
YC rejection emails are out! - schmoe
"We're sorry to say we couldn't accept your proposal for funding.
Please don't take it personally, because most of the proposals we
rejected, we rejected for reasons having nothing to do with the
quality of the applicants.  For example, we were very reluctant to
accept proposals with only one founder, because we think starting
a startup is too much work for one person.  We also had a higher
threshold for applicants who were still in school, groups where one
or more members planned to keep their current jobs, and groups that
couldn't all move to California.  We rejected a lot of proposals simply
because we couldn't understand them, or didn't understand the problem
domain well enough to judge them, or because the project seemed too
big to start on only three months of funding.  Sometimes we even
rejected good ideas, because another group proposed the same idea
and seemed further along.<p>We realize this process is fraught with error. 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>Thanks,<p>Y Combinator Staff"
======
rms
Also, be grateful you weren't this guy.
<http://distilled.wordpress.com/2006/02/23/ycombinator/> I think they got an
interview for the round after, not sure if they got in from there.

~~~
pg
This is terrible. I had no idea this had happened till now. I am so sorry. If
I had known we'd accidentally sent these people an invitation to interview, we
would have just gone ahead and interviewed them.

As far as I am concerned, this is the worst mistake YC has ever made, and we
will try never to let this happen again.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
None of my business, Paul, but you might want to contact the guy and
apologize. That had to suck big time.

~~~
mynameishere
Oh, please. Shit happens.

~~~
DanielBMarkham
Sure does. And when it happens to your users, you'd better be able to do some
scooping real quick. But like I said, not my call.

~~~
mynameishere
Sheesh. An administrative error.

Hate to sour this little love-in, though.

------
drm237
Thanks to all of the Y Combinator Staff for taking the time to read our
application. I wish those who made it through best of luck with the
interviews. To everyone who didn't, I'm going to keep going, I hope you will
also!

~~~
DocSavage
Ditto the thanks to the YC Staff for going through the slush pile. Best of
luck to those who got invited to Boston.

We didn't make the cut, so we're incorporating within the week, cementing our
partnership with a 3rd team member (Columbia biz school prof), and immediately
seeking funds from more conventional (although more dilutive) sources. We are
also looking for one more hacker to join us. We can pay $5k for sure (possibly
more depending on alternative funding) + equity for Jan-Mar in Palo Alto area.
We're building a collaborative investing system that's quite different than
the ones out there, and we have team members with deep domain expertise.

~~~
mwerty
We're in a similar position. Could you mention sites you found useful for info
on incorporation?

Thankyou

~~~
DocSavage
We're going with an ex-Cooley Godward lawyer for our incorporation. It's more
expensive but in the big scheme of things, we think it's better to get this
done right and have someone experienced to handle equity arrangements and
contracts.

There are other YC threads on incorporation. For general information,
Wikipedia is pretty good :)
[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation_>(business)]

------
andresoileau
It's a hard email to swallow, but I'm going to continue my work. I was excited
at the idea to be a part of Y-Combinator; it's tough to entertain the idea of
pursuing your product with the support of peers and successful people. Then
realize you're not going to have a chance to WOW Y-Combinator at the
interviews in November, nor will you be there in January to love the three
months. I know my idea is great and I can make it happen, call me if you want
to join in - you have my number.

------
nextmoveone
I kind of take it like a diss from a girl.

I just want to find a hotter girl with bigger, better assets and make sure
that one girl that didn't give me a chance see's that she really lost out.
Maybe even send her a nice sex tape.

~~~
palish
Technically, it was a diss from a girl. ;)

Nah, a diss is personal. There's nothing personal about this.

~~~
mattmaroon
Also, nobody has said diss in about a decade. Or in hacker terms, nobody has
said diss since people wrote web apps in Perl.

~~~
nextmoveone
I am from Florida, 'diss' still works here.

------
rbrisita
We got that e-mail, but I promptly replied that they sent us the wrong one.
Still waiting for the Boston invite. ;)

Will be interesting to see who got the invite and goes through to the 3
months. Does any one document this?

Congrats to all who made it!

R.

------
yrashk
What is important is that YCombinator has already built a community even by
rejecting most of applicants.

Don't loose a chance to network, cooperate and succeed, we all are in a great
team over here!

------
DanielBMarkham
Well that was fun.

Back to coding.

------
rms
last cycle's thread: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11496>

------
ROFISH
Good thing they're finally out. I've been driving myself crazy for the past
week. (no dice here)

Frankly, now that the worry and anxiety is over, I can now focus my leftover
time on building my idea.

~~~
reidman
Gooooooo fish!

------
jsjenkins168
Congrats to all who got an interview! Make it count, because once you
interview that is your only chance...

------
henryw
Congrats to all those who made it. For those who didn't, it's time to work
even harder.

------
HiddenBek
I haven't received anything yet. Should I be happy, sad, or just confused?

~~~
pex
There were a recent post telling to put the e-mail address on the profile
(click up right on your nickname after logging in). If not you'll receive no
answer.

~~~
HiddenBek
I did that earlier today, shortly after the post went up. Thank you though.
I'll contact YC about it.

