We mistakenly marked about 50 applications as late
Due to a bug in our (my) software, a bunch of on-time applications got marked as late when people edited and re-submitted them after the deadline. Fortunately we can tell which applications these were, and we're going to take a look at them all and respond in the next couple days. Sorry about that.
64 comments
I'm totally going to pitch an application submission management system in the next round. I know of at least one potential customer.
Make sure to talk to the customer(s) and find out what they really need and would pay for before building it ;)
Tried that in this round. No love. :(
Actually, it was a pretty sweet demo of the product. It would totally make the YC application process so much smoother from YC's side and (most importantly) allow YC to provide feedback to rejects (that feature alone would be amazing!).
Unfortunately, it looks like YC will (at best) only be a customer, instead of them being an investor.
Actually, it was a pretty sweet demo of the product. It would totally make the YC application process so much smoother from YC's side and (most importantly) allow YC to provide feedback to rejects (that feature alone would be amazing!).
Unfortunately, it looks like YC will (at best) only be a customer, instead of them being an investor.
you can still apply late!
[deleted]
Hey, pg ... does that include our application by any chance?
I realize you don't have to answer this, but I am just curious:
It seems on the surface that our company is much closer to what you say YC is looking for, than many companies you had in W10, S10, etc. Let me just illustrate a couple points:
1. You emphasize resilience: we got rejected by YC in the past and went ahead and raised funding, launched and already have 70k (and counting) users since 3 months ago. The vast majority of our reviews are 5 stars.
2. You care about companies with huge potential. 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.
3. You want to see founders who did extraordinary things: I went to college at 14, played in Carnegie hall when I was 7 years old. (http://magarshak.com/piano) My co founder can father a small child just by looking at a woman... (http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7203877/fundraising)
4. You care about a capable team that has been together for a long time: http://qbix.com/about . We have made websites such as this: http://blurts.com which is now worth over $5 mil.
etc.
So I am curious why YC didn't even want to interview us, but then again, your rejection letter doesn't leave many clues :)
I realize you don't have to answer this, but I am just curious:
It seems on the surface that our company is much closer to what you say YC is looking for, than many companies you had in W10, S10, etc. Let me just illustrate a couple points:
1. You emphasize resilience: we got rejected by YC in the past and went ahead and raised funding, launched and already have 70k (and counting) users since 3 months ago. The vast majority of our reviews are 5 stars.
2. You care about companies with huge potential. 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.
3. You want to see founders who did extraordinary things: I went to college at 14, played in Carnegie hall when I was 7 years old. (http://magarshak.com/piano) My co founder can father a small child just by looking at a woman... (http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/7203877/fundraising)
4. You care about a capable team that has been together for a long time: http://qbix.com/about . We have made websites such as this: http://blurts.com which is now worth over $5 mil.
etc.
So I am curious why YC didn't even want to interview us, but then again, your rejection letter doesn't leave many clues :)
"My co founder can father a small child just by looking at a woman"
Hilarious.
With great power comes great responsibility...
Hilarious.
With great power comes great responsibility...
The fathering comment is an in-joke with our batch: http://adgrok.com/?p=666
From the first footnote on that blog post, this has got to be the best non-computer hack I've read so far:
One of the Y Combinator questions asked you to name one non-computer system that you’d hacked in some interesting way. My answer concerned a man-in-the-middle attack I once did on Craigslist personals. I placed an ad as a woman seeking a man, and as a man seeking a woman, and then simply crossed the email streams by forwarding mail from one to the other, and vice versa. Most Craigslist personals didn’t even have photos back then, so the switch went undetected, even after the couples had met. I handed off the relationship by telling one that the other’s email address had changed, from my fake one to the real one, and likewise vice versa. For all I know, those couples are still together and having kids. They probably don’t know to this day what happened or what brought them together.
One of the Y Combinator questions asked you to name one non-computer system that you’d hacked in some interesting way. My answer concerned a man-in-the-middle attack I once did on Craigslist personals. I placed an ad as a woman seeking a man, and as a man seeking a woman, and then simply crossed the email streams by forwarding mail from one to the other, and vice versa. Most Craigslist personals didn’t even have photos back then, so the switch went undetected, even after the couples had met. I handed off the relationship by telling one that the other’s email address had changed, from my fake one to the real one, and likewise vice versa. For all I know, those couples are still together and having kids. They probably don’t know to this day what happened or what brought them together.
I hate to be a killjoy but neither party ever asked why the e-mail address was changed resulting in the other one jumping in and saying "I never changed my email address, you changed yours!!"? And thus opening up an investigation as they show each other the emails from the past. Secondly, neither party ever asked "Was this the first time you posted an ad on craigslist?" and finally neither party ever said "I don't usually respond to ads on craigslist but..." (people say this out of insecurity not because they actually mean it, this is just to make themselves look good).
