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Comment by paul | Hacker News Reader

This case was exceptional because of how late he was to apply. 90% of yc startups come in via the regular process, and nearly all of the companies that send gifts are not accepted into yc.

But of course everyone is free to re-interpret the facts to fit their own self-defeating narratives...

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>90% of yc startups come in via the regular process

I feel that it might then be safe to assume that accepted/applied_through_regular_process < accepted/applied_through_other_means ... the game then becomes being part of that 10% :)

In my experience this is very true for most application situations with a low acceptance rate. If you're standing out by doing something vastly different, you'll already get more consideration than most. I once got into a very competitive neuro-science grad program by claiming in my application that I won't be able to answer any technical interview questions because I'm from a different field, but I could be useful in building an interdisciplinary team and helping with modeling/simulations.

Yes, but has he not sent the beer, he would have not been accepted. Yes, or am I missing something?

Although PG is very good at politics and if tried hard he could semi-well explain you that white is black (to one of my comments he replied that the most important for YC is a team -- in that case why would he want to invest or work with one of the top 100s spammer? [1]), I have a hard time believing that when he pitched the first time, they could not understand the simplicity behind this idea and hence - get it right the first time, without a <strike>bribe</strike> beer being sent.

[1] http://gawker.com/5853754/the-seedy-spammy-past-of-airbnbs-c...

It's a grocery delivery company. It was more developed than the YC partners realized. That wasn't clear until actual groceries were delivered.

ok so what you saying is that he went through 2 or 3 interviews, afaik, and they havent asked him what business he is in? ("It's a grocery delivery company"), how far developed the MVP is? "It was more developed than the YC partners realized". and that actually a handful of smart people investing millions of dollars in never-ending train of startups couldn't imagine that a grocery delivery company is actually ... delivering groceries??

here, can we press it together? http://www.shopgadgetsandgizmos.com/product/4429/

No, the only interview was after the grocery delivery. Prior to that, none of the YC partners were interested enough to meet with him.

Too true. Perhaps the best answer to "How do get into YC with my start up?" is to just do it. Create a prototype and get feedback. Those things are needed with or without YC acceptance.

Remembering from my YC application, somebody did check the demo URL, so don't assume they wont.

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