YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections | Hacker News Reader

YC Summer 2017 Invites/Rejections

92 pointssureshkumarsjv336 comments

Has anyone received an invite/rejection email for the Summer 2017 batch yet?

Just got the glorious rejection email :) https://mail.mixmax.com/m/kWxSBXQlxWO9sN6AC

We interviewed in-person for W17 in October and got rejected because we didn't articulate a good plan for growth. - we grew 4,000% since October - launched huge features for both sides of our marketplace - received acquisition interest in < 3 months of being live - most importantly, made something that people are loving and using on a daily basis.

It's a bummer for sure but not the end of the world.

To anyone who got an interview, Figure out your biggest weakness and a plan for how you overcome it. Your interviewers will exploit it.

Here's some notes on our experience going through the interview https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/YC-Interview-Experience-L45KzT...

Good luck all

Working with @jaymeh13 and interviewed with him for W17.

To those who got an interview: congratulations! Keep trying to prove yourself wrong and you'll expose any of the weaknesses that they will try to find in the interview.

To those who didn't: Congratulations anyways! The YC application process itself makes you think deeply about your business and you should keep that with you and take it as a learning experience.

Best of luck to everybody!

Can you provide any tips on how you reached out to other alum in preparation (you said you prepared with AlphaFlow and Snapdocs for example).

Also, are you allowed to share any of the questions you had that you found surprising?

Sure. We simply emailed other YC founders asking if they had advice on the interview process.

The questions are no secret. It's really only 3 questions: 1. what are you working on. 2. How do you grow. 3. How does this become a billion dollar company.

Articulating the problem, how it scales and is defensible is key.

Here are a few links we used

- http://henrikzillmer.com/dos-and-donts-at-the-y-combinator-i... - http://blog.trak.io/ycombinator-our-interview-experience-aft... - https://medium.com/@octal/maximizing-your-chances-of-getting... - https://medium.com/startup-lesson-learned/we-just-interviewe...

Thanks for sharing

Holy cow if that doesn't get you in I don't know what would...

That's really helpful! And funny! Thank you!

Hey this is awesome. Thanks!

Hey everyone - I work at YC. I'll keep you updated on the status here.

We're now sending the rest of the response emails. You should get yours by 7PM.

Hi, I never received a letter..

could you please check for me? :(

Thanks for the update! We are all waiting patiently but we'd rather have it done right than rushed!

Will be anxiously waiting your mail and hope it arrives before the heart attack....:-)

I still haven't received an invitation/rejection yet. Can you get me an answer? lampe317@gmail.com

Hi Jared, thank you for the update. Do you have any insight into general decision timeline for late applications?

Thanks for letting us know! We've been waiting...

Thanks for update! Let's do it. Pumped.

thanks for letting us all know

When do the non profits hear?

My non-profit application was rejected half an hour ago.

Don't give up your idea. Keep going! It will be hugely successful.

Errrrgh. Still waiting to hear.

Thanks for the update Jared!

we just got ours

and?

and we have an interview

any news ?

Thanks!

Thank you!

Thanks

Thank you!

I was turned down after an interview last batch. I think I probably won't apply again. YC's standards now seem so high that, by the time I expect to meet them, there won't be much point in YC anymore. If I have 2,000 users, which is pretty tiny, that's $40K a month at $20 per person. If I get 50 signups a week, that's a 10% per month growth rate. If I have $40K in high-margin monthly revenue with a 10% per month growth rate, why sell stock at a $1.7M valuation, in the hope of getting some connections to sell more stock at a $5M valuation? It just doesn't make business sense. All you'd have to do is wait a few years, and you'd have more profits in the bank, in cash, than the "valuation" you'd get from California VCs.

Yep. The thing though is that they can leverage their network to get the ball rolling for any companies they sign. That means it doesn't really matter if it's awesome or bad, as long as they decide to promote a company, people will buy it. Pretty much like apple products... so it's not rational anymore to go through YC. Do you think airbnb would have worked without YC? No. Would dropbox be dropbox today without YC? No. They are cool ideas because a large amount of people are using these products. And there were other alternatives prior to these companies. It's just that no one ever promoted them like yc did with their own companies. Otherwise they would be like any other products out there. There was an airbnb before airbnb I think it was an australian company. I came accross their website one day (pre-airbnb era) and was like WTF is that. So again, if a large amount of people buy, you'd most likely buy. YC has that marketing power. I think if you become a billion dollar company without going through YC, you'll become the next google or apple.

