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Comment by ericb | Hacker News Reader

Don't be discouraged. I'm 100% sure my idea is rock solid, I've executed successfully before AND I have a cofounder, but I was turned down. You don't have a good startup-tale without getting turned down a few times. I think of it like this:

me: Would you like to make some money with me YC?

YC: No thanks, we have plenty.

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Sounds kind of like you're disguising your YC-denial under a veil of "I've done this before, and I'm better than you" type of thinking.

Are you sure that's productive? What was your successful execution?

I don't think there's anything wrong with positive self-talk. A founder being confident about his or her ability to execute shouldn't make anyone else feel insecure.

Agree with you 100%. We are nothing without confidence that at first seems baseless.

Yeah, exactly. Fake it 'til you make it.

Worked for Caterina :)

http://www.caterina.net

“All the best things I did at Apple came from (a) not having money and

(b) not having done it before, ever. Every single thing that we came out with

that was really great, I’d never once done that thing in my life.”

-- Woz

When you're rejected, you can interpret it as this "says something about me" and take it personally, or you can interpret it as an opportunity someone else missed out on for whatever reason, (not a good match, not web 2.0 enough, who knows!) and move on. If you believe in your idea and yourself strongly, there's usually only one clear interpretation you should take. And yes, self confidence is generally a productive strategy.

As for my success, I built a shareware business that made me significantly more than my salary, as a single founder, while still working full time. It enabled me to leave my job and work for myself.

I hear you! And doesn't it feel great to be able to say you've done that? I'm in the same boat: been working for myself for 7 years, now just trying to duplicate that success on a (much) larger scale :)

We're far enough along, and we have enough buzz among companies testing our app already, that we're not worried at all. YC wasn't a make-or-break deal for us by any means. Good to hear it's not for you too. If you really believe in your idea, it shouldn't be for anyone on here.

I agree... but it would be nice to know if there was something that gave me (or anyone else) a black mark.

I think my idea is great.

It's more of a "can I do anything to improve". I believe in always trying to find ways to be better. If my idea was rejected because they thought it was too niche, I would want to know. If it's because I couldn't think of other things I've done, I'd like to know. etc, etc.

I agree, I'd have loved a reason as well--it would have justified the time spent on the application. Although I would love it, it's probably not practical and may just open them up to angry emails.

Awesome. Maybe I mistook your tone.

I agree that a positive, confident attitude is probably productive, but you made your point by turning the positivity against Y Combinator because you are upset that you were not accepted. Right?

I don't see where I turned anything against y combinator in my posts. Please clarify.

> I'm 100% sure my idea is rock solid, I've executed successfully before AND I have a cofounder, but I was turned down.

Send them a letter rejecting their rejection letter and show up anyhow. From gettingintogradschool.com:

    Thank for your letter of April 9. After careful consideration, I regret to 
    inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission 
    to our department.

    This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large
    number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of 
    candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals.

    Despite W.M.U.'s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in 
    rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at 
    this time. Therefore, I will join the ranks of graduate students in your 
    department this September. I look forward to seeing you then.

    Sincerely,

Upon hearing the news that YC decided not to fund us, my co-founder refused to take no for an answer and decided to call PG on the phone and plea. PG was really really cool and even offered additional advice to help us, but wouldnt budge on their decision.

My advice for those rejected now and after interviews is to simply accept the rejection and continue to build your product as aggressively as you can. I didnt take our rejection very well, and probably wasted more time than I should have dwelling on it. There is not enough time in this field to focus on defeats. Your competition will simply kill you if you do.

Consider this rejection to be a practice round of many more to come.

Reminds me of the excite.com story in Founders at Work

Haha, brilliant! The problem is, you need at least one person (someone who has deciding power) to be impressed enough with your pure stubborn flippancy to let you in even after having been rejected.

If anyone actually went through with it I'd like their chances. If you have that kind of chutzpah why stop there? Hit up every other VC/Angel in the area and something will stick.

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