Startups are hard. I hope you'll keep going in the face of adversity.
If so, Mixpanel is here to help. Forward a copy of your YC rejection email to [email protected] and we'll hook you up with our $150/month Startup plan, free forever.
Love what Mixpanel is doing, so we'd like to jump on the bandwagon. Offering our $59 Basic plan for free for life, and 50% off all other plans. Happy to keep startups secure :) Email your YC rejection letter to [email protected]
My love for Mixpanel has now caused me a moral dilemma in which I briefly considered the ease with which I could forge an email and get free service.
Don't worry, the good angel won the battle, but uhhh, I hope you're doing something to verify email headers and all that jazz. If it had been the $350 plan, I don't know that I could have held out.
To anybody wondering whether or not you actually need this offer (and is legitimately eligible), jump on it now. I picked up an old Mixpanel plan on an AppSumo deal with no idea how to use it whatsoever, and it's now used integrally in a variety of projects.
It's cool what you're offering, but IMO being rejected by YC isn't "adversity." Folks need to stop pinning their hopes on a handout from others. How about everyone uses their spare time to build something cool, deploy it to a cheap Web server costing $30/m, see if people use it, actually /sell/ product and then go straight to the big dog investors?
The last two days have been an emotionally draining rollercoaster. On Nov. 13th, I checked my email about 10,000 times. This increased the anticipation, but after not hearing anything the whole day, I figured I got rejected and I was OK with it at that time. After all, I had anticipated this as the most likely outcome.
Then, I found out on HN that the interview notification got delayed by two days. This was followed up by a message from PG. It really sounded like he was interested in us! I thought to myself, "Why would a big shot like him have sent me such a question if he wasn't really interested in us???"
So, for the next day and a half I was daydreaming of getting into YC. We had then convinced ourselves, "We're getting an interview!"
Then, on Nov. 15, I checked my email another 10,000 times. The anticipation was unbearable. Then, when I got the rejection email, it hit me like someone punched me in the gut. It really hurt.
I feel like it would not have hurt so much if I hadn't have gotten my hopes up after the PG message.
I feel stupid since I should have known that a PG message is just that: a PG message. Why on earth did I over-interpret that?
Anyways, this really hurts...We took a day off to mourn, and then we'll get back up and keep pressing forward.
I wonder if I answered PG's question incorrectly...Did that have something to do with the rejection?
Anyways, at the end of the day, I still respect what PG and YC are doing. No point in being a sore loser. In my life, I've been rejected by a lot of places and accepted at others, and in the end, I am happy and grateful where I am now. You win some, you lose some.
I feel the same way as you. I won't be applying anymore: this was the first time I applied to an incubator. I built a startup before (that succeeded) and we got a lot of rejections, but thing is they were pretty much immediate. They didn't feel so bad, no anticipation was built, there were similar opportunities to try.
YC is unique, it gets emotional and the anticipation drains the very energy you need to succeed.
Just got mine. Maybe next time! Gives a few more months to grow, gain users, build more features and change the world before YC interviews me. I got the email while arriving at a cafe to write more code to analyze Sandy, so the timing is apt I suppose. Teaser: http://i.imgur.com/c87tV.png
You could make huge fund money on hurricane preditions - it matters for commodity market. I know guys who made 300M because predicted Katrina. Approach this market!
I applied as a solo founder, so I'm really not surprised.
In other news, I'm considering bringing on a technical cofounder that can take over with what I've built with my very minimal Ruby knowledge while I handle everything else. :)
I also had to deal with losing a co-founder during the application process, so I wonder if my perceived instability was a factor.
Trying to figure out why if it was a serious reason (instead of just having too many other qualified candidates), although I understand their personal reasons stance.
I got my rejection letter. My project is already built, and has 3000 users. I'm a solo developer, so thats probably why I was rejected. Also I'm 29 years old (started developing at 25). I'm the anti-YC demographic, so I wasn't really expecting to get accepted. The only think that kept me thinking I had a chance was the fact that the application process was actually pretty easy in my opinion. All the loggers out there talk like the application form is super hard, but I filled mine out in under a half hour. The questions are the kind of things you should be thinking about if you're doing things right. The hardest part for me was doing the video. The length came in at 0:56, because I was too nervous to say much other than the bare minimum.
