also tried
raising angel money in the summer of 2009 and couldn't get a single
commitment.

It's not all fun and roses.

This kept us going for a while: <http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html>

~~~
DevX101
Did the product improve between TechStars and YC? Or did the YC team see
something in you that the others didn't 'get'?

~~~
jlm382
we learned nothing from our rejections (other than the willpower to withstand
rejection), and continued building our product.

I think we didn't get into TechStars because we were still wrapping up school.
YC probably would have rejected us too.

~~~
jonathanjaeger
It was also because you hadn't graduated school yet, if I remember correctly
from your interviews (e.g. This Week in Startups).

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dmix
I don't know about you guys, but I'm still in a pretty good mood despite being
declined.

I quit my job yesterday and I'm going to be working on my (3rd) startup full
time.

It's liberating to become completely dependent on your own ability.

Bootstrapping: "a self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help"

~~~
ecargnfx
I just quit yesterday too!! I feel happy and stupid, because in my situation
I'm the only bread winner in my family, so they're really dependent on me for
money (even though I'm only 21).

But I was getting miserable at work because all I wanted to do was work on my
startup. I'm looking for other seed funding now since I can't afford to
bootstrap. Let's see how this turns out. And let's hope my family doesn't
starve.

I'm available to freelance as a UX/Mobile designer for anyone hiring in nyc!
Money to tide us over as I work on my startup would be nice :)

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stevenp
I just got my rejection letter too. I have to say, though, that the whole
experience has been great. Filling out the application really made me think a
lot about my business, and what my pitch is.

It's amazing the clarity that comes from writing the answers to those
questions down and making that video.

Good luck to everyone who hasn't been rejected yet! :)

~~~
kingsidharth
Yah man! It gave me clarity. That was nice. :P

------
ajju
Pardon the poetry if it is not your thing, but this one by Gibran always lifts
my spirits after I fail.

"Defeat" by Khalil Gibran

Defeat, my Defeat, my solitude and my aloofness; You are dearer to me than a
thousand triumphs, And sweeter to my heart than all worldglory.

Defeat, my Defeat, my self-knowledge and my defiance, Through you I know that
I am yet young and swift of foot And not to be trapped by withering laurels.
And in you I have found aloneness And the joy of being shunned and scorned.

Defeat, my Defeat, my shining sword and shield, In your eyes I have read That
to be enthroned is to be enslaved, And to be understood is to be levelled
down, And to be grasped is but to reach one's fulness And like a ripe fruit to
fall and be consumed.

Defeat, my Defeat, my bold companion, You shall hear my songs and my cries and
my silences, And none but you shall speak to me of the beating of wings, And
urging of seas, And of mountains that burn in the night, And you alone shall
climb my steep and rocky soul.

Defeat, my Defeat, my deathless courage, You and I shall laugh together with
the storm, And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us, And we
shall stand in the sun with a will, And we shall be dangerous.

------
dabent
If getting rejected by YC is going to stop you, consider that you might not
have the determination needed to found a startup.

I'm considering putting together a friends-and-family round for my startup
now. The YC email was just one data point on the path.

~~~
citizenkeys
The secret about rejection is... succeed in spite of the people that rejected
you!

:-)

~~~
codeslush
Agree with first sentence, not so with the second!

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dawie
Pagerduty told me that they applied 4 times. They eventually got in and also
got funding after Demo Day.

There is always next time, and then 2 more times after that. :-)

~~~
raghav1331
Was it on the same idea or different one's?

------
scottkrager
In the summer of 2008 I asked out two girls and promptly got rejected by both
of them ironically on the same day.

A few months later I asked another girl out.

Two snowstorms and a few years later, the third girl is now my wife.

Rejection isn't always bad.

~~~
bluesnowmonkey
You married the third girl you ever asked out?

~~~
ajju
I married the first one, over half a life time ago. Some times you just get
lucky.

Edit: Before I get uber-up/down-voted into oblivion and challenged because I
am not 50, the accurate version of this statement should read "I married the
first one, whom I started dating over half a life time ago". Still going
strong though :)

~~~
zavulon
Wow.. you're the only person I'm aware of where that actually worked out for
the best. Congratulations!

