

Do you want to be in Y Combinator? Summer 2010 experience. - kineticac
http://artchang.com/y-combinator-experience

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thomaspaine
I keep waiting for an article describing a bad experience with Y Combinator.
Not that I think there's anything wrong with YC, but I feel like I'm getting a
one sided story when all I read are glowing reviews.

Even if you wouldn't classify your experience as bad or not worth it, there's
always room for improvement. I'd love to hear some criticism from people
within the program so I don't feel like I'm just reading propaganda.

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cglee
I doubt anyone would want to say publicly that they've had a bad experience
with YC, constructive to the rest of us as it may be. It's just not worth
burning that bridge. It's probably a good general rule of thumb to never say
anything publicly negative about anyone, unless you're enough of a badass to
get away with it (zed, dhh, etc).

~~~
scorpion032
Has DHH said anything publicly negative about anyone?

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benologist
What are people's thoughts on reapplying if you were rejected last time?

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dillydally
Drew from Dropbox was rejected the first time he applied, IIRC.

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srgseg
Very interesting - can anyone verify this fact?

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avk
"Making sure you impress Paul Graham every week, and other YC co-founders is
probably the best way to go about your company."

I don't buy it. Can you elaborate?

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kineticac
it's another source of motivation. we each push each other to do more and
more. of course the best source is a regular set of users telling you want
they want, but the need to show new improvements each week is akin to making
parents/friends proud of something you worked on.

~~~
rcoder
Not to detract from the YC experience, but I think you can create this sort of
rhythm independently, too. Demos in front of a <100% complimentary audience
(i.e., not your cofounder/girlfriend/parents) can be enough to force you to
develop many of the habits of a successful startup (fail fast, pivot, stretch
yourself, listen to customers, etc., etc.) no matter where you are.

That discipline, coupled with an honest daily status report to my team,
effectively ended ~10 years' worth of my own bad coding habits
(procrastination, under-estimation, and insistence on clever/perfect/fast
solutions where "good enough" was in fact enough) in about a year.

The extra pressure of a YC demo day may help increase your pace in the short
term, but you eventually need to learn the discipline to show continual
improvement _without_ the pressure of a room full of VCs criticizing your
every word.

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pajarito
Reading the top ranked comment, perhaps there is a need for a post that
emphasises the value of learning from failure as a way of learning better.
Propaganda is not always a good way of viewing things.

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DanBlake
How late stage can a company be and still be accepted to YC?

~~~
pg
There's no limit. Or rather, the only limit is your other investors. If you'd
already taken a series A round from a VC fund, they probably wouldn't like the
idea.

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staunch
Why do you think VCs wouldn't like it?

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tomhoward
Dilution, for one thing. Assuming standard YC terms were offered, the stock
allocation and valuation would be incompatible with a VC A round.

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kineticac
there's a video at the end that's worth watching btw ;)

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lorenzsell
that video at the end is epic.

