
What we did to (not) get into Techstars - Part 2 - MicahWedemeyer
http://blog.aisleten.com/2009/04/07/what-we-did-to-not-get-into-techstars-part-2/
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pclark
David's feedback doesn't say _why_ you were rejected. I'd have found that a
kick in the guts if I'd actually met and had a dialog with our investors.

With our YC application (we were rejected) we got x2 recommendations from
previous YC founders, had other investors in this or the next round of
funding, had an online demo, had users on said demo, and had a team of
hackers/designers + various other things that we thought might add value to
our application.

We didn't get in and have no idea why. The difference is our process was all
_part of our startup_ making a demo? networking with other founders? getting
users?

I walked away from YC pondering why we were rejected, but reassured that we
didn't waste our time - because most of the things we were going to do either
way.

If I'd spent more than an hour talking to an investor I'd want a reason (and
therefore value) as to why they walked away.

~~~
veemjeem
You know, I'm not sure if all those things mattered that greatly. Our
application made it past the first round of screening (we got an interview
invitation) and our demo broke when they were viewing it (we checked the
logs). We committed code the night before without testing it and although a
simple fix, it broke something else.

We didn't have recommendations, we were a small team of 2 (no designers -- we
did our own design, ugly but not horrible). The entire YC application form was
done in basically 5 hours at a local coffee shop. It took us forever to do the
video, for some reason it's hard for me to talk to a stationary camera. We
don't have users or investors lined up. We didn't even have incorporation
documents yet. We probably have a good 4 months of hard work before we can
even consider a private alpha launch (and we've already been working for the
last 7 months on it).

Neither of us actually even considered applying to YC, we just didn't think
our app was ready for anyone to see it yet, but surprisingly they didn't think
so, or maybe they saw something about us that they didn't see in others.

~~~
AlexTheFounder
I have a feeling that YC tries to fund the companies that change how people
perceive and use technology. Others are just the me-too examples.

Is that the case with what you do?

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
Yeah, I'd say DoLeaf is a me-too product. I don't look for things that are
earth-shattering. Instead, I look for ways to bring existing technologies or
practices to underserved communities. I think that can be incredibly
profitable, while also being predictable.

~~~
cjbos
I do have a question for you, I really like your other startup/app (The
tabletop gaming one.). I read your post yesterday so and found my way to
another blog post about how you managed a huge surge of traffic from Penny
Arcade, which seems like it was 2-3 months ago.

So the question is why not concentrate 100% on that one? If you are holding
down full time jobs do you have enough bandwidth to spread across 2 startups,
and why not concentrate on the one that has started to gain some traction? (If
you don't mind me asking)

~~~
MicahWedemeyer
It's a good question and I don't mind (much).

I'm not sure I have a good answer. I've been frustrated at the rate of growth
of Obsidian Portal, and social networking sites are tough to monetize. Our
subscriptions are doing pretty well, but it's not a perfect situation.

I wanted to pursue a startup with a much clearer business model. I think a lot
of the "we'll figure the business model out later" startups are in for some
pain when they do try to monetize. Oh, and forget about ads.

Plus, growth of a site is related, but not directly, to the amount of effort
you put in. OP grows at its own rate now, and it does so regardless of my
efforts. That's why I'm not a huge fan of the quit-your-dayjob mentality. It
just takes time to grow these things, and you have to eat during that time.

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AlexTheFounder
Its interesting to see who they choose in the end. 20 companies is a pretty
high number to get them all right. Anyway, keep going and maybe when the
summer ends you will have better chances of further funding than any of the TS
(or YC or ...)companies!

