

Ask PG and YC Founders: Feedback from YC if Not Accepted? - program247365

This is my first time applying to YC. For startups that don't make the cut, do they get any kind of feedback from PG/YC, written or otherwise, on what they could do better?
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itsprofitbaron
If you are not accepted you get an email saying something like [1]:

 _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.

Thanks,

Y Combinator Staff_

Additionally you can also see some feedback here -
<http://ycombinator.com/whynot.html>

[1] <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=70062>

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program247365
Awesome, that's what I was looking for. Thanks for the info/link.

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jeffreyshaw
It has perhaps been said numerous times before, but you may want to not worry
about the negative aspects of something.

You know what I just did? I just wrote down my "To Do List" for my y
combinator interview. Book flights, book hotel, design printed
handouts....etc. Put it out into the universe that you _will_ get invited out
for an interview. Believe that you will get it and you'll be more likely to.

I can't back this up with any sort of scientific or market data but it has
often worked for me and other successful people I know.

Maybe even put that to do list under your pillow.

~~~
mgallivan
If you're writing to do lists after Y Combinator, you're probably writing them
before too - which means you're already ahead of a lot of people
(motivationally speaking).

