Ask HN: Didn't get in YC S11? Are you going to charge forwards anyway?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2422145

by jayliew • 15 years ago

33 39 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I know I AM !! :) Who's with me? You'll face many rejections throughout the lifetime of the company, if you stop at the first rejection, you've already lost.

Please describe in 1-3 sentences what you're building.

DarrenLyman3• 15 years ago

Nope, Already doing it. A user driven embed-able music polling platform / app. Its partially developed right now and will be rocking the music industry very soon. We also hold huge ground with existing social networks and launching already developed apps very soon. Looking forward to being the one that got away... and never looking back!

What are you building?

abbasmehdi• 15 years ago

Great attitude brother!

DarrenLyman3• 15 years ago

Thanks!

d0m• 15 years ago

"A user driven embed-able music polling platform / app". <-- ?!?!?

DarrenLyman3• 15 years ago

More to come, very soon!

Animus7• 15 years ago

I think that if getting a rejection from YC is enough to stop someone, then that was probably one of the reasons they were rejected.

jayliew2• 15 years ago

I like to think I got my personal daily rejection quota filled today :) http://cdixon.org/2010/09/12/getting-rejected/

ffumarola• 15 years ago

Nope, we are doing a weekend coding session to get some of our backend developed.

nethsix• 15 years ago

My opinion is that applying for funding should merely be something to bring 'excitement' to an otherwise tough' monotonous' life of an entrepreneur.

Whether you get funded does not only depend on the ingenuity of your idea but a match between you and the funder.

You should continue working because you believe in your idea (to some extent but over-believing is unhealthy) and simply because what else would you do with your spare time =)

mtran• 15 years ago

The process definitely did this for us.

neosavvy• 15 years ago

I am working on an expense tracking system, pretty far along.

Available here if anyone wants to try it out. http://nets.neosavvy.com:8080/nets/expense/

Anyone who wants to be a beta tester or get some help using it drop me an email aparrish@neosavvy.com

http://blog.neosavvy.com/wordpress/?p=254

ammmir• 15 years ago

yeah, no point in me stopping when the product is 80% built already (of course the last 20% is the toughest). i applied with a social photo search app... it's like greplin for photos and videos. if you want an invite to the beta, sign up at http://www.pilvy.com/

rottencupcakes2• 15 years ago

Do you really think anyone who isn't going to charge forward is going to post "no, i'm quitting now." in this thread?

jayliew2• 15 years ago

Title of this post, asked who's charging forward, not who's not charging forwards. Thanks.

solipsist• 15 years ago

If it makes you feel better, you can assume the title to be this instead:

  Didn't get in YC S11? How are you going to charge forwards?

I think the point of this post was for it to be a morale booster. While everyone might agree to go on charging forwards, people will most likely have different approaches in doing so. That's what this is all about.

EGreg3• 15 years ago

We're building a next-generation, distributed social network which gives users control over their data, and helps their social lives in the real world instead of online. Oh yeah, and we already have over 70k active users who downloaded our app in the last 2 months. So I am curious why YC didn't even want to interview us, but then again, their rejection letter doesn't leave many clues :)

http://qbix.com

rottencupcakes2• 15 years ago

Your spiel here is very motivating, motivating enough to make me click your link.

However, your website doesn't represent this at all. Your front page leaves me wondering "What do they do." None of the "apps" you have give me any indication of being the "Next generation social network."

I'm left confused as to what you do, or why I would sign up.

EGreg3• 15 years ago

That's okay. We didn't optimize the site for that yet. Right now, most of our users simply interact through the apps and we are going viral through that.

In about a month, it will all start to make sense. Check back then :)

cdgreen1• 15 years ago

Wow! Very interesting. You'll have a kick butt team and two successful apps (Groups and Calender) that I know people use all the time. It would be interesting to see how the selection process works.

EGreg3• 15 years ago

Yeah I have no idea why they didn't even want to interview us.

I mean, I saw the batch of YC companies in winter 2010. I would humbly like to say that we seem to be closer to what YC says they are looking for, than several of those companies were.

For example, we applied in Winter 2010, YC rejected us without an interview, and then we went ahead and secured investment and launched and already have 80k users and nearly all ratings are 5/5 . Our apps are being used 30k times a day (in aggregate) so engagement is high. Not only that, but we are already generating profit. YC says they like entrepreneurs that hang in there.

