
Our Journey to and Through YC - sama
https://medium.com/@UseShout/our-journey-to-and-through-yc-a1d118e47f5
======
staunch
The difficulty is in not thinking you're a loser just because the smartest
people in Silicon Valley (some of your heros to be honest) have repeatedly
looked you in the eye and thought to themselves "Nah."

Or in my case having one of the YC partners say "Oh, you guys are back? You're
a shoo-in this time." only to be rejected again that day :-)

Here's a tip most people won't need: do not reply to the rejection email 30
seconds later with a petulant rant. It's not fair, it marks as an untouchable
crazy person, and you'll regret it.

My company likely would have failed even with YC's help. I learned a lot in
the two years working on that startup. I'm the kind of person that tends to
learn things the hard way and I probably had to in this case.

Sorry, there's no triumphal story of my own yet. I'm still working on it! :-)

~~~
_sentient
You'd be surprised by how many founders were accepted after multiple
applications. From an anecdotal perspective, half the current class had
applied at least once before.

I'm starting to suspect that YC biases toward repeat applications, as it
illustrates a number of useful things about a startup (strength of the team,
proof you can get traction, you didn't do this just for YC, etc).

Don't let prior rejected applications deter you. That is, unless you've made
zero progress between now and then. :D

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minimaxir
> _It is an army, a cult, a family._

As an outsider, this make Y Combinator seem more creepy to me than welcoming.
(especially the bold bullet-point list of what the YC partners do)

The problem with this "cult of personality" is that it takes away from the
product. While well-written, the article was more about "How do I please the
YC partners?" instead of "How do I make Shout the best it can be?"

~~~
7Figures2Commas
I think that sentence was a poor addition, but my impression of Y Combinator
from the author's entire post was that the author most highly valued the
social experience ("It reminded me of my first night at Columbia. My new
friends and I sat on the hall in our dorm and talked. As we shared our first
night exchanging childhood stories..."), which seemed to take on metaphysical
properties ("we were somewhere truly special").

For all of the exuberance about the experience, however, I found a stark
contrast in the final sentence of the post:

> We aren’t sure where things will go from here. Shout may or may not succeed.
> But I know Henri and I feel fortunate to be a part of YC.

Obviously, new business ventures always face a level of uncertainty, and the
risk of failure should be acknowledged. But it's kind of strange that the
author seems so detached from the success or failure of the business and so
resigned to going wherever the world takes his business. In short, it _reads_
like the author was a lot more determined to get into YC than he is to take
the bull by the horns and try to make his app a success now that school's out.

~~~
hstern
We realize that uncertainty exists but we are hardly detached from it. Our
every waking hour is spent fighting it, in fact. I reckon the point was rather
that in spite of that uncertainty, the experience, for us, had intrinsic
value.

We also believe our experience leads us to a better Shout!

School isn't out, it's just begun!

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larrys
The put in a tremendous amount of effort and it paid off in the end.

However reading this I was thinking "what if they put the same dedication and
effort into doing a more traditional business endeavor. Kind of in the same
way when you see a "successful" criminal you might think "wow they are smart,
crafty and energetic they could make a good legitimate living".

~~~
iillmaticc
For precisely the things they list at the end of the article of what it was
like during and after Y-Comb..."traditional" be damned. I like it.

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jexe
Great read, thanks for sharing the story.

I think I echo the others here, four rounds isn't bad at all. Not exactly the
same thing as a YC application, but raising our seed round @ Dasher we were
rejected 48 times from angels and VCs before we got our first "yes." Startup
myth goes that Pandora's founder was turned down 300+ times.

I'm also very impressed with the specific attention YC paid you when turning
you down. Rather than a generic answer, they took the time to give you very
thoughtful reasons and things to improve. I really wish we had that much care
paid to us by anybody during our earliest conceptual days.

~~~
zreitano
Hey Jesse! I completely agree. Henri and I were both impressed with the level
of specificity, even while getting rejected.

Also, throughout the raising process, it has been interesting to see how
people say no in general. It says a lot of about a person or an organization
(both how they deal with rejection and issue it).

Hope Dasher is going well! Let's catch up soon.

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woah
What were they doing for work at the time? Was this a jaunt financed by
savings or family wealth, or was it balanced with gainful employment the whole
time?

~~~
iillmaticc
College.

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flipside
Great story of perseverance but applying 4 times and getting interviewed 4
times on 3 trips is hardly embarrassing.

I'm working on my 7th YC app with no interviews to date, but I've used every
one of those rejections to become better as a founder and advance my startup,
tinj. The reality is that all the previous rejections were deserved, YC would
have hurt more than it helped because we would have accelerated in the wrong
direction.

Rejection for founders isn't embarrassing, but not learning from it is.

~~~
bharath28
Good luck on the app - hope you make it and make the something delightful that
will change the world even if by a little bit.

~~~
flipside
that's the idea ;)

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spb
> Later, I thought of Dr. Venkman in Ghostbusters when they were zapped by a
> demon after replying “No” to the question of whether the Ghostbusters were
> gods. He said, “If someone ask you if you are a god, you say yes!”

That was Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson), to Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd). Venkman
(Bill Murray) was not party to that exchange.

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wellboy
Really cool write-up and awesome to see a really soft consumer product in YC.
It looks like you actually want to take on Craigslist. I think it is
definitely possible, however, it would need something really strong like YC
behind it, but if you have YC behind you, it should be possible!

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AznHisoka
Great story, however, it's dangerous to pin your hopes on 1 single event:
acceptance into YC.

~~~
mikeg8
Doesn't seem like they are too me– he called it an inflection point. There can
always be another inflection point later on that takes them in the wrong
direction. And that single event is pretty powerful event nonetheless. Being
YC alum is going to be an advantage in tech/startups for a ways to come.

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goshx
Great story guys! Best of luck in the new phase!

