We've been doing pretty much the same things since we started in 2005: we've never given specific feedback about rejections at the application stage (it wasn't going to scale even when we only got a few hundred applications). We funded 8 startups in our first batch, which was roughly 2-3% of the total applications.
We definitely fund people who have no connection to folks we already know, or Silicon Valley for that matter. And we also fund startups who are at the idea stage and have no traction (though traction does help).
I'm very sorry we rejected you, but we are honestly often wrong.
Your point is a good one, but, in the case of Adora, you may be missing some of the facts. She was an accomplished programmer and had worked for Max Levchin at Slide, where he was so impressed with her that he agreed to be one of her first investors later on. (I don't believe she had any particular connections that got her the job at Slide.) She applied to YC (2x in fact) and we had never met her before. I remember being extremely impressed with her and Aaron during the interview and the idea seemed quite plausible at the time (even though it later failed). I also remember personally being really excited about the sister/brother team.
During the time Adora was at YC, we got to know her well and were even more impressed, which is why Paul invested personally when she said she had no money left.
Startups are hard. Most people quit and that's nothing to feel guilty about, of course. I guess I'd just hate for Adora's talent, effectiveness and level of determination to be misinterpreted as merely having connections.
I'm not saying all this to disagree with you, but to encourage you. Getting a job at a company at Slide or getting into YC are hard, but not impossible.
Thanks nqureshi for making these notes. Unfortunately, I couldn't travel to this Startup School and am really missing it (missed live stream, too, because I'm with my kids). I'm most curious to know if attendees enjoyed the talks and the overall event. I'd like to start looking forward to the 2015 version if there should be one :)
I'd recommend limiting your attendance to one. Our goal with SUS has always been to share a lot of useful and inspirational advice from startup experts. We'd like to keep as many seats open as possible for people who've never been.
This article was of course a distilled version of a much longer conversation. The uneven equity split that causes problems is usually along the lines of 75% vs. 25%-- or worse, when one founder gets 10% or less. We see this happen quite often (and advise against it if we're not too late). The founder with 10% often becomes resentful and doesn't feel properly incentivized when he/she is working just as hard as the founder with 85%. A startup is so much about execution-- usually over a long period of time that the argument of "it was my idea" isn't very compelling. (60/40 is usually totally reasonable though, especially in a situation like yours.)
I found myself saying to the reporter over and over, "This may seem obvious, but..." and it's true that many of ideas don't seem like anything new. But because I see them happen over and over again, I thought they were important to highlight for anyone starting a startup.
Congratulations to Andrew for all your wonderful interviews since 2008! Glad to be a part of the celebration. I meant to ask you during my interview: what have you found is a secret to getting people to open up and share their most interesting stories/insights?
As PG's wife, I think I am the only person who knows exactly how much time, energy and thought he devoted to Hacker News. More than most HN users would guess, that's for sure. I don't think he ever planned it that way and I'm certain this site stole valuable brain power that could have been focused on writing essays. So thank you Paul for spending so much time making Hacker News such a great place to visit each day.
It's funny, I just wrote a blog post yesterday about how I don't contribute to many public discussions because I'm too afraid of the hostility that can come along with my participation (I'm pretty thin skinned). I haven't posted it yet specifically because I was agonizing over what I say getting picked apart sentence by sentence by an angry HN mob. I probably won't ever publish it. I hope Daniel can do more to fix the nastiness that can exist here on HN.
"We didn't think we were what YC was looking for..."
I'm so glad you took the time to apply! Your idea was slightly different back then, but I remember how impressive you were during the YC interview. As you said in your application:
Among the members of the founding team we have domain
expertise in recruiting; in content creation and promotion;
and in directly engaging with women ages 20-35. What's
more, we've been working in this specific field (job
opportunities and career advice for professional women)
for the last year, and the response from women has been
unbelievable. Our user testimonials sometimes verge on
the fanatical.
We could tell when we met you that you really understood the business you were in. You were exactly what YC looks for.
I learned several interesting things from Sam's post actually (I'm Jessica, one of the founders of Y Combinator). I hadn't known that women really want more YC women in the interviews. That would have been hard at first, when I was the only female, but now we have enough female partners to do this. I was also surprised to hear that women actually believed that we try to fund people who look like Zuckerberg. I thought that was just something that trolls liked to claim was our strategy.
After attending the conference, I'm even more convinced that 2014 could be the tipping point. I was blown away by both the depth and quality of the presentations. There was a degree of openness that I've really only seen at a YC dinner (which are all off-the-record). This was one of those magical events, like the first Startup School in 2005, where everyone there was realizing as it was happening, that this was something unusual.
This comment makes me so angry that it is difficult to remain calm, but I will try. You have this wrong. All three of us are in charge of so much more than you suggest here. We all participate in investment decisions and advise the companies on many different matters-- including business strategy. Since we started YC, there has not been one important decision we've made that I have not been a part of.
Paul talked to the reporter about me (for the profile being written) before The Information had launched. Neither of us knew it would be behind a paywall.
I now use Bloomthat for everything (YC and personal). The arrangements are always charming. It's also so easy (and immediate) that I find myself sending flowers to friends and colleagues much more often -- just for little reasons/thankyou's.
It's mainly changed my life on weekends, when I'm with my kids all day. I tend not to eat very well (eat junkfood/graze - anything quick!) because I'm not very good at finding the time to cook something for myself. When DoorDash delivered Oren's hummus/veggie skewers to me on a Saturday, I was so excited that I think I told Paul it changed my life.
I just got a delivery 30 minutes ago, in fact. For years, I'd used Safeway.com's delivery services and now that I have used Instacart, I'll never go back. The UX is 100x better, delivery is much quicker (and cheaper), and I can order on my phone.
Yes, Sequoia was the biggest LP in the two funds we had in the past, as everyone already knew. Beyond that, I don't have any insights about this article.