

Ask PG: What successful startups has Y Combinator passed up on? - michael_fine


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itsprofitbaron
First of all, I don't think that PG will answer this question [1]:

 _Q: Have there been any startups you've later regretted rejecting from
YCombinator?

A: Sure, several. But I can't name names because it's not for me to disclose
that they applied._

However, YC keeps track of the successful companies that they initially
rejected and here are some of them of them that are known to have been
rejected who have gone onto raise funding etc:

\- <http://sendgrid.com/> (went through TechStars and have raised a series B)

\- CouchOne - <http://www.couchbase.com/>

\- AfterTheDeadline - Acquired By Automattic

\- Light Sail Energy - raised money from Khosla Ventures -
<http://lightsailenergy.com/>

\- SignPost - <https://www.signpost.com/> \- Raised $1MM off Google Ventures

\- MyFit - Raised $1MM - <http://www.myfit.com/>

\- Storenvy although they were kicked out of YC [2]

\- Mark Zuckerberg's Sister Was Also Rejected To YC [3]

[1] <http://askolo.com/pg#4f6d068aa499a758250003aa>

[2] [http://joncrawford.com/post/20378314843/how-i-got-kicked-
out...](http://joncrawford.com/post/20378314843/how-i-got-kicked-out-of-y-
combinator-and-then-raised)

[3] [http://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-arielle-
zuckerbe...](http://www.businessinsider.com/y-combinator-arielle-zuckerbergs-
rachel-sklar-2011-11)

------
vyrotek
The problem is everyone has their own definition of successful. Is it breaking
even? 20 employees? Being profitable? A $1million exit? A $1billion exit?
Everyone rejected by YC wants to be that rare case.

~~~
michael_fine
I think what I would define as successful is a company that made YC wish they
had invested in them at the time.

~~~
paulsutter
I'd speculate that YC is perfectly happy to see startups succeed, even if they
weren't one of the teams that they selected. I'm skeptical they give much
thought to rejecting anyone.

I'm always happy to see people succeed, especially people I fired at one
point. The beautiful thing about our field is that it isn't a zero sum game.

EDIT: none of the successful people I know spend time on regret

~~~
michael_fine
It's not that they would be disappointed that the team succeeded, it's that
they would be disappointed they didn't invest in them.

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nivertech
If A16Z have no regrets for not following up in Instagram, same is true for
YC.

I rejected joining startup as a founding member or first hire, with at least
one of them becoming a billion dollar company. I have no regrets, even for a
second. You can't change the past, only the future.

------
iamelgringo
<http://angel.co/done-deals/new>

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dhaivatpandya
Browserling (<http://browserling.com/>) might be one.

~~~
Monotoko
I've noticed that hasn't been updated in a while... we're on FF12 now aren't
we? And Chrome 18?

~~~
meiji
If you use it they have the latest version but clearly aren't updating the
homepage. Also, it's Windows browsers which is not quite as much use as it
might be

