

We Landed An Interview At Y Combinator But Decided Not To Go — Here’s Why - michaelcheng
https://medium.com/@michaelhsc/we-got-another-interview-at-y-combinator-were-not-going-and-this-is-why-7ec3d7a83642

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scobar
Congrats on being invited to an interview, and for your progress with Sniply.
I understand completing an application even if you don't intend to join a YC
batch, but why submit it? Did your team previously want to get into YC, but
decide not to right after receiving the interview invite?

The feedback even rejected teams receive after interviews seems incredibly
valuable, and it's definitely coveted by those who were rejected with no
feedback. You said that your team will probably apply again in the future. Why
not try to get in now, unless something prevents one of the cofounders from
being able to fully commit to YC this batch?

It seems like your team is doing great, but consider that the YC partners or
alumni may know and be able to help you out with something you aren't even
aware that you'll need help with yet. I don't see the benefit of your
decision. Perhaps some of your answers will help me understand.

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smt88
This reminds me of a recent criticism I read about Techstars.

The argument was that if you can get into Techstars, you didn't need
Techstars. (The premise there is that Techstars uses accurate, meritocratic
criteria for selecting companies, which is obviously false, as it is for all
human-based selection processes.)

In my opinion, the best possible scenario for accelerators is to identify/fund
companies that have the following 3 characteristics:

1) Few social advantages (lacking experience, connections, etc.)

2) Will require VC because it's impossible or counterproductive for them to
reach profitability quickly (Facebooks and Ubers of the world)

3) Can't go without a paycheck for 12+ months

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_pius
_So why am I writing about this? Because I know a lot of people want to get
into Y Combinator and I know a lot of people just got rejected._

A completely pointless humblebrag of a post.

~~~
michaelcheng
Hey _pius,

I'm sorry you interpreted it that way. In fact, I don't think we'd get into YC
even if we tried for the interview—it's not really the point of the post. I
just wanted to share our rejection experience and how we struggled to recover
from it. My sincerest apologies if the post somehow offended you.

Sincerely, Mike

