I'm happy to hear that! I think it's more off a personal luck with the same. How YC partners take in you is totally dependent upon the partners only.
Good luck with the interview.
You are absolutely right and for a founder whose truly committed to his/her business should only consider these rejections as a bump on the road.
However i still disagree with how YC select the startup for the interview. I mean the founders who really needs their support are mostly rejected by them while founders who already has raised a million dollar round (or enjoying revenues) are welcomed and signed by the YC team.
I think YC has now become more of a Standard tool for businesses rather providing actual support to founders who need them badly.
I'm from India and i personally know at least 10 founders here who already had raised so much of amount before getting into YC.
This doesn't makes sense to me as to why the heck would someone get into an incubator/accelerator who's already enjoying the business with healthy unit economics.
Startup incubators have now lost their vision and are now more into what i think has just restricted to the investment game.
You are write, these questions were added somewhere in the first week of march. I was casually checking my application (it was editable then) and there i found these 6-7 questions which were sort 'newly added' to the application. I however, answered them later on.
I wonder YC guys didn't released any notification regarding the update.
A rejected application the second time in a row. Had applied to YC W17 batch wherein got rejected after interview.
I really doubt if I'm going to apply again in future. As someone marked in the previous comments, YC is now all about high standards and the companies they sign would anyways had done great without them as well.
Since the last time we applied, we experienced quite a good growth in terms of revenues and customers. plus we introduced some unique engagement model which previously was not at place and was hypothetically roaming around in our minds.
I thought YC support could help us gain networks over in different sectors with experts and that's where we have been seeking support since long. Even in the application we clearly mentioned our "ask" and what we expect from YC.
I think they don't deal with hardware startups or even if they do, those startups are the ones who already might be enjoying millions of dollars of revenue.
It's midnight here in india and i just noticed this session.
I really want to know if there's any quick tip regarding international founders such as from india. I've been in touch with other Indian YC alums and have been getting feedback and suggestions for my YC application. I really am in doubt about how should i go with the application, i mean what exactly YC partners look for in the application the very first time, considering and international founder?
I applied for Upcoming YC batch as a startup from India. I've been into startup ecosystem since last 2 years and typically a hardware based.
My startup application was unfortunately not selected and we totally acknowledge your team's decision.
But we have a query here, I have already gone through the FAQs section and i totally understand "Why don't you invite groups for the personal Interview". But this one is slightly different and is more of a general question.
I thoroughly walked your FAQ sections and somewhere in between the FAQs, i found a section that said "Request For startups/Hardware". Now though i'm running a hardware based startup in India, i read the section and i found a line that said, "We help hardware companies quickly create prototypes, test with potential customers, iterate their product, launch in a way that maximizes the likelihood of success, and scale production in response to demand."
I even walked through the alumini section and found that most of the startups are directly/indirectly related to mobile applications/web based/IT based. Even though the startups are categorized as Hardware startups, more or less i can see a mobile application/any other web based stuff involvement in them.
Moreover, when a user browse through your webpage, the homepage clearly shows couple of startups (whom YC funded and supported) and 90% (or more) are the ones who are developing Mobile applications or are into web based applications (Ex - Payment services, Cloud services, Foodtech, etc).
It's a clear thing that a user like me perceives this as the very first thing when i open up your webpage. Being a hardware guy, i need to exclusively search for options in order to find out some Hardware startups to whom i could relate myself.
And the very first thing that motivated me to apply for YC are the following points:
Versatility
Pool of talented people
Clear support for a startup like mine (Hardware based)
and most importantly, the statement, "We help hardware companies quickly create prototypes, test with potential customers, iterate their product, launch in a way that maximizes the likelihood of success, and scale production in response to demand."
This actually excited me about the fact that we already have a MVP ready with us and YC can help us reach greater heights with the help of their pool of talented people.