We are a tiny startup in India. I am a techie myself and have failed twice in sustaining business (teams of 12 members both times). We have failed getting into YC but have never lost hope. We will apply again, our product is nearing MVP.

The biggest thing is to keep fighting. Being a techie helps in reducing your initial costs. There are other things you can do. We, for instance, got our product sponsored hosting from SoftLayer (thanks to them). We are also going to ask RackSpace to sponsor us once we start closed beta. We keep in touch with everyone around and people in the Valley. We are very far away but we have ambitions and experience.

We read a lot of very detailed battle stories and get extremely inspired. That is I believe the spirit. There is more competition than there ever was, and I have myself been watching (and failing) for about 6 years now. The important thing to remember: it is NOT EASY, face it, continue doing what you want to do.