Also, they say they like people who achieved a lot. I was a concert pianist when I was a kid and went to college at 14. ( http://magarshak.com ). I normally don't say that but I thought I might as well just mention it. So I have no idea how their selection process works. If they had any concerns about the company, I would have been happy to talk to them in person. I think we at least would have warranted an interview.

I personally think YC made a "wrong decision". But it may very well be that the selection process has other things that I am not aware of. For example, they may have so many applicants that they are looking for specific things they did NOT mention on the site, and these may be weighted more heavily.

Anyway, we are a bit surprised, but that's about it :)

dtyleryork2• 15 years ago

We're working on a flash-sales site with a focus for launching new products (rather than selling overstock of old products). We want to give small merchants and designers a captive audience to get those first early adopters. We currently have a landing page at http://www.Trisse.com

suhail• 15 years ago

If you got rejected, Mixpanel is giving out free startup plans to all those that are rejected to help bootstrap. Please forward your rejection email as proof. Email free@mixpanel.com. Keep chugging along.

dtyleryork2• 15 years ago

clever promo. nice

bdclimber14• 15 years ago

We applied with http://getrunrate.com and are charging forward!

It's simple bookkeeping software with an elegant interface that surpasses Mint.com and a focus on mobile access and digitizing receipts.

stc• 15 years ago

I have not yet begun to charge forwards!

closedbracket• 15 years ago

I'm going to charge backwards, just for the hell of it.

luislp• 15 years ago

I apply with an excellent idea about qr code based social platform, we are going forward! We already have customers, don't know why YC put money in social pokemon games at facebook and not in our platform. I don't understand this at all.

lifestyleigni• 15 years ago

Still powering away on http://spothero.com an online marketplace that let's you rent out your parking spot when you're not using it

samdalton• 15 years ago

Many rejections later, but still amped and loving it. They may have already picked a social commerce startup last intake, but they'll wish they took this one instead ;) There's simply nothing else to do but go forwards.

katieben• 15 years ago

Yes. A social startup with a plan and revenue strategy, though I'm squeamish about talking super publicly about it. I'm looking for cofounders, if anyone's interested in joining me. I'm more interested in passionate, driven, generally super smart people than any particular skillset. Let me know if you're interested and let's talk offline. (:

Sloven• 15 years ago

When the next round?

mceachen• 15 years ago

"There are two each year, one from January through March and one from June through August." -- http://ycombinator.com/about.html

pclark• 15 years ago

I think that a good route to go if you get rejected is use this time between now and winter 12 yc batch to charge forwards - it demonstrates fabulous determination and tenacity in the face of rejection.

hari912• 15 years ago

faceless.com/qa/, it's a website based on real-time infotainment over local communities; im a comm/web design major and i really love the idea of local; why not make it positive and incentize users to provide local information that pertains to them; most social networks are based on who you know, this is based on community-verified users you don't already know. i really wanted a chance to share with yc =/ i thought it was a great idea and i have a great team!

hari912• 15 years ago

oh yep, we're def going to go ahead and charge with it! =] put a lot of time into it! goodluck everyone else too =] not the end of the world!

adrianwaj• 15 years ago

I wonder if YC's size is working against it. It can't invest in 2 startups that do the same or similar things? And in this case you're only giving them free insights. This is why I am critical of YC: no official list of their investees to see if they'll be a conflict of interest. Why not? What other VC websites don't list their portfolio companies? I shouldn't say it's a scam.

lal.com got rejected: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2422799

Can't comment on the thread.. bit too much like messageparty?

Think being a participant of this forum will help? If the team happens to remember you , but it won't hinder you if you're not. HN is YC's API, plugin, hope for everything, prepare for nothing.

I think I'll go on American Idol now.

acconrad• 15 years ago

To stop now would admit defeat. And I never admit defeat. We are changing the game on how developers get jobs. It's time recruiters are put out of business, companies get the right employees and developers wake up every day loving their jobs. If you run a startup or looking for software work in Sf or Boston and want an exclusive invite to demo, email info.perkk@gmail.com

Ask HN: Didn't get in YC S11? Are you going to charge forwards anyway?

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