Hacker News Reader

Comment by zaguios | Hacker News Reader

Several years ago when there were less applications and he got turned down initially...

And also fewer partners reviewing applications. He was turned down for a previous batch because he applied with a bad idea (SAT test prep), not because he was a single founder. If we would now pass on DropBox, something has gone very wrong. I can't believe I have to argue this point...

With all due respect, the reason you might have to argue the point is probably because even back in 2007 the application page said:

     The people in your group are what matter most to us. [...] Your idea is important too, but mainly as evidence that you can have good ideas

And Drew was passed up because his idea was bad (not given a "we like you more than your idea" option). It seems like a skating to where the puck is and not where it's going kind of thing.

YC probably won't miss out on a DropBox that looks like a DropBox, but you might miss out on a Drew Houston that eventually creates a DropBox.

Certainly my impression of everything that pg has said is that solo founders have the odds stacked heavily against them when it comes to YC acceptance. I'm surprised that you're surprised that's what we all believe.

Everyone has the odds stacked against them. Successful founders are by definition outliers. If we didn't accept solo founders, we wouldn't bother having them apply.

My group was rejected last time (I'm assuming) because the founders hadn't physically met and because of a lack of prototype.

Now the founders have met (the group of founders has actually received an addition of an elec. eng) but we still don't have a prototype. Hopefully it works out this time around.

It's Dropbox, the "b" is lowercase :)

OoPs :)

I would fix, but the edit link is gone :(

Reply on news.ycombinator.com