~~~
liedra
I'm still with the first person I ever dated, almost 13 years later :) we're
not interested in the marriage thing, or we'd probably be married! There's a
lot to be said for good communication, shared experiences, and open minds.
That probably goes the same for a startup too, haha. :)

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endergen
I feel better after finally receiving an answer. This quote comes to
mind:(Heheheh)

"I DON'T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A
MEMBER". - Groucho Marx

------
raychancc
I know getting rejected brings disappointment. Hope this quote can cheer you
guys up:

Don’t worry about failure; you only have to be right once. \- Drew Houston,
co-founder, Dropbox (@drewhouston)

<http://startupquote.com/post/604060576>

------
skbohra123
I would prefer to say 'not seleted' instead of saying 'rejected' . Getting not
selected giving me lots of energy and Ideas for future. This is amazing.

~~~
thaumaturgy
That's actually a subtle-but-important distinction. Everyone so far seems to
be describing this using the word "rejection", which can carry some pretty
strong connotations, especially in the geek/tech crowd.

I wonder if changing the wording of the "not selected" email slightly would
cause people to stop associating it with rejection?

------
bourdine
In 2006 I met with many investors in Moscow, Russia, but the meeting ended
unsuccessfully. Distance I then? Honestly, yes. But I was sure that they are
just complete morons and do not understand what I did. I brought everything to
the end and one year after the launch of my project was bought Fontlab, and
now my technology used in Adobe Illustrator CS 5. I was upset now, after the
YC rejection? Yes. But I really thought a great project and bring it to the
end. We make a new Google. 2 people, Moscow. If you're interested, let me know
- bourdine@gmail.com

------
Stevenup7002
Definitely don't be upset if you're not selected. There are quite a few YC
funded startups that failed and I'm pretty sure the same could be said about
some startups that were rejected by YC and ended up becoming very successful.
Remember YC isn't a necessity, it's just an advantage.

------
anmol
Just to add to the other comments, don't let this bother you.

Remember, your goal is to build a solid tech business, not appease YC or
anyone else. Not to take away from the value YC and PG add, but there were
tech companies before YC, and its just a stepping stone to your final target.

Ultimately, all that matters is (a) awesome product/technology (b)
users/customers.

More likely, if the problem you're solving isn't important, talk to real
customers or find a friend you trust who will.

------
nmaio
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woOu_4l3lio>

~~~
nmaio
I like this one better actually ; ) - "Failure"
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc>

------
StavrosK
Just out if curiosity, are acceptances confidential? Are people allowed to
tell us if they've been accepted?

~~~
drusenko
Acceptances are not confidential; it is up to the startup to determine when
they'd like to release the news of their funding.

Most startups choose (wisely) to keep the funding news secret until they can
use it for press purposes.

~~~
StavrosK
Ah, thanks for that. It's not the funding stage yet, though, is it? As I
understand it, there's still the interview stage until YC decides whom to
fund.

~~~
drusenko
Whoops, you're right. It's really the same logic, though.

Another factor is likely the one behind this video:
[http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/derek_sivers_keep_your_goa...](http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/derek_sivers_keep_your_goals_to_yourself.html)

We were really nervous about getting to the interview stage, despite the
greatly increased odds of being accepted once you get there.

If I remember correctly, I didn't tell anybody, including my family -- the
fear of telling them I was probably going to get in and then having to tell
them I didn't was just too great.

~~~
citizenkeys
And you would know. You're not just a YCombinator winner, you're also founder
of the very popular weebly.com ( <http://www.weebly.com/> ).