I've never heard that YC helped companies market their products, beyond providing a little advice. How would they? It's not like they have a huge advertising budget or a TV studio. They can help advertise it to other YC founders, but that market is tiny.

Marketing is expensive, a company needs money to promote a product. To get money a company needs investors. To get investors (in silicon valley) a company needs a warm introduction. The warm introduction is the marketing I'm talking about, not the first one. YC will lineup 100 investors in front of you looking to spend their money. When YC says it's worth it (they sign you up), VC's act like Apple customers.

I wonder what the closest to "YC classic" is in 2017. I was going to apply to YC fellowship but disappointed to see it's cancelled.

I had a similar make-myself-feel-better-reaction the first time I was rejected. Like justifying why actually it wasn't what I wanted and not what I should be aiming for and it actually brings little value. But I think now that was more about making myself feel better than reflecting some kind of Truth. But even if it is true it is probably also a way to cope with getting the rejection. After that first rejection I ended up applying again and again. Because I think it would be useful to get in and I would get something out of it. Particular the connection with other Founders part of the same batch and the alum. I've been rejected 5 times now, including this time and I expected to do a lot better this time. After so many rejections it really gets a lot easier.

I agree with this....and I think it is a reflection of the diminishing value that accelerators bring to the table for software startups. Teams great enough to get into YC are great enough to build a product, take it to market, generate revenue and grow just fine without an accelerator.

There's a good article on SaaStr...that the only value fundraising and accelerators bring is to speed up the growth a bit, but good SaaS co's are good without outside help. Accelerators and outside capital are neither sufficient nor necessary. The YC model has been in place for awhile, eventually even it will be disrupted...

YC is not about selling stock for 1.7MM valuation but about moving quicker than you are already doing now. They help iterate, connect and grow. The 40K MRR is nice but you're still far from 10M MRR.

Are those your actual numbers?

No, that's based off https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VCfpzLhSSxM/V0tbZAPvRTI/AAAAAAAAA... by venture capitalist Christoph Janz, plus a guesstimate (based on conversations with many YC applicants, both successful and not, and on the fundraising track records of YC cos) that the YC admission bar is about equal to the bar for a large seed round.

Guys - As I impatiently wait as well, I just want to say whatever happens today won't define your success. Whatever the outcome is, I want to encourage everyone to continue to build a great company.

Going with an incubator should be one of the plans we must have, not the only one.

I feel like an incubator increases responsibilities and risks, and potential rewards, but some people see it as the "where they want to end up".

I'm fully agree!

Totally agree

Well said.

Agree

Planning a possible YC "reject" event. Post here if interested: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14144922

Would have our own presentation day, pitch feedback, try out each other's products, etc. I think it would be great! :)

This is brilliant!

Dear Fellow Rejects - did any of you go back and take a look at your application and find questions added that were not on the application that you submitted? I was ultra scrupulous in double checking before I submitted. Look in 'Progress' section. There is a forced choice question 'Which of the following best describes your progress?' which offered a couple of answer options. My post rejection application review shows the next question as 'When will you have a prototype or beta? that is not completed because I do not remember it being on the application template. Just a little further down, there is a question 'Do you have revenue?' to which I answered 'No'. But then there are 6 additional questions that I do not remember seeing on the pre-submission application. The first is 'What was your revenue last month? (Please use USD. If none, enter '0'). If that question was there on my pre submission application I certainly would have entered '0', but it appears empty on the post rejection review. Worse, if the application processor could not find a '0' in that space, it might have rejected the whole application as 'incomplete'. Even worse, the next 5 questions 'Your revenue 2,3,4,5,6 months ago?' would have also registered incomplete. But I don't think these questions were on the my pre-submission application form. Also take a look in the equity section. The first question is 'have you incorporated....' which I answered 'No'. I did not answer nor remember seeing the next 3 questions:'What kind of entity and in what state...', 'Please describe the breakdown of the equity ownership...', 'List any investments your company has received..."

