
If all Rejection Letters could be so nice... - 24pfilms
You guys are a class act..<p>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 the hard limit on the number
of interviews means 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
======
dmk23
If scoring of YC applications is anything like upvoting/downvoting of HN
comments I do not think anyone should link their self-worth to getting
rejected.

My impression from talking with various YC partners at the Open House /
Startup School was that the ones most qualified to evaluate my application
have not seen it. But at the scale YC is operating now this sort of thing
seems inevitable.

Moral of the story: never put all eggs in one basket, have Plan B, C, D, E ...
ZZZ, preferably around being able to fund yourself with revenue, while still
scaling your product business.

Just like us :)

~~~
onwardly
Having plans B, D, E ... ZZZ around is an incredible piece of advice from one
who has experienced it. Stay alive, brother.

------
allanscu
If you're hungry enough, being rejected may be the best thing that will ever
happen to you. Don't let a YC Reject letter stop you from continuing your
dream.

~~~
wuster
I'm possibly rationalizing here, but some of the NOs I've received in my life
have led to decisions and outcomes that I know ended up being the better path.
So, definitely not something to feel down about, it's a tough YC class to get
into.

Anyone who think they got jibbed because of supposedly amazing creds should
congratulate YC that the applicant pool is so strong that so many other
applicants are at least equal in ability.

Anyway, like Zuck said at Startup School - just go F'ing build it and prove
them wrong if you can - it's so damn cheap to put out an MVP these days. I
know we will continue our experiments and move methodically through our own
process of trying to build a viable business, regardless of YC's opinion. I am
pretty sure this is what pg would encourage as well.

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larrys
"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;"

A little like writing to the girl/guy that rejected you with great news that
you've landed in Hollywood. By the time you get there they will know it.

Anyway, by "successful" what do they mean anyway?

Someone else funded you? (go to crunchbase).

Or you've gone public?

Or you've sold the business?

Or you're on the front of the WSJ?

Isn't the info they are looking for in all the obvious places? Patronizing to
suggest "tell us about your success" as if they can't go to the trouble to
uncover it themselves somehow.

~~~
earbitscom
Do you know how many of the startups change dramatically or, at minimum,
change names (or don't even have one yet)?

After reviewing 2000+ applications, do you really expect them, upon seeing a
TechCrunch post 2 years later to remember that was one of their applicants?

You can trust that they really do mean they'd like to know about it, and if I
know them, they'd actually go look up the application to see if there is any
way they can avoid missing that opportunity in the future.

~~~
larrys
"that was one of their applicants"

The idea can change but people's names don't change.

"upon seeing a TechCrunch post 2 years later "

The definition of "success" in your mind?

~~~
earbitscom
The over 4k applications they see use HN usernames.

You're the one that said CrunchBase.

The idea that they're supposed to monitor for every startup founder they ever
rejected to pop up a few years later is retarded.

~~~
larrys
"they're supposed to monitor for every startup founder they ever rejected to
pop up a few years later is retarded."

If they are interested in the information they can get the information as it
is out there. So they shouldn't put any effort in? Poor them. So many
applicants. So much work to cross reference.

"The over 4k applications they see use HN usernames."

People don't use their real names on applications?

 _For each founder, please list: YC username; name; age_

<http://www.allhatter.com/archive/index.php/t-193.html>

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24pfilms
Well, I had applied to StartupChile and got accepted, but wanted to see how my
luck would turn if I applied the same startup to YC. I would of prefered to be
in SF with the great mentors and angels, but hey StartupChile give you $40k
with no take of equity.

~~~
rdl
I'm curious what the acceptance rates are for StartupChile.

My impression was that if you were "good", and jumped through all the hoops in
filling out the app (which are substantial), you're likely to get in.

With YC, it's probably an easier application, but you're not as likely to get
in even if you're good. Good team AND existing traction AND communicate well
is about as likely to get into YC as good team alone is to get into something
like Startup Chile?

~~~
24pfilms
The applications were about the same in terms of details and content required.
I work solo so that could of had an effect on my YC "denial".

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betterlabs
Couldn't agree more. Having said that I feel these are taken way too
seriously/emotionally and it is important to understand that you can build
your own startup to product/market fit, revenue and profitability whether or
not you get into YCombinator or other incubators. YC and other incubators are
a great help, but should not be considered a ticket to (possible) success.

------
taariqlewis
We need to find our own patterns of success and think outside the YC box.

~~~
allanscu
YC should never be the end of your dream. They're not always right (and they
admit it). Keep on trucking along!

------
dotmatrix
A friend of mine who completed YC told me that there was a guy who got
rejected 4 or 5 times before getting accepted. Just remember always be
positive and keep working hard :)

Cheers!

~~~
earbitscom
We got rejected the first time. Same idea, 2nd time, accepted.

~~~
tlb
We were down on music startups the first time after seeing so many get hosed
by record labels. But you guys proved there's a great business model there.

------
Alexbtlv
One of the best rejection I've ever gotten.

Since I applying for this round YC, we came up with new amazing idea. I agree
that our first time application was poor, it was just an idea without working
beta. I'm sure that we should increase our efficiency, it doesn't mean that
should work harder. Just more efficiency!

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shawnc
While its a bummer to get this sort of rejection letter, I somehow think that
if one of the ones that didn't get in didn't keep moving forward after this -
deserve to had not gotten in anyway. This absolutely shouldnt stop you.

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ctide
How old is that why not link? If they're interviewing 70-80 groups, doesn't
that mean that nearly everyone who interviews gets in? I mean, last group was
over 60, wasn't it?

~~~
cdeonier
During a previous Q&A session the day before Startup School '11, I believe pg
mentioned they interviewed ~170 groups the last batch.

------
par
The best thing about applying to YC is getting to really think about a lot of
great questions in the app, it is win/win regardless of the outcome.

------
gbsi
True. Just got mine and just want to work harder.

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yonasb
Totally agree, very classy. And that Why Not link is great. Best rejection
I've ever gotten

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maeon3
I'm not sure why people beat themselves up so much for not passing a candidate
filter where teams of people select a candidate from a list based on various
criteria and instinct. It has been mathematically demonstrated that these
processes fail at doing a better job than throwing a dart at a wall containing
a list of all the candidates.

When I get a rejection letter for anything, I shrug and treat it like losing a
raffle. I don't sweat it, the ticket candidate selection process is not based
on merit, it's based on randomness.

~~~
wavephorm
In previous YC rejections I've thought to myself "wow if they rejected me they
must have recieved some pretty spectacular applications". And then months
later when I see the list of companies that did get in I was like "wtf did
they really fund a location-based social network for cat fanatics?".

~~~
sbisker
And then you find out that they've managed to get an entire network of cat
food distributors on board, and are currently pulling down $50,000 in revenue
after having launched the third version of their site a week before applying.
Oh, and one of the founders used to be the editor of Cat Fancy.

Sure, some mistakes will get made - but a company's success factors are rarely
as simple as their three-word description.