:-)

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nuweborder
I received the same exact letter lastyear for my music related startup. Word
for word. You can email them directly to get more detailed info on exactly why
they rejected you. I did it and got some good feedback.

~~~
follower
Oh, really? I didn't know asking for more feedback was an option earlier this
year. (In fact for some reason I thought they specifically said they wouldn't
do that--maybe I'm thinking of something else.) Was that a one off or have
other people had the same result?

------
QuantumGood
For comparison, here is the rejection we received in late 2007 (for a two-
founder business not in school willing to relocate):

"We're sorry to say we couldn't accept your proposal for funding. Please don't
take it personally, because most of the proposals we rejected, we rejected for
reasons having nothing to do with the quality of the applicants. For example,
we were very reluctant to accept proposals with only one founder, because we
think starting a startup is too much work for one person. We also had a higher
threshold for applicants who were still in school, groups where one or more
members planned to keep their current jobs, and groups that couldn't all move
to California. We rejected a lot of proposals simply because we couldn't
understand them, or didn't understand the problem domain well enough to judge
them, or because the project seemed too big to start on only three months of
funding. Sometimes we even rejected good ideas, because another group proposed
the same idea and seemed further along.

"We realize this process is fraught with error. It's practically certain that
groups we rejected will go on to create successful startups. If you do, we'd
appreciate it if you'd send us an email telling us about it; we want to learn
from our mistakes."

------
mickdarling
When I got rejected from the MassChallenge business plan competition, I made a
proposal that they didn't take but still think it might be valuable.

A "Best of the Rest" that could happen near the same time as maybe Demo day.
Just adhoc come online and display the application video and details, and then
show what we have done in the same time we would have been in SV.

------
neilxdsouza
I wasn't selected either. Our idea was Market Research compilers for scripting
surveys and data processing. It's not directly a web related application and
maybe the market is too niche and too small, but I'm sure I can create a
subscription based business out of it. Prototypes of the compilers are hosted
here <http://sourceforge.net/projects/xtcc> . Over the last month I've been
working on Ramen profitability. I'm developing a tool that allows you to
develop a web application using create table statements in about 20 minutes.
It's hosted here <http://github.com/neilxdsouza/codehelper.git> and is coming
along nicely. I will use it to take on some typical ERP-like projects for
small companies where the big players feel the money is too small to pitch for
( like USD 1000 dollar projects)

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vnce
I really like the way the this letter is crafted. It's sensitive to the
founders, and is upfront about the reality: there are more promising groups
than available spots. I'm struck not only by YC's admission that they will
invariably miss good groups, but that they'd like to keep in touch to learn
from their mistakes.

You certainly don't see that humility everyday from institutions of any size.
Other organizations should take note. A personal tone goes a long way.

------
RaySharma
Hey folks, we are looking for co-founders, and would love to get with like
minded people to shoot the sh*t. I have an email going around for a potential
meetup in SFBayarea. Let me know if any of you are interested.
rahulsharma2001@gmail.com

www.ikonblvd.com

~~~
Nate75Sanders
2 pieces of advice:

1) Do not make me watch a video to see what you're doing. Write some text --
you should be able to explain it in one sentence and then have some supporting
text if you want/need to clarify things.

2) If you really only have 2 employees and one of you is the CEO and one of
you is the President, You're Doing It Wrong. Ditch those titles and just go
for "founder" at most.

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guynamedloren
I like the last sentence of the rejection email, about the successful startups
that were not selected by YC.

Does anybody have any specific information on this? I wonder what the most
successful company is that has been rejected from YC?

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mindsetlabs
Like I always say, this all will make for a good story one day right? :)

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kingsidharth
Yay! Rejected! Withing hours!!

Anyways, I wasn't waiting for YC to do a startup anyways. If you wanna do a
startup, you don't wait for YC - you do it.

Off I go.

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jorangreef
The rejection email would be better if:

1\. It was addressed to the founders.

2\. It had one or two bullet point suggestions/thoughts re: the application.

~~~
systemtrigger
Imagine doing that for hundreds of applications.

------
blizkreeg
Failure, sir, is not an option.

------
cityofashes
i got this letter once. no, actually twice. once from YC and once from
techstars. i keep writing code though - and going to tech meetups - and
looking for a partner (in chicago)...

------
judegomila
Make your startup happen, continue regardless of the rejection.

------
citizenkeys
My pitch was WikiTorrents.org, which is user-created lists of downloadable
videos.

If you want to help me with some seed money, regardless of amount, maybe I can
turn this whole thing into a positive. Email me at citizenkeys AT gmail DOT
com .

Here is the WikiTorrents.org collection of YCombinator applicant videos:
<http://wikitorrents.org/wiki/ycombinator_applicants>

