What we did to (not) get into TechStars | Hacker News Reader

What we did to (not) get into TechStars

blog.aisleten.com

We made sure to notify David, in order to show that we were supporters of open source

It was at this point that I started to wonder if maybe you sent updates/questions to the TechStars guys a little too often (I assume that's who David is.) I'll be interested to hear your analysis of what went wrong.

Was I just not aware that this level of communication is common in the pre-application phase of these programs?

That's what they told us to do at TS4AD.

"Make us keep thinking about your project."

I, too, wondered if all the emails were at a level that might be considered annoying, but I guess only the people involved can say that with certainty, and apparently they didn't tell you to lay off.

BTW, ever read the book 'Growing a Business'? It's one of my favorite business books; it's about a mail-order garden tool business (which is what triggered the association).

http://www.squeezedbooks.com/book/show/4/growing-a-business

It probably doesn't have a lot in it that you don't already know, but it's a nice one if you can get ahold of a used copy or from the library.

Yeah, but there's a steep difference between that and "pester us and annoy us". That's like saying that marketing should make you keep thinking about your project. If you were a marketer, would you spam people and irritate them constantly with email, or would you be tasteful and let them discover for themselves?

"Keep us thinking about your project" probably works best if you're constantly updating your project. Keep building, gently announce releases - not TO David Cohen, but just on Twitter where anybody can see what you're doing - and show that you guys aren't desperate. TechStars (or any other seed funder) is unlikely to accept the people that most want to get in. They'll be accepting the groups that put in the most effort to their project, who showed they could create without worrying about their funding.

All that's left up to the reader to decide. This is what _we_ did, and it got us rejected. We're pretty sure we followed directions both literally and in spirit. However, we didn't get selected. Maybe fewer emails would have helped, but I doubt it.

I don't know anything about the folks that run TS, but they'd be terrible investors if they let something like overly frequent updates determine how they invest.

The simplest explanation is that they didn't like the team or the idea as well as the other options available to them.

One of the elephants lurking in the living room is the matter how how large the potential market is. More people eat food than purchase plants. (Your D&D start-up looks pretty neat, though.)

For those that missed it whilst skimming the first time (like me):

http://www.obsidianportal.com/

It does look pretty cool.

My startup is doing something similar: a web app targeted at table-top gaming. It's not ready yet, but it has a few things Obsidian lacks, and we're looking for more coders and/or designers; if anyone is interested, give me a shout at luke at ziggurati dot net.

+1.

Think like an investor. Imagine this startup got as huge as it possibly could get and gobbled up a few adjacent markets. Could you imagine it selling to Google (or someone else) for $1B? $500m? Has there ever been any M&A activity anywhere near this market of consequence?

No doubt that there is a business here, but I think most investors look for a larger TAM as well as a market that is getting ready to blow up (or starting to).

http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the-pmarca-gu-2.html (good reading on the subject of startup markets)

To me, I feel that it was because you guys got so much progress in a way that you don't need to be in the program since you've already got your site to a point where you can start acquiring customers.

And the brutal truth is David and TechStars will look at how much money your startup can make or potentially be valued at and I have no doubt if you do the right thing, this could be a business that generates a million/yr but that's not the magic number that they are looking for.

It's not over until you give up. Maybe you can get into the next group at TechStars. Alternatively, if you can grow in your current form perhaps these guys will help you in a series A (if that's part of the long term plan).

One of the most significant themes I've seen in this community is persistence. If you give up now, then the story stays what it currently is. Maybe if you keep trying, the current situation will end up being one of the challenges in your path to success.

Almost every story in Founders at Work seems to have point at which the founders could have closed up shop and ended up with an "informative" failure story to tell.

Being so close to the mentors, did you ask for some feedback as to why your application didn't make it?

Yes, we asked and David gave us some good feedback. If he gives permission, I will post some of it in the follow up.

Your team and the execution looks very good to me. But that is also the case with the rest of the applicants, I guess. Despite all that talk about ideas beign secondary to the application, at this point all you can really show is a cool idea and your desire to dominate the world.

Seems like you fail on these two tests completely.

"We’ve got the technical skill, the domain knowledge, and the grit to work nights and weekends while holding down day jobs."

You're not working on this full time? Or is this me reading it wrong?

Yep, nights and weekends, not full time. It worked for Obsidian Portal, and it's working so far for DoLeaf.

I know the conventional wisdom is "Quit Now!", but I like to eat.

were you seed funded with that startup?

I ask because I can't imagine applying for seed funding without being 173% committed -- eg, I have to make this work because I like to eat.

I think the idea is that if TechStars accepts you, then you quit your day jobs and jump in full-time. That is part of the opportunity they are providing.

No funding on either project. We fully expected to work full time on DoLeaf if we got accepted to TechStars. We know how it works.

of course. I wasn't being a dick, sorry -- I was just curious. I think these funds really value if the founders have already made the jump and are powering along 24/7 before seed funding.

Looking forward to your next post. You can totally jump down my throat when I write a post if we don't get into YC tomorrow ;)

Please do write a post. I want more info out there about the "real" state of startups. There's too much get-rich-quick crap that distorts the reality (especially about iPhone apps).

The truth is that it's a long hard slog to any sort of success.

We also applied to YC, so we expect to get rejected tomorrow as well ;)

Don't we hear back today? Says April 6th here: http://ycombinator.com/s2009.html

We only hear back if we get invited to the interviews. My finger is hovering over the "buy tickets" button on Expedia. ;)

tell me about it. Talk about pay thru the nose from the UK.

Return flights London to SF were about £340 last time I checked a few days ago, but they involved some fairly horrible connections making the whole flight ~17h.

Hopefully I _do_ have to go through that torture! :)

PS: It's a really great idea.

> I know the conventional wisdom is "Quit Now!", but I like to eat.

I assume then that Obsidian Portal hasn't provided enough income to sustain yourselves?

That is correct. Still, it's profitable and runs pretty much on its own. Our free -> premium conversion is pretty good and keeps going up. We've hit the bullseye as far as feature set for our target market. We just need to advertise better and get more signups. I guess that's true of most startups, though.

I see. Thanks for the info. It sounds like you've got a great thing going there. Why not direct more energy towards growing it?

Great post, thanks for sharing.

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