I know this because I use to do this all the time in college over skype , record long awkward conversations between distant aquaintences and roll on the floor laughing daiwa try to figure out who called whom and who they are. This was actually a lot of fun, it was an exercise in psychology, we would try to predict how crazy explosive weird conversations could get and see what happens based on people's personality profiles.
My point is that they would have to be really really stupid to not know that somebody else connected them...
I know this because I use to do this all the time in college over skype , record long awkward conversations between distant aquaintences and roll on the floor laughing daiwa try to figure out who called whom and who they are. This was actually a lot of fun, it was an exercise in psychology, we would try to predict how crazy explosive weird conversations could get and see what happens based on people's personality profiles.
My point is that they would have to be really really stupid to not know that somebody else connected them...
And great alimony?
Never heard of blurts, but that color palette totally gave me a Vonage vibe.
> My co founder can father a small child just by looking at a woman
Hilarious! I'm going to have to remember this.
> My co founder can father a small child just by looking at a woman
Hilarious! I'm going to have to remember this.
[deleted]
This is none of my business, but I'm a little confused. I don't see why pg/yc has to apologize. When was the last time a vc acted like he was obligated to hear your elevator pitch, let alone read your huge application---and not only do that, but do it FAIRLY, without giving undue advantage to some other guy with a plan and an MVP (...or not)?
</none of my business>
</none of my business>
We'd promised to reply by a certain time.
I don't think pg is apologizing as a VC, but as a hacker/painter.
If the goal is to create something that people want. He has to be just as customer focused.
If the goal is to create something that people want. He has to be just as customer focused.
Also, it's nice to be nice, whether you need somebody or not.
I'm a little confused by the idea that just because you don't have to do something, you shouldn't do it. I do things all the time that I don't have to do because not doing them would make me kind of a dick. I don't want to be a dick and I doubt pg/yc does either.
Ok, well I'm rather new here, but if 50 applications were accidentally marked as late, does that mean there were like 100+ applications overall? That's a lot of new companies. Are all these already for real, or are the bulk of them in the "programmer with an idea" stage?
Last I heard, the YC crew doesn't announce numbers because they don't want to get into phallus-measuring competitions with other organizations; but based on numbers published in the past I'm guessing somewhere between 500 and 1000 applications.
It's probably more. Based on public numbers/guesses (Harj: http://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-companies-that-get-a..., http://www.quora.com/How-many-people-teams-get-rejected-by-Y..., http://www.quora.com/What-percentage-of-Y-Combinator-applica...) and some handwaving, last cycle was roughly 1000 applications, 10% got interviews, 4% (40 startups) got in. This cycle there's already ~145 slots taken, so I'd guesstimate 1500 applications (all else staying constant, etc) minimum. Maybe more like 2000.
Pretty sure I read that applications increased 85% on the last cycle, so (on your numbers) that would take it to 1850 which is close to your estimate.
Surprising to me that so little. Since there is no fee to enter, I imagine every high schooler who knows how to write a `hello, world' would apply.
not really a shocking number considering the current state of the industry.
Hi pg - didn't get an interview, but thanks anyway for HN/YC and your essays. (: Consider me inspired!
Thanks for the update, I did explain that to Kirsty in my mail. I know there are some folk over in the Convore chatroom in the same position, Convore's proved pretty useful today.
Have the rest been notified? I did submit on time but haven't heard so far.
Phew! I was sure there was a glitch in the system. Now it all makes sense.
Being at the stage we're at things move/happen quick. I looked at our app recently and it looked dated - since the app we've had some game-changing developments (signed on 2 major customers - we're B2B etc.). It'd be cool if your s/w could accommodate for things like that, and secondly I’m surprised you guys don’t do phone/skype screening/interviews. Might help reduce the risk on your investment. Just some thoughts. :-)
[deleted]
It's funny but I noticed this when I submitted my application. I had been frantically trying to polish it up and was suprised by the fact that I was still able to resubmit even after the deadline (at this time the page didn't state that it would be counted as a late submission). The late submission page came up about two and a half hours after the time of the deadline and after I had done about 10 resubmissions. lol!
PG - We still have not heard yes or no to our application for Responsely. We applied in January...but we also updated our application after the deadline to reflect our progress. So I am guessing this glitch effected our application.
Can you let me know the status?
Thank you,
Ted
Can you let me know the status?
Thank you,
Ted
Were those on-time-marked-as-late applications sent the rejection e-mail by default?
No. We haven't replied to them yet, because we mistakenly believed they were late and that we thus didn't have to reply on April 7.
[deleted]
I forgive you. Most of us are human.
Awesome! Was worried for a bit ;)
PG ... Ive already got a stable of pretty solid investors and a house in Palo alto ... what do ya say I just give you the equity and you let me go through this cycle without giving me any cash? lol Im just looking for sound advice and a good sounding board
[deleted]
So, assuming I got a rejection letter AND I updated after the deadline, I'm guessing my rejection still stands? ;)
WhatMatt3rs(1)
I guess this shows that marketing-people shouldn't write code.
great news...
these things happen
a couple of days sound good
a couple of days sound good