Also, something else I want to say: The YC people really need to fix their application page. The day after I filled out my application, I came back to clean up the grammer, and when I went to click "save", it gave me the "expired link" error. All those grammer fixes down the drain. I never did go back and fix them. That may have also attributed to my rejection. In this day and age there is no excuse to screwing up basic crud :/
I can't help but point out, it's grammar not grammer. It's hard being a solo dev though, it's very possible though and it sounds like you're on a great track with 3k users :)
I actually think rejection is the key to getting better. I have been rejected before it's no big deal. YC is a big opportunity to progress, but it's not the only way to progress.
Btw, there are post-application morale-boosting celebrations happening all over the place. I'm hosting one this Saturday in the Bay Area. Hope you'll join us!
When I received my rejection email I wanted to throw a huge 6yr old kid temper tantrum and go around the room fucking sht up tornado style lmao! But I'll just frame my rejection email and use it as motivation for my next big obstacles in life. When I do finally become successful I'll put "Y Combinator Reject" in all my about me sections! YC alumni would've sounded better though :(
I am always impressed and amazed at the effort, focus, and passion teams put into their YC application. The stories of joy, heartbreak, and relief exhibit a sheer love of technology & entrepreneurship.
In many situations, worthy teams are short changed. We'd like to change that :)
We (Exo IDE) are a startup focused on building solutions for software developers. We are looking to hire talent, and would like to chat with any YC applicants (accepted or not) about what we are doing. Our ideal situation would be to recruit a small, pre-existing team that contain designer + engineers that have worked together on projects. The work would be in SF.
Even if it's not a fit with us, we wish everyone success in the pursuit of their ambitions. At a minimum, we love hearing about your ideas and making any connections that may help you on your own path.
If you'd like a chat - you can reach me at my personal email @ [email protected].
Well, I got a reject as well. Last time a few years ago, I'd actually got a call for interview and personally, if I've to judge the two ideas on merit, the current one was way more superior than the one that got an interview call(eventually we didn't get funding but we were very very under-prepared back then).
My key takeaway is - there's no 'right or wrong' here, it's kind of random. It's got a lot to do with your luck.
So what YC says in their rejection letter is actually right, we can always cook up reasons, why one got rejecte. The only way to make sure (well not really, just making it highly probable) that you make it to YC is be extremely well prepared, but then you are probably beyond a point where you need to go to YC.
A big part of startup life is getting Rejections. Let's move on and focus on more important things, products, customers, growth. Let's try again next time.
Must be a strong group this year. We're a coder / marketer duo each having already founded profitable startups in the past, in our mid 20's in a market we understand well and with a solid business plan and way to make profit and grow yet we still got rejected. I presume it's because we're in the gaming industry and ycombinator doesn't normally fund gaming companies.
We got rejected too but I have a great feeling about this. I'm really happy to know that my co-founder and me can do amazing things together, and how you can achieve a lot of cool stuff while you apply to YC. I see this as an incentive to keep working and focus on delivering a great product.
I wish PG hadn't messaged me. It made my expectations go up so much.
It's like asking out a really hot girl to the theater that you think you have no chance with, but then she texts you back with "which movie?", so then all of a sudden your expectations go up...But then she says no. haha
[+] [-] trefn|13 years ago|reply
Startups are hard. I hope you'll keep going in the face of adversity.
If so, Mixpanel is here to help. Forward a copy of your YC rejection email to [email protected] and we'll hook you up with our $150/month Startup plan, free forever.
[+] [-] ainsleyb|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amogh10|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zoba|13 years ago|reply
Thanks for offering this! Doesn't feel as much like rejection any more ;)
[+] [-] co_pl_te|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] patd|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bbunix|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] biscarch|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jldavid|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bmelton|13 years ago|reply
Don't worry, the good angel won the battle, but uhhh, I hope you're doing something to verify email headers and all that jazz. If it had been the $350 plan, I don't know that I could have held out.
To anybody wondering whether or not you actually need this offer (and is legitimately eligible), jump on it now. I picked up an old Mixpanel plan on an AppSumo deal with no idea how to use it whatsoever, and it's now used integrally in a variety of projects.
[+] [-] spuiszis|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeyJelinek|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] visualcsharp|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hashmij|13 years ago|reply
Then, I found out on HN that the interview notification got delayed by two days. This was followed up by a message from PG. It really sounded like he was interested in us! I thought to myself, "Why would a big shot like him have sent me such a question if he wasn't really interested in us???"
So, for the next day and a half I was daydreaming of getting into YC. We had then convinced ourselves, "We're getting an interview!"
