We're somewhere in the top group of entries with 43 points. I wanted to say that regardless of whether or not we get selected, we really appreciated the ideas and exposure that came from our discussions on HN. A handful of our first clients named HN as the reason why they came to us! Some of the ideas discussed are already being planned for our service. We applied to YC the regular way, and didn't get in. This way we got a bunch of feedback and some traction. Net positive for us.
Dang asked above how best to sift through the applications to give the community final say. I was reading through some of the ideas posted here on how to do that, the one that seem to resonate here with me was the one abhi3 posted above. I'm just worried that a public vote is easily gamed.
Another way to do this is to select the top 10, and get the YC partners (or some trusted groups within YC - perhaps the last group of YC alum?) to vote on the list of 10. I think it would be nice to see what the end vote looks like (release the vote count), and have select YC partners provide some quick feedback for those who are voted on.
Thanks again.