skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I should also note that I'm looking for more review because as I said in the other thread. I believe in self improvement, I of course wonder if it was just the solo founder thing, or if there was maybe something else. If there were other things I'd like to know so I don't repeat my mistakes, I can only avoid mistakes in the future if I know what they were.

Hindsight is only 20/20 if you have enough data.

In this case I am guessing it is my late application, and the fact that I am a solo founder. Having a demo would help too.
I think it already had a catchy phrase: "If your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like nails."

This phrase has the added benefit of explaining the point.
Many startups become small businesses. Some are called "the living dead" operating at break-even. There are a variety of reasons. One can be that the founders are comfortable with the current size. See http://www.investorhome.com/vc.htm for an example breakdown of outcomes from VC investment:

"VC firms typically manage multiple funds formed over intervals of several years. Funds are illiquid but as companies in the portfolio go public or are sold, the investors realize their returns. Funds typically consist of limited partnerships invested in a number of companies. A general rule for the breakdown of returns among VC company investments is 40% will be complete losses, 30% will be "living dead," with the remaining 30% generating substantial returns on the original investment. The big winners yield 10 or more times the original investment."
"It would have been incredible to get into the YC program and be able to bounce ideas off of all those brilliant people"

I think that's the right way to think about it. So far everyone here has a great attitude, that's great. But, how many folks needed YC for the money? will not having financial backing stop anyone from moving forward?
Interesting. I got my 'CS' degree from a college that correctly called it "Computational Science" ... not "Computer Science." I guess it isn't that much of a stretch for me to think of learning CS without a computer.
"because another group proposed the same idea
and seemed further along."

That'd be nice to know. Especially since one might want to join that group ;).
"Too pressed for time" is a valid reason for a rejection. If it doesn't sound compelling enough after the first sentence then you probably need to work on your pitch.
Here is my idea: We should make an app to list simple, web based problems to be solved.

Examples: integrating yc into twitter, being alerted about yc post by a certain user, organizing and displaying multiple startup school meetups from different websites

People can sign up to form teams to solve each problem. The idea is that people will be able to work together to do something small before they try to work on something bigger. This way people can get to know each other better through a shared experience.

It doesn't matter what the projects are, though simple ones sound like they'll work better. People who don't code can do research or come up with marketing ideas. The website will just serve as a listing and all the details can be coordinated however the people working on it choose.

I'm willing to code and host it if there is enough interest, unless someone else wants to.
just show's everyone that just because you fail with the first application doesn't mean you should quit.

Out of curiosity what was the first crappy idea?
Do any of you who scrape fear retaliation from the sites you scrape? Maybe you are violating a ToS or scraping copyrighted text, and they cut off your IP. Thoughts?
By the way, thanks to both Dharmesh and Phil for offering to provide us with notes. I think it's wonderful that you're putting in the time and money to create a comprehensive recap.
We got a no as well. Probably could have spent more time editing/polishing our application but sometimes time gets away from you. Would have loved to get more feedback, though I am sure there were far too many applicants for that.

Good luck to all who are interviewing.
although I think the pics are funny. I think they are also trolling. Modding you down.
Really refreshing to read such clear and down-to-earth advice on advertising / promotion / branding.

Anyone care to review how well my firm's new product + web-site http://bcisive.austhink.com/ (pre-launch) stack up against the Ogilvy check-list?
Given how many applications they receive, it'd probably be impractical to give feedback to each and every one - but the biggest reason is probably that doing so would open them up to arguing and disagreement from those rejected.

I think the value comes from the application form itself. If you didn't feel 100% confident in some of the answers, they might be points for improvement.
hehe.

I might have been able to find one if I hadn't only had a week to apply.

thanks for the links. The last looks the most promising.
I disagree with what he said, but honestly, he got me flipping through all his 11 pages, that is quite something.

One, he's got style, I have never seen a page so simple that it becomes intriguing. Two, he wants to go beyond Google, isn't this what we all want?
Thanks everyone.

The second time around I thought we had a pretty good application and they emailed me back asking some extra questions, so unlike the first time around I was a bit surprised and pretty disappointed. I emailed them back and they told me we almost made it, but others were doing similar things and were further along. Turns out, what were trying to do was quite similar to Heroku, who had already been funded, but were still in private beta at that time.

I think what helped this time around is that we have (IMO) a decent and somewhat newish idea, combined with a working, if early, version of the app.

But we'll see what happens...
How will you know that you got rejected? Do they send you a letter of rejection?
Need not get petty. Share the laughs.
I agree that good ideas shouldn't die just because people can't find co-founders.