Please check your post rejection applications - do you see these questions? Did you answer these questions, or does it look like they were added after submission? If I am wrong or misunderstand, I apologize. I submitted my application on 3/22.

YC was kind enough to check my application and found it complete. They say that they do add, modify, delete questions from the application template during the application period. Apparently the Submit button locks each application so that subsequent template changes have no effect. I really appreciated their kind response to my inquiry.

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.

I also noticed the same.

I answered 0.

Same for incorporation . New questions prop up now.

For all the "rejected" : “There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it’s easy.” Let's keep going guys,even after 1000 rejections. At the end, the difference between an unsuccessful person and a successful one is that the latter never gave up.

Got invite just now, they started sending invites. From india.

Congratulations! What is your startup called? are you guys in the market?

May i ask your company website? i'm from New Delhi

I am also from india. Did you also get pre-interview

Well done! Time to prepare for an interview :)

Thanks :)

Congrats! Go and kill it at the interview.

Congrats and good luck on the interview!

When did you send the application?

Feb 1

Congratulations good job!!

Congrats

congrats!

got an invite now. happy to get it. still cant believe btw! :) time to prepare.

Congratulations and good luck on your interview! :)

thanks a lot m8!

congrats? When did you send the application ?

exactly 28 days ago :)

Way to go! Congratulations!

thanks! :))

when did you apply?

exactly 28 days ago :)

Congrats!

thanks!

Tebrikler!

tesekkurler! thanks!

congratulations!

congrats

thank you!! :)))

congrats.

thank you

congrats!!

thanks

I have to be honest, this is an emotion I'm not entirely familiar with.

I totally get rejection, I've been rejected for all sorts of things, but normally for rejection I can understand on some level why.

This I don't get. Not only are we applying with a company that fits with an RFS, not only is our team really solid, not only is concept proven, but we have a possibility to do real social good that both makes money and helps people.

Even in talking to other people, the reaction was either "why are you even doing YC" or "Sheesh I'm embarassed to by applying next to you". I know that sounds really arrogant, and Im sorry for sounding like that. I'm just...confused, I guess? I really wish that the applications came with a reason why they were rejected, even if it was one sentence.

I can't honestly believe that typing a one sentence "rejection for reason" would take that much extra time. Even a drop down of "we rejected you for this one of the following 5 canned reasons" (your team was bad, your idea was bad, you have no revenue, etc.) would be helpful.

Is it because my cofounder is from another country? Or because we don't live in the bay area?

I seriously do not understand this. I know that sounds a little bit whiney, but it's just frustrating to have put this much emotional investment into something[1] and to get rejected for it without even a brief explanation of why.

[1]: For people that don't live in the bay, applying to this program is a big deal. I skipped out on events next week because we might have to block out time for an interview, I moved things around this week specifically so that I could schedule an interview if possible, I moved things around this summer so that if I needed to be in SF I could etc.

I get not counting your chickens and all of that, I don't think we did. Nothing is lost for us here, and moving events and things around isn't a big deal, obviously that is just part of doing business. It is just frustrating to get a rejection email that doesn't even include a few seconds explaining why.

Forever onward, obviously. It just really sucks not having feedback on why you were rejected.

Sorry if this sounds harsh but who gives a flying F. If you're a startup founder you not only need to have this mentality but truly believe it.

You need to re-ground yourself and come to terms that if you're running a company you're going to punched in the face, a lot. You're going to get rejected, a lot. This will happen again and again and again and then once you think it won't happen anymore, bam - it'll happen again.

The fact of the matter is this - the only thing, and I mean the only thing that matters in terms of acceptance is what the market thinks of your product. Who cares if an accelerator said you weren't good enough? Who cares what your friends say (good or bad) or other founders say (good or bad) about your startup - it doesn't matter. My last company, my mom loved it, raved about it! But it failed because the market thought it was crap.

The only thing that matters is if the market wants your product. Startups have become obsessed with acceptance into an accelerator or raising money as an indication of success. It is not an indication of success and if you mistake it for this, you're not thinking straight. Build a business.

To me it sounds like you're looking for validation that you're good enough and you were hoping to get that from YC and they told you that you aren't. You applied to Harvard and they said no and now you're sitting there wondering if you're smart enough.

