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Comment by joeberon | Hacker News Reader

> I can't really see any other way to possibly stand out than to try to be radically genuine and sincere

You could have a unique idea that isn't shit. If you can't have a unique idea that isn't shit, you shouldn't be a startup founder in the first place.

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I don't think a unique idea is necessarily required for a startup. It could be instead that you've identified an under serviced market niche. This could still be a very good startup idea.

True, but your idea has to at least be good or relevant, which OP's unfortunately wasn't. It doesn't take some weird emotional outburst to stand out, it takes having an actually good idea. Of course you need to convince them it's a good idea, but again you don't need an emotional outburst for that, if it's an actually good idea it should not be difficult.

In this case the emotional outburst suggested the founder might be in such close contact with the problem that he might find better solutions, and will likely recognize many non-solutions before wasting time on them.

At least that is a takeaway I would have.

It is not everything a VC might want to hear, but it is a positive.

Why would the emotional outburst suggest that when he's already spent so much time on something the YC interviewer considered a non-solution?

You can spend so much time on something, yet it wouldn't tell a YC interviewer that it's a problem you're intent to solve.

Case in point, my YC idea. I spent loads of my free time on building a MVP, got praise for it, but I did not have a burning passion to solve that problem, or even any desire that I wanted to be in that space long term.

What startup has a truly unique idea? Doing the same thing a hundred other companies are doing and being slightly better and luckier is how most of them got successful.

> If you can't have a unique idea that isn't shit, you shouldn't be a startup founder in the first place.

A taxi service available via a phone is not a unique idea, and it loses millions every single day (Uber).

A company that trades in government issued tax credits for not-pollution is not a unique idea, the Reagan administration invented it (Tesla)

A database sold to end users is not a unique idea, IBM did it in the 1960s (Oracle)

This list could go on ad-infinitum.

You’ve grossly mischaracterized every single one of these.

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