...But then again, some people don't want or are better off without partners.
Trey, my friend -

Learn to love rejection, to thrive off of it. when people say no - or, even worse, give lukewarm support - they're saying they don't get it. Only one thing for you to do: prove it. Keep hearing no, keep moving on, keep building, keep getting stronger, keep doing what you do. Pain is good, pain makes you stronger. This - this industry/community/dream/passion/life - will never be easy. It's going to hurt and suck and make you want to quit (or die), so be ready to cry and bleed. Yeah, learn to take a punch - but that sure won't be enough. You need to learn to love it.

This isn't about them, the naysayers and the unbelievers. This is about you and your conviction to build something great and lasting. Every NO is more than a test; every NO is a challenge. So what are you going to do about it?
Try and go friends and family. Do what it takes to get the money. Build something compelling, and find the right people to spread the buzz.

You just find the trail as you go.
even that would be nice. although I think many of us are assuming that. But you know what they say about ass u me-ing things.
Who said you don't add to NBC's bottom line when you watch television? Of course you do, otherwise they wouldn't show it. However, what you don't do is you don't improve the quality of their programming, at least not directly.

The equation doesn't change I don't believe, just it's implications. You no longer buy L, you have to earn it with K. Labour isn't free, even when you don't pay for it in money. Its dynamics are just more complicated.
We will continue to develop and push our app forward.

To me, the overwhelming benefit of getting into YCombinator would have been the interaction among other founders and advisors. It is less about the money and publicity as it is the access to experience and ideas. I do believe, though, that the community on news.ycomb serves this same role in a less direct way.
I think you should forget about all that stuff and go out and try to meet people who have similar ideas, skills, and backgrounds as you do. There are many meet ups for tech people if you live in a populated area. Either that or get together with people at work/school.

The problem with searching for a co-founder whom you don't know beforehand is that you don't know much about the person and so you don't know what to expect. From experience, you can get yourself into all types of trouble that way.
What I'm trying to get at is that it's better to go out and look for friends who could later become partners.
Sounds like a great idea. If you want any help with developing it let me know.

As far as FounderLink itself is concerned my feeling is that it is still very early days and there is a lot more that needs to be done before it is truly useful in finding a partner, I also need to open it up more and make it a lot more accessible(which is coming). Then there is the always large issue of getting users. :)

On a more general note though people just need to get out there and network more with people in different interest groups. It's very easy to pick a group(hackers, business, marketing, sales) and stick to that group of people. If you're a business/sales/marketing person head down to your local ruby user group/beer night and shoot the shit. If your a coder try one of the business conventions/meetups. Just get out there and meet people outside of your norm. Learn a bit about what they do and I see what they do. Make friends and get introductions.
Linux is hard. Or is it?
Posts like this remind me of the old line that "the only common factor in all your failed relationships is you".

Yes, it's possible that you'd be a great co-founder, and that you have a great idea -- but if you're looking and can't find anyone willing to sign onto your idea, stop for a moment to ask yourself if it's remotely possible that either (a) you're not very attractive as a co-founder, or (b) your fantastic idea isn't actually quite so fantastic as you thought.

Being enthusiastic is good, but sometimes realism is also good.
I haven't found anyone who has what I'm really looking for.

But I agree with you.
Urg. Yes, that happened before (Safari breakage), I had thought it was fixed. Thanks for the tip, I'll have to take another look.
The PHP Scalability Myth
Pretty neat... but I'm disappointed that the compilation is done server-side. An entirely in-browser solution would be so much cooler ;)
The classic, the best thing to read about rejection. It's by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, an editor at Tor (also a moderator at Boing Boing now). The context is science fiction publishing, but the feelings are all the same. And it's a good laugh.
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004641.html

For instance, some of the "didn't peruse my website" stuff starts to sound familiar:

"But let’s assume the author’s right, and the reader didn’t get all the way through the submitted material. Is that a fair evaluation? When we’re publishing books that readers are going to glance at, briefly browse, then either buy or put back on the shelf, you bet it’s a fair evaluation. Again, when you think about this with your reader-mind instead of your writer-mind, it all comes much clearer."
Agreed. The FSJ thing takes a lot of words to say the same. Maybe its a bit of a grab for credibility.
It's hard to quantify, but it definitely helps when you feel like you know what someone's like from reading their comments.

A text application form is such a low-bandwidth source. Reading the applications, we feel like we're just starving for information about what the people are really like. So any additional context helps a lot.
True, but if you are going to go all AdHom on someone, Daniel Lyons/FSJ is probably entirely fair game.
replace the instances of "internet" with radio and transpose back to 1910.

it's just a new method of mass communication, nothing more nothing less.
"that a lot of the internet isn't true and a lot of it isn't interesting"

The exact same is relevant with print and the traditional news media.
"no matter how angst-ridden and attention-seeking its author"

The argument is recursive!
magazine column reading becomes a habit, study finds.