Look at it the other way. Per what you said you have an amazing startup and now you won't need to give away 7.5% of your company. Don't get me wrong, YC from what I have heard is amazing but if you think YC is what is going to make or break your company - boy, I'd be worried.

Hey thanks for the feedback. You're right, and reading that again it sounds stupid. I was frustrated just at not getting at least a brief explanation of why for the rejection, maybe that is asking for too much, though.

YC definitely was not the make-or-break for us, it just sounded like a really good program, and my cofounder and I were, imho justifiably, disappointed at not getting accepted.

We've had other offers, and we turned them down because we wanted to wait to see if we got into YC or not. So I at least hope we weren't looking for validation. We've (at least in my eyes) already gotten that from other investors.

To be honest I think a lot of the calculation goes around like this:

- Here are the X Partners we have available as resources

- Who do these X Partners Like and who can they Work With

- How would this Team fit into our YC ecosystem, recognizing that a lot of the slots in some verticals are filled.

It's a multidimensional optimization, they're not just going for rawr, they're going for "fit", too, and perhaps all of the qualities you list as reasons for your surprise at the rejection, are only part of the equation.

It's the pragmatics of organizations. The system doesn't just choose the "best parts", it chooses the best of the parts that "fit the best". Paradoxically, as the system increases in size, the "open slots" become more constrained, the "fit" becomes more overdefined by the existing parts, and the likelihood of choosing based on "rawr bestness" is decreased.

Take heart, Fellow Rejectee!

It's a lot of work that goes into these applications, and I absolutely don't sweat the rejection (hurts a little, but that's all right, we're not in the business of passing the YC application), but as a future suggestion maybe — and I absolutely understand YC gets a ton of applications — if there was a way to just get a short comment on why an application was rejected, it would be so incredibly helpful. One sentence, perhaps even just a standard tick-box canned-response the reviewer hits at the end of reading it ("market-fit not clear", "worried about team", etc.). No interest to argue about it, but the value given back to startups would be tremendous, with very little time required (ticking the final rejection-reason box, even if it just says, "not really something I'd be interested in").

I would even pay for it. I know that's absolutely not within YC's context and mindset, but I'd pay to just read one short line that helps us see what you saw (or hoped to see but didn't).

Also a Summer17 reject. I support and would pay if required. YC encourages me to resubmit (50% of recent batches have applied multiple times), yet I have no clue what to clarify or resolve. It makes no sense to me or YC for me to keep submitting applications if there is some glaring flaw. If they don't like my idea, so be it. But if there is a hint that might make the next application better than a crap shoot, I want to know about it. If they would consider me a stronger candidate if I had more progress, have more users, be less serious on my video, have revenue, have a longer runway, have a tech founder, didn't understand something, thought my forecasts were unrealistic, needed a fact that I failed to include, etc. that would help immensely. You are right, they have the money, so they can decide on whatever basis they choose, but if there is something that they expected to see but didn't or didn't expect to see but did, or wanted to see less/more of, or more proof of, that would really go a long way to increasing my confidence that I did all I could in my application and the decision was truly beyond my control - I could live easier with that, and move on. Thanks.

So when do we get the rejections? so we can move on.

They should be responding to everyone by evening today.

Till then have your lunch, breathe, work on your product and check your emails later this evening. :)

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.

To your last point, not true. I think I fit the category of hardware and got an interview with a prototype.

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.

This is our 3rd time applying. S15 - Rejected. S16 - Invited then rejected after the interview. S17 - Rejected (we grew to a much higher MRR since S16 with a stronger product). YC's decisions can be unpredictable and I believe you have to get lucky with the batch (your startup showing more promise than others in the pool).

This is my third application with the same company. We got investors and launched our product since the first time we applied. Even though it would be amazing being selected, life will continue even though YCOMBINATOR rejects your idea. ;) Keep building an awesome product! Good Luck to everyone.

Same with me. I build a startup and submitted the ideas for a couple of times but YC continued rejecting us. Even though the first time we got interview request but weren't selected. I pursued and raised funding in multiple rounds. So life continues. Now in 3 years, we dominate the car rental market in ride sharing. Keep building :)

We received our second rejection for an interview yesterday, but luckily for us YC was just a nice to have and not end all.

