Upverter: Our Y Combinator Experience

I'd guess most (if not all) founders whose businesses failed have been positive about yc.

I remember reading a blog post by a yc-funded news startup that failed, maybe in the fall of 2010. I can't find the article at the moment, but I specifically remember that the founders described the YC partners as being a "class act" during the process of dissolving the company.

Also currently on the home page: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3545548

if you read through the blog you'll find this experience by 'Zak':

- http://zakhomuth.com/my-us-border-nightmare

- http://zakhomuth.com/us-border-status-update

- http://zakhomuth.com/us-border-status-update-41408

One thing that I'd recommend from personal experience is iterating the application just like you would your startup. Read http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html and then reread your application. See where/if some of the things that he talks about are present in your application. When I first did this I was shocked to see that I did almost all of the things that he said that you shouldn't do. I went back and updated the app. Then I repeated the cycle a few times. Lastly, as my product developed and I described it to people, I learned where to focus and refined my description and ultimately went back and updated the app again. Not that I am an expert by any means, just my 2 cents.

The best advice I think you can get is: Get an alpha in other people's hands to test out. feedback on a pseudo working alpha is much more valuable than feedback on theory. Get your demo in as many hand as possible, get feedback, then iterate.

Upverter was in the YC class that started in Jan 2011.