I'm sick of everything on the internet being treated as if it were brand fucking new.
> I don't have to worry about moving to Boston. I really dig SF =)

If you're already there then you're pretty well off and with some networking your chances are good. The Boston groups move to SV afterward anyway because the investors there move quicker and are less risk-averse.
nothing less

Sure, but the arrival of a new method of mass communication is often a very big deal. Radio seems boring to us, but it was world-changing when it appeared.
So... what's the maximum WPM one can achieve with this 5-finger piano keyboard thing? Of course, to be fair we'd probably have to double it if we were to compare it to that of a standard keyboard since it uses only one hand.
Congratulations to everyone who made an interview and I wish you the best of luck.

I didn't get rejected because I didn't apply this round, but I will next round. Hopefully it will turn out well for me as well.
What's wrong with JSON? :)
Cool! I hope it works out.
Thank you for the links. The only reason I didn't apply this round was because I didn't have a co-founder. Basically, all of my friends are married or something similar.
Or perhaps all of your friends are married, or liberal arts majors who have absolutely no interest in starting a startup?

Not all of us run in the right circles.
But that would be... cardboard piracy.
I’m passion about our application and will continue to work on it. YC challenge helped us to make it faster, but we started to do it before we found out about YC (4 months ago).
Continue to do what you do! Thanks to YC
My estimation of the business acumen of Dharmesh just went through the roof. $300 bucks for a series of articles that's guaranteed to get good traffic is a great deal. Smack a touching story of "one guy's struggle to get to Startup School to help him follow his dream of being an entrepreneur" on top, and you've got a blogging goldmine. OK, maybe just an interesting series of articles, but still a good deal.

I saw someone suggest this very idea in a thread here...but it didn't click that it'd be a brilliant marketing move for whoever picked up the (paltry) tab.
I don't see any major advantages this has over json, yaml, or even xml... rdf isn't pretty but it has a feature that's needed for describing a lot of data: it's relational and not just tree based
Reminds me of the excite.com story in Founders at Work
Animation - History of Global Internet Use
But a good translation is really, really tough to do. It's an art form. Just having a basic context isn't usually enough. "I'm going there to see you." Am going on foot or by car? (Gehen vs. fahren; chodit vs jezdit.) And how well do I know you? Each culture has a different point where they go from formal (Vous/Sie/Vy) to informal (tu/du/ty), based on how well you know someone. I'm telling you, it's tough.
> If it doesn't sound compelling enough after the first sentence then you probably need to work on your pitch.

How compelling do these sound...

"Search engine" (Google)

"Computer languages" (MS)

"Directory of stuff on the web" (Yahoo)

"Online store builder" (ViaWeb)

"Computers for ordinary people" (Apple)

"Online photo album" (Flickr)

"Rate pictures of people you don't know" (HotOrNot)

"Blogging" (Blogger)

In many cases... "yet another X". Difference being in execution...
I think it's a catch 22. The type of cofounders they seem to be looking for, and that work out best, are people who have been friends for a while. That means that you can't just go out and find people, unless you're planning for 4-5 years ahead of time when you'll actually have some history together.
I haven't had a chance to do much networking with other startup folk in the area, tho I did bump into one of the core PostgreSQL guys last week.

Where do these startupshingdigs happen, should I be reading Valleywag more?

Right now I'm bootstrapped, but I have friends in the area who work with VC/Angels when the time is ready. Needing advice more than money right now.
Sounds like a great idea for a Y-combinator start-up, if only you could find a partner to help implement it.
> "the only common factor in all your failed relationships is you"

Yeah but that goes for everyone else too! And when you look at most of the people you have known for any length of time...
"SOME THOUGHTS ON WRITING" (Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of the #1 NYTimes Bestseller Memoir, Eat Pray Love) [http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/writing.htm]

"Your job is only to write your heart out, and let destiny take care of the rest."

