What happens after you interview at Y Combinator — and get rejected. | Hacker News Reader

What happens after you interview at Y Combinator — and get rejected.

katherinehague.com

188 pointskatherinehague45 comments

This story is inspiring, but the business they've started, http://shoplocket.com, is even more interesting -- it looks like it can take a lot of the hassle out of selling products and services on the web. They currently only support PayPal as a payment provider, but as the article mentions, they're working on other options.

One thing I think can be improved: The company's logo doesn't have any high-tech items in it (except maybe a CD, which is a bit dated), so it might not appear relevant to somebody who's interested in selling software or computers or e-books rather than makeup and lingerie.

Thank you so much for the awesome feedback! Can't wait for you to try us out. I'll admit we had a bit of fun picking the products for the wallpaper, adding in some more practical/digital goods is a good suggestion.

Just one piece of feedback on http://shoplocket.com/ - the thing I went looking for straight away was the demo of the actual widget, with an actual product in it (even if it wasn't something I could actually check out with) - I couldn't find a demo linked from the homepage, which I think is a missed opportunity.

Great feedback. We'll definitely look at posting one ASAP! :)

Another piece of feedback - if you click on the 'Request beta access' button accidentally without entering anything, it returns the thank you page (https://www.shoplocket.com/beta-thanks). There should be an error message.

Otherwise, it's a pretty interface. Gluck!

Corroborates a piece posted a few days ago on HN: http://al3x.net/2012/02/29/how-not-to-sell-software-in-2012....

Point #2 on the list: "Don’t make it hard for me to try your software. If I can’t play with a trial version or sandbox immediately, I’m moving on."

Another piece of constructive criticism: promotional codes. I can't find the article now, but it argued lucidly that promotional codes are an obstacle to user sign-up: they prompt people away from the page to search for a discount/benefit instead of engaging a user immediately in the service. If the Shoplocket author is lurking about - might be worth setting up A/B testing to figure out whether the Beta Promo code is worth placing so prominently on the front page.

Other than that, looks great. Embedding seems like a smarter way to get connected with your audience than a stand-alone store. Best of luck!

I'll blog about this later this week, but you'd be surprised how unalike geeks and customers are on this one. Geeks perceive value from playing with software. Many customers perceive negative value from having to interact with software.

At the risk of stating the obvious, no HNer will ever buy ShopLocket, for somewhat hyperbolic values of "no". Optimizing for the trialing preferences of HNers, who consume many free trials but pay for fairly little in general (and near nothing in terms of hosted shopping carts for non-technical sell-atoms businesses), is directly against your interests for optimizing the first use experience of people who trial very little software but have a hair-on-fire problem in their non-technical sell-atoms business.

There's a related sell-the-sizzle-not-the-steak issue where someone is not buying the particular CSS/JS of the shopping cart but rather the ability to improve their life by selling things online. You do not necessarily need to show them a shopping cart to tell that story.

Again, further comments later this week at length.

The website is beautiful - in regards to Objection Two, have you had a look at Stripe?

https://stripe.com/

I think this would work really well with your product. I'm glad you got your funding, your product looks fantastic.

Totally second the Stripe suggestion - it is fantastic.

The website was the first thing I noticed as well.. stunning

Stripe only works with businesses in the US (for now at least). They are based in Toronto, Canada.

We actually use Stripe for our own invoicing right now. We may be based in Toronto, but we're with Silicon Valley Bank. I'm in SF right now and was just visiting the Stripe office this morning. Interesting things to come, I promise :)

How did you guys get a US tax number? Or are you using stripe as a personal account (SSN only)?

You can get a US EIN as an international business, just go to the site Stripe points you to and there are instructions for non-US businesses. As for the SSN, we were able to talk to the guys at stripe and get our account active without this.

A small feedback on the demo video on shoplocket.com - I admit it is beautifully produced, but it spends more time on explaining what ShopLocket is not, rather than what it is.. The "what it is not" part could easily come in the copy IMHO. Also, what simonw said - I immediately looked around for a demo of the widget but couldn't find one..

Great article. I think one thing that helps those who are successful be successful is that they treat "failure" as a stage on the road to success, and this means taking every opportunity to learn and get better.

FWIW I am thinking about applying for YC funding for 2013 but not 100% sure yet. I am still in the process of selecting co-founders, transitioning from self-employment-mode to startup-mode, etc. and may have some investors closer to home. I will probably still do it for the experience that will come with it and the possibility that it may make us more successful.

Articles like this helps make the decision easier. Even if I plop down a significant chunk of change for an intercontinental plane ticket, I want to make sure that it will be worth it.

This looks remarkably like http://kout.me/ - are there substantial differences?