As I read through the comments, I believe many businesses forget the fact that business is ran by the numbers. Yes, can YC help you get attractive numbers for investors, but you can do the exact same thing on your own if you build something people need (love). I find it hard to believe that any investor that YC can introduce you to will turn down your meeting if you have built a business that has attractive numbers. That's what they look for anyway...YC funded or not.

For those that got an interview, congrats. For those that didn't, keep going and be great in what you are doing.

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 make a good point; perhaps YC should switch to a tiered system?

I can't comment upon that. However that's my personal experience which spoke.

I will make my company the most successful with YC or without YC, you decide YC :D

I agree with you.

I've come a long way in my entrepreneurial journey, and one thing I've come to realize is that elements like YC are just factors for success. They are nice to have but ultimately won't determine the fate of my plan.

It was a milestone in my personal development to reach this insight and very liberating.

Just got the invite! Best of luck guys!!

Heck yeah! Celebrating for you down here in San Diego!

Mind if i asked when you applied?

Congrats!!

Congrats

congrats!!!

Want to launch anyways? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14144922

Does anyone know if they send in one big batch or smaller batches. Also has anyone received rejections yet or rejections get sent out last/later.

I also have a friend who is waiting to hear back, though he did apply late. We received our email a little over an hour ago.

My thinking is they send the rejections all at once...last 2 times I applied it was around 6:30-7 pst.

I spoke to a friend who hasn't received either. We got ours

Were you accepted or rejected? If so when'd you get the email?

Yea or neh ?

We received an invite earlier this afternoon! This came after a pre-interview earlier in the week. So stoked! This is our 5th or 6th time applying.

Congrats! Do you mind sharing what was the 'pre-interview'? I was not aware that this was a step in the process.

They did video interviews (10 min) with some companies at the end of last week, but no telling yet whether that's a good or bad sign.

Thank you!

congrats! Just out of curiosity, did you guys apply 6 times with the same idea/company?

we applied 3 or 4 times with one idea and then completely changed our product. The last two times were the same idea.

when did you send your application? and when did invite come if i may ask?

We submitted on March 23rd, the day before the deadline. The invite came today (as the 18th is the day they were supposed to send invites/rejection emails).

Congratulations to those of you invited an interview! If unfortunately you don't get in, check out a group which is getting together to set up a Demo Day for rejects after the YC demo day: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14144922

Sounds like the emails come in later this evening. That's not going to stop me checking my email every 5 seconds until then.

Anybody else in Phoenix? My cofounder and I are going to hang out and get some beers/lunch together while we try to wear out the refresh buttons on our laptops if anybody wants to join us.

Not in Phoenix but this made me lol.

Good Afternoon All

Today is Monday, April 24th. I'm super ancy. I applied with a late application 12 days ago and haven't heard anything. Did anyone else apply late recently? Have you heard anything? I keep checking my email and junk box obsessively, scared I might miss something from YC.

Just got our invite

Congrats to all who received their invites. We are still waiting for a response.

Still waiting too! Suspense is killing us!

still waiting....

same...

I guess a successful exit in my last startup and revenue in our first 6 weeks for this startup weren't good enough, LOL. Kick some ass everyone! :)

It's 6:11 here in Birmingham, AL. I have also been patiently waiting! Best of luck for the ones who have already received an invitation!

What are you building? I'm 4 hours south of you in Niceville, FL!

For some reason i thought answers would be given yesterday. So this is the 2nd day I'm biting my nails (not much left from yesterday)

Similar story here. Due to the time difference, 18th has come and gone for me and even though I knew it's not gonna come, I was still anxious the whole day.

You're hilarious!

lol

We're not selected to interview. We were invited to the pre-interview (video call) last week. Solo founder. Good luck everyone!!

We got pre-interview video call too and then finally got rejected. I thought pre-interview would be a foot in the door but apparently not

Same boat. How did your pre-interview go?

No news till now....is anyone else still waiting?

me lol

We haven't received anything either and we're on the east coast in U.S. We're guessing it will be very late tonight.

Just got our invite! Good luck to everyone else!

Congrats! Good luck in the interview.

Congrats!