"I have a friend who’s an Italian filmmaker of great artistic sensibility. After years of struggling to get his films made, he sent an anguished letter to his hero, the brilliant (and perhaps half-insane) German filmmaker Werner Herzog. My friend complained about how difficult it is these days to be an independent filmmaker, how hard it is to find government arts grants, how the audiences have all been ruined by Hollywood and how the world has lost its taste…etc, etc. Herzog wrote back a personal letter to my friend that essentially ran along these lines: “Quit your complaining. It’s not the world’s fault that you wanted to be an artist. It’s not the world’s job to enjoy the films you make, and it’s certainly not the world’s obligation to pay for your dreams. Nobody wants to hear it. Steal a camera if you have to, but stop whining and get back to work.” I repeat those words back to myself whenever I start to feel resentful, entitled, competitive or unappreciated with regard to my writing: “It’s not the world’s fault that you want to be an artist…now get back to work.” Always, at the end of the day, the important thing is only and always that: Get back to work. This is a path for the courageous and the faithful. You must find another reason to work, other than the desire for success or recognition. It must come from another place."
Congrats to everyone that got an interview! Get a prototype/demo working and be impressive. Y Combinator is life changing -- good luck. :)

For those not participating, you can still join a growing YC startup. Disqus is actively growing the team:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=158091
I really like this analogy I heard on one of these threads a long time ago here:

"You don't 'find' a cofounder, just like you don't 'find' a wife. It's a relationship with someone else that evolves over time and then someday, someone pops the question."
I can't picture someone who knows lots of "esoteric" languages name only 3 popular ones as examples.
Why in the hell is Yahoo, all of the sudden, so valuable to Microsoft? Why didn't they make this offer a year ago or six months ago? What prompted them to suddenly, out of the blue, give them an unsolicited offer? And now that they've essentially declined, why is Microsoft so eager to perform a hostile takeover?

Also, why can no one give a straight answer to these questions?
have you checked evernote.com. That is the one major reason I see
funny response, no need to take it personally. I had the "failure" demotivator up in my room for a year
> The problem with RSI is that it's extremely personal.

As someone who manages their RSI problems, I agree. My only bit of advice on this is if you find that you can pound out code for an extended bit of time and start to feel pain/soreness and after a little while recover...STOP - that is a major warning flag that I ignored tens of times - there is a cumulative effect/straw that breaks the camel's back, such that recovery time doesn't get you back to 100% you never really recover (baseline level of aching). That is RSI
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We created an online debating site Zebate.com to test out a different match making engines. For the moment this site is fully completed and now its needs a face so we can push the marketing efforts forward. This is an equity for sweat offer.

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I would be rather peeved if PG gave out that kind of information on what I was doing to someone else. I suppose he could ask, but... that's not really his job to play matchmaker is it?
Other good ones:

eCos - it's an embedded system used in the real world, so it's not super simple, but since its aims are less universal, there is less code and therefore it's easier to follow what's going on.

Minix - this has really clear, readable code. I once needed a floppy driver for eCos and ended up porting the minix code, because the Linux and *BSD drivers were so hairy.
For all its usefulness, where are those wonderful hypercard stacks now? That's right you can't use them anymore or at least not that easily. This is due to the fact that it's a proprietary platform that the vendor stopped supporting.

Although google's appengine is more open, a lot of its key components are proprietary and can't be easily rebuilt. So while hypercard and appengine are both wonderful technologies, I believe people should prefer something more open. This allows you have an out in case google stops supporting appengine or does something that prevents you from using it effectively.
This time around pg set up conversations between some of the prior founders and some of the applicants--to get a better feel for the teams, and to give them a chance to ask any questions about YC they had (including what to expect in the interview and how to best present their case--and maybe even who to pitch to, since sometimes pg is not going to like your idea, but rtm or tlb might if you pitch it right, and pg takes their advice seriously).

I was amused to find that one of the groups (one of the best we talked to, actually) was planning to work on the same area as our new product from a slightly different angle--I don't think they were entirely aware of how closely the functionality of their proposed product matched what we're about to launch until I told them). It's not at all unlikely that we'll contact them in a few months when we begin hiring (because them having written no code, and us having functional code in private beta with real paying customers, we do seem further along--but they did seem like a smart team, and if YC doesn't accept them, we might have a good place for them on ours).

I thought it was interesting, anyway. And since I've frequently stated that the single best thing about Y Combinator is spending a lot of time with the other teams, anything that provides more connectivity between founders is a win for everyone.
I agree this is great for learning purposes, Assembler code looks like well documented, hopefully it will keep small as it is now, I think simplicity is the most important feature of this OS.
Upon hearing the news that YC decided not to fund us, my co-founder refused to take no for an answer and decided to call PG on the phone and plea. PG was really really cool and even offered additional advice to help us, but wouldnt budge on their decision.

My advice for those rejected now and after interviews is to simply accept the rejection and continue to build your product as aggressively as you can. I didnt take our rejection very well, and probably wasted more time than I should have dwelling on it. There is not enough time in this field to focus on defeats. Your competition will simply kill you if you do.

Consider this rejection to be a practice round of many more to come.