Why You Should Apply to Y Combinator

medium.com

14 pointstzier5 comments

It's worth adding that although the OP's company went through YC S14, the company was shut down in August: https://medium.com/@tmzier/zen99-is-closing-its-doors-8-25-1...

While that doesn't invalidate the advice, it does give perspective that Y Combinator is not a guaranteed ticket to success. Startups are hard.

Absolutely, that post is linked to in this YC one.

Startups are incredibly hard. For our particular situation, returning money and closing down was the option I decided on after talking to our investors. More in those posts, though. I would 100% go through YC again.

I say focus on customers instead of Angel Capital, get market and focus on that money instead of a Capitalist injecting money. It's not sustainable forever unless you make money for real!

Agreed - this is one thing YC also recommends (not getting caught up in "not work", like getting an office, going to conferences, etc). But YC is good if (a) you want to learn how to do this prioritization and (b) if you aren't planning to bootstrap.

Happy to hear, especially after exiting an industry that prides itself on how much you can spend and how little work you can accomplish! BTW, I took you up on your offer and zipped out an email. Thanks for posting!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com