We've had others point us to Kout as well. There are certainly similarities between what we're doing and what products like Kout and Gumroad are doing. We really focus on the embedded product design, so that it is almost a mini storefront. You can place it anywhere, and so can your fans. Sort of like how people share Youtube videos today, but for products. Rather than just monetizing links, we're taking our cue from ecommerce platform that allow sellers to have more control over the design and messaging of their listing.

Hi Katherine,

The two objections seem fairly easy to overcome with time and money. Is it possible to be amenable to change in the interview process or is that considered a cop out to PG and the people involved?

Hard for me to say without being in their heads exactly what other problems they might have seen. Can only really comment on the feedback we were given.

Might come down to how good the team is? We've heard of some substantial pivots in the past.

Persistence & determination are two of the most important factors. Why hang your dreams on any particular group? I say know what you want to do and let nothing stand in your way. And for Y Combinator? They simply can't support the dreams of everyone that applies. Not everyone is going to fit with what they are comfortable with and wish to get behind to support. If you get to the interview stage as this group did and are rejected, obviously the feedback can be fuel and added direction to further shape your vision going forward.

Nicely done! The site looks great, and it's a good inspiration to see the "Life after Rejection", as it were.

Are you going to apply to YC again this cycle, or are you too far down the chain now?

Thanks! Things are moving pretty quickly but I think we're likely going to apply again. YC is just such a great opportunity, its worth a shot.

Here is my feedback, the site looks great as well as the widgets, I went to your site and wanted to give you my email for a beta invitation and here's what I got

"Thanks! Thanks for your interest in ShopLocket! We're opening up beta access on a rolling basis. Stay tuned for your invite"

Needless to say, that's not what I was expecting to see, I'll suggest to fix it.

We've only been live for a week, so we're trying to manage the number of people we let in. We appreciate you requesting an invite and will certainly get one out to you shortly! Sorry if this is not what you were expecting.

Thanks for the story. It's inspiring.

I applied for YC W12 with a sure-bet idea of RFS 5 (development on handhelds). I didn't get an interview (granted, the software wasn't finished yet). It was kinda heart-broken, but it _drove_ me. I did crazy hours to get http://worqshop.com released. Now, I'm going to apply for S12.

Good article.

On a tangential note about shoplocket, I feel it is focused entirely on the seller. You can allay some of my fears as a buyer about the guarantees and security I have buying through this. It says risk free, but again for the seller. How can customers trust the seller?

Inspiring story. As others have said, entrepreneurs who use rejection as fuel have an infinitely better chance of succeeding than those who give up.

I do want to point out that while the website is very pretty, the viewer needs to scroll down a lot on the home page to see some important content. I don't have any specific suggestions for how to improve that, but that's something you might want to think about.

A lot can happen after you don't get in. My good buddy Jon has a positive story with Storenvy after not getting into YC. (similar space too)

Couldn't agree more. I see many people applying to incubators who plan to return to their day jobs if they don't get in -- if that's their mindset I don't think they are ready to take the plunge. To be an entrepreneur you need to be ready to make it work no matter what happens.

Other than the fonts looking a bit jagged on Win7/Chrome the design looks amazing.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/511546/pics/shoplocket.JPG

WARNING: this is nitpicking the writing of the post. In the first few paragraphs, there is heavy use of the words "I" and "we" without having a reference for what "we" actually means. It's sorta confusing.

I signed up for beta.

One question, what happens if there comes a time when I want to roll out to two, or three, or four products? Can I host them all on the same ShopLocket page?

Yup. You can create n-products and do whatever you want with them.

*Nota bene: I work on ShopLocket.

Is it possible that the questioner meant "multiple items per widget" instead of "multiple widgets per page"?

No, it was the latter - thanks though!

Are you guys going to apply again? I also got an interview for W12 and didn't get in, but I'm applying again now and will again and again until I get in.

Definitely think we'll be looking at applying again, it would be a phenomenal experience. Hope things are going well for you guys!

Love the site and immediately thought of 4 or 5 family/friends that could use something like this. Good luck. Whats it built in?

Awesome! We're built in rails.

Product concept looks great! However, the site is cut off for me on my iPad.

Interesting post. But the most interesting part is Shoplocket, I'm a big HN lurker, I can't help but think you guys should talk to Sahil Lavingia of Gumroad!

Thanks! There are indeed many similarities to the problems we're tackling and those Gumroad is tackling. I have a lot of respect for what they have built.

Thank you for writing this, we are applying this year and it's great to hear a story on how the interview works and how you should build your product.

Keep up the good work and hope to see you this summer.

And remember: Good solidars are never left behind.

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