I'm pacing and my dog is just staring at me

Nothing yet! I'm super interested to hear when/if any single founders get interview invites though. Let me know, pals!

Congratulations to everyone for applying, and giving it a shot, whether or not you got an interview! Go get 'em! :)

Received an invite last year at 8:15 pm est so looks like we have around seven hours to go if we're judging by that.

>... we have around 7 hours to go....

Surely, they have made their decisions long ago. Why not just create a script to run at 00.00hrs and automatically send the results ?

Can't speak for anyone else, but the waiting is killing me :)

Are they sending the rejection mail as well today? Or if we are not getting an e-mail,does it mean that we are rejected?

They will send rejection emails today as well.

Has anyone applied just a few days late in the past? Any idea how long your application decision is delayed by?

Last year, we applied the week after final decisions for S16 were made. 10 days after, a partner messaged us via HN with some follow-up questions. A week later, we had a Skype call with another partner. We were ultimately rejected 3 days after that call via their standard email template.

No idea but you can check last years threads for some historical information

We haven't received an invite or rejection yet. (eagerly waiting).

When will the invites/rejections be sent out anyway?

It's mentioned in their website that they'll be sending the invitations by April 18,2017.

Anyone here applying as a single founder?

I am! Solo female

I am a solo founder. I feel that I have a very small chance.

Well let me know if any of guys get in :D

Me too! Solo Female Founder.

me too! I applied late as a solo female founder.

Sure am! #singlesclub

I am a solo founder

Yep

yes, welcome in club

here

yes

Didn't receive anything yet, South East Asia passed midnight here but only 11am in Mountain View.

whats the historic time they reply ?

We haven't received anything yet as well. Egypt/Cairo is 9 hours ahead of Mountain View.

Guys, do you get the invites to your mails or is there a way to see it within the hacker news?

You'll get the mail for both invitation as well as rejection.

You'll get an email

Does anyone know if all the people who got invited so far were pre-interviewed before?

We were pre-interviewed on Thursday and so far have not heard anything. We submitted our app an hour or two before the deadline, if you give any credence to the rumor that invites are being sent according to the date of app submission.

Received my 2nd rejection mail from YC. had applied for W17 as a hardware startup.

Doing anything with routers/modems?

I wonder how many international companies are getting invites for the interview!

Don't know how many but this one from Colombia will..........:-)))

We are in South Africa/Lesotho and so keen to be part of YC

How many startups, do you guys think will get invited for interview this time?

~450 Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13951136

Do you know what time you will re start sending invitations and rejections

Just got our invite! wooooo

Awesome! Congrats!

Appears they are starting to send invites based on date of applications.

Rejected. Thanks everybody. Congrats to invites and good luck to all!

Anyone receive a rejection yet? :/ I think we're toast ;-;

Yup, "We're sorry to say that your startup was not selected to interview for the upcoming Y Combinator batch. Please don't take it personally." TRICKSY HOBBITZES! :(

Thank you for opportunity! You're darn right we're applying W18!

nope..

Anyone still waiting? Do they save the rejection emails for the end?

I think it's just rejections now :/

Does everyone get an email? Even those who have not been selected?

We have not received ours yet!

Yes

I haven't received any answer yet. Is anyone still waiting?

Are a lot still waiting to hear?? Its 11pm MST, and no news...

Got our rejection. I guess it'll be Winter 2018 for us.

South Germany (9 hours ahead) - not yet so far... awaiting

Rejected as well. I will keep making progress regardless.

Am I the only one who checks the emails every 1 minute?

Anyone with hardware concept applied for this batch?

It is 1200 noon in Mountain view. No email yet.

Has anyone pitching a non profit heard back?

Denmark 18:00 right now and still nothing

It's almost mid-night from South East Asia - we're 14 hours ahead of SF. I think they won't be sent for another 6 hours.

Check your YC accounts...it changed.

My founder's profile has completely vanished...the previous application is still there!

Hey, not seeing any changes. What changed for you?

What is the change? Thanks.

What changed?

No, I started searching at midnight.

Rejection mail just hit the inbox.

This is the slowest day ever, lol

tell me about it :P

Thanks for the update cheers!!

yes it is the slowest day ever. Havent received anything so far 12.14 AM India

It is 5:06 Am 18 April 2017

It's 5.37 PM IST here in India :)

Just received my rejection.