Then, on Nov. 15, I checked my email another 10,000 times. The anticipation was unbearable. Then, when I got the rejection email, it hit me like someone punched me in the gut. It really hurt.
I feel like it would not have hurt so much if I hadn't have gotten my hopes up after the PG message.
I feel stupid since I should have known that a PG message is just that: a PG message. Why on earth did I over-interpret that?
Anyways, this really hurts...We took a day off to mourn, and then we'll get back up and keep pressing forward.
I wonder if I answered PG's question incorrectly...Did that have something to do with the rejection?
Anyways, at the end of the day, I still respect what PG and YC are doing. No point in being a sore loser. In my life, I've been rejected by a lot of places and accepted at others, and in the end, I am happy and grateful where I am now. You win some, you lose some.
[+] [-] eduardordm|13 years ago|reply
YC is unique, it gets emotional and the anticipation drains the very energy you need to succeed.
Good luck,
[+] [-] cryptoz|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] khmel|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdl|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ramidarigaz|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xackpot|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stilldetermined|13 years ago|reply
I didn't put much effort into my app, thinking it unlikely that they'd accept me, but darn it, they did get my hopes up a bit :-)
[+] [-] scottmagdalein|13 years ago|reply
I applied as a solo founder, so I'm really not surprised.
In other news, I'm considering bringing on a technical cofounder that can take over with what I've built with my very minimal Ruby knowledge while I handle everything else. :)
[+] [-] robbiet480|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] biscarch|13 years ago|reply
I also had to deal with losing a co-founder during the application process, so I wonder if my perceived instability was a factor. Trying to figure out why if it was a serious reason (instead of just having too many other qualified candidates), although I understand their personal reasons stance.
[+] [-] jennyshen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] victorology|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trickmonkey|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ricardobeat|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] selectout|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jamesperet|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alexro|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freework|13 years ago|reply
Also, something else I want to say: The YC people really need to fix their application page. The day after I filled out my application, I came back to clean up the grammer, and when I went to click "save", it gave me the "expired link" error. All those grammer fixes down the drain. I never did go back and fix them. That may have also attributed to my rejection. In this day and age there is no excuse to screwing up basic crud :/
[+] [-] mion|13 years ago|reply
It took them one month to fill out theirs.
[+] [-] ohashi|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ricardobeat|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryangallen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] replayzero|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] viviantan|13 years ago|reply
Btw, there are post-application morale-boosting celebrations happening all over the place. I'm hosting one this Saturday in the Bay Area. Hope you'll join us!
More info here and here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4787228 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4775943
[+] [-] visualcsharp|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] T_Electronics|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TylerJewell|13 years ago|reply
I am always impressed and amazed at the effort, focus, and passion teams put into their YC application. The stories of joy, heartbreak, and relief exhibit a sheer love of technology & entrepreneurship.
In many situations, worthy teams are short changed. We'd like to change that :)
We (Exo IDE) are a startup focused on building solutions for software developers. We are looking to hire talent, and would like to chat with any YC applicants (accepted or not) about what we are doing. Our ideal situation would be to recruit a small, pre-existing team that contain designer + engineers that have worked together on projects. The work would be in SF.
Even if it's not a fit with us, we wish everyone success in the pursuit of their ambitions. At a minimum, we love hearing about your ideas and making any connections that may help you on your own path.
If you'd like a chat - you can reach me at my personal email @ [email protected].
[+] [-] gabhijit|13 years ago|reply
My key takeaway is - there's no 'right or wrong' here, it's kind of random. It's got a lot to do with your luck.
So what YC says in their rejection letter is actually right, we can always cook up reasons, why one got rejecte. The only way to make sure (well not really, just making it highly probable) that you make it to YC is be extremely well prepared, but then you are probably beyond a point where you need to go to YC.
[+] [-] ricardobeat|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] xoail|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TimJRobinson|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jeffreyshaw|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cpg|13 years ago|reply
A bunch of us applicants are getting together in Mountain View on Saturday @ 6pm for a drink to share ideas/experiences in the startup path.
Email if you are local and want to join. EDIT: not 8pm, 6pm.
[+] [-] jmsotelo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] keeptrying|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hashmij|13 years ago|reply
It's like asking out a really hot girl to the theater that you think you have no chance with, but then she texts you back with "which movie?", so then all of a sudden your expectations go up...But then she says no. haha