Keep going!

just received mine. rejected! Well, good luck for the interview guys!

Keep going, you can do it next time!

did all the international founders were called for a pre-interview ?

Was this a video call? Our team isn't international but we had a video call scheduled a few days ago. We were also wondering what that signified, if anything.

second time I'm reading this. Where did this rumour originate?

Just received rejection.

Keep going! Next time!

Slowest day of my life

YC just missed me ;)

we just received our rejection. Good luck guys!

Rejected. Sad :(

Cheer up! You totally got this next time!

anyone else? Rejects or Interviews?

Got invite!

Do you know when exactly you got the invite?

Congratulations!

Nice!

time is not ticking at all.

Okay, I finally got rejected once more as solo founder:

www.mountwish.org

Problem and solution:

Most companies struggle with the high complexity and ever-increasing regulatory burdens associated with managing their FX, commodity price and interest rate risks. Not to mention that costs in financial risk management are rising fast (currently firms spend on average around 2.86% of their revenues on hedging these risk). Hence, they usually would prefer to have a simple, straight-forward insurance covering these risks rather than having to deal with derivatives and the related administrative requirements. That’s where we come in with our product called FinGuard, which is an ERP system plugin doing exactly this – measuring the exposure and automatically insuring it at a cost which is at least 40% cheaper compared to traditional hedging methods (as we can effectively match contrary risk positions of different customers).

Top three customer advantages:

1. Significant EBITDA boost

Savings coming from our cross-customer hedging approach can increase EBITDA by up to 11.5% p.a. which is equal to an increase of 16% in sales, while additionally saving any kind of fixed treasury expenses (e.g. treasury systems, staffing, research data, special admin processes and legal services,…). Hence customers’ EBITDA will go up sharply.

2. No compliance hassles anymore

It reduces compliance burdens , just think of KYC checks, MiFID II, EMIR and the likes, which for an insurance policy from a customer’s perspective are no longer applicable

3. Convenience and more time for your core business

Increased focus on your core business with automation taking all the financial risk management hassles (e.g. going global w/o worrying about FX rates) and potential human errors (e.g. no litigations with banks about the agreed on derivatives pricing) out while using big data to improve results further

Status Quo and Key metrics:

- A solid team is in place and shall be hired with the next funding round (or accelerator money), but until then it's just me working full-time on the project (by the way I don' understand the bias against solo founders anyway: https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/26/co-founders-optional/)

- Validated concept (based on historical data), business processes defined, thorough business plan written (100+ pages) and software design sketch ready; first prototype shall work by end of April

- Currently discussing cooperation with other financial services providers as they can help us to drive sales significantly (attracted leading players including bulge bracket banks and household names in the insurance industry among others)

- 300+ sales leads each with more than 100m in revenues (our own pricing is derived as a percentage of their revenues); currently reaching out to them to get signed LoIs

- 2.97tn USD total market size; expecting USD 546m in pre-payments in year 1

- positive VC feedback in general

Not yet.

rejected :(

Just got an invite for an interview. Great news! Can anyone swap interview slots who has one booked for the week of May 1, which is now full? I'm at TED for the prior week. Thanks...

Congrats! did you have a pre-interview before today?

when's your interview? Did you already schedule it?

Congrats!

live conversation: https://t.me/yc_summer_2017

for all those who click the button every single minute :D

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14142444 and marked it off-topic.

Quick reminder on the live conversation, feel free to join us and share your thoughts and experiences!

https://t.me/yc_summer_2017

Come on you guys, one link is probably ok but at 5 you're well into spamming.

Live conversation just started, everyone's invited!

https://t.me/yc_summer_2017

Share your thoughs with us, even if you were rejected!

https://t.me/yc_summer_2017

We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14142628 and marked it off-topic.

thanks Jared!!! we are all waiting for you here and on https://t.me/yc_summer_2017

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14143769 and marked it off-topic.

Hopefully this doesn't come off too rude but you've linked this 5 times now in this thread and to me this has passed the point of promotion and reached spam.

Any chance this can be the last one?

do you know what I like more than a down vote? To know you exists ;)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com