skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I know I know -- as soon as it's ready to launch. But seriously, is launching a site going into the summer season a good idea? You're just not going to reach as many people as you would in the fall or right after the holidays.
Think positive, otherwise you'll get bad karma.
Please, Adobe, PLEASE GIVE US PHOTOSHOP FOR LINUX!!! Gimp sucks and I hate Windows, and I can't afford a Mac and I don't want to throw away 2 perfectly useful laptops just so I can dump Wintel. Gimme Photoshop on Linux (Ubuntu) and I'm done with Win.
I got a rejection email just now
SFP Decisions are out!
just got my rejection. :(
I'll be the first to say that we got rejected.

I'm going to work tonight and it's going the be the best code I've ever written.

Who heard back?
yep, we got rejected too.
Rejected.

I am curious. Did all the accepted applications provide a demo or prototype link in their application?
It's too late for that: "with 14-day advance purchase"
rejected!
We're sorry to say we couldn't accept your proposal for funding.
Please don't take it personally, because most of the proposals we
rejected, we rejected for reasons having nothing to do with the
quality of the applicants. For example, we were very reluctant to
accept proposals with only one founder, because we think starting
a startup is too much work for one person. We also had a higher
threshold for applicants who were still in school, groups where one
or more members planned to keep their current jobs, and groups that
couldn't all move to Boston. We rejected a lot of proposals simply
because we couldn't understand them, or didn't understand the problem
domain well enough to judge them, or because the project seemed too
big to start on only three months of funding. Sometimes we even
rejected good ideas, because another group proposed the same idea
and seemed further along.

We realize this process is fraught with error. It's practically
certain that groups we rejected will go on to create successful
startups. If you do, we'd appreciate it if you'd send us an email
telling us about it; we want to learn from our mistakes.

Thanks,

Y Combinator Staff
Just now, yes. Ah, well...
as of today I'm out to prove them wrong. wish me luck and good luck to those who have been accepted
Rejection here too.
Same here. Bummer.

Congrats to the winners! And to those who weren't accepted (like me) - go kick butt anyway.
Here three.
Looking for someone in the Boston area to work with
Good luck. We're on that path, too.
I was pretty certain is was going to be a no the second I had to put two names in the founders box and one in the "moving to boston" box. Not that I'm sure that was the only issue, but timing's a bitch. Good luck to anyone going to Mountain View.
we did
Here four.
we did.
Working on what area?
We provided a demo link: novlet.com, but apparently they didn't visit it.
To everyone rejected, don't give up , remember the fedex story, bootstrap it and work hard!
We did not provide a link to our demo. They didnt look at my personal site with all my info either.
Congrats to all the winners. And to those that didn't, here's a great link:

http://www.bvp.com/port/anti.asp

We're all lucky to even have the opportunity to work on our startups, in a country that actually rewards people for working hard.

As Steve Jobs said..."Stay hungry. Stay foolish." Have fun!
I use the middle mouse button.
I actually live about 40 minutes NW of Boston (Carlisle), and would love to get together with a couple other folks to kick around ideas with and work together on web apps with - and if things work out, co found a startup with.

Right now I primarily work with Ruby on Rails, but I also like online marketing and doing design every once in awhile. I have a lot of ideas I've been sitting on for awhile, and soon I'll have enough saved up that I'll be able to take time off and really work on them. I absolutely love Rails and would love to have a successful site that I could have 100% creative freedom with. My idea of relaxing after a day of client work is to work on one of my side projects :)

My email is daniel at flyingmachinestudios dot com (my web site hasn't been updated in awhile. my excuse is that I've been too busy, and I really haven't had to) .

Good luck to everyone who got accepted, and everyone who (like me) didn't :)
To all ya'll shouting "rejection", best thing in my view you can do is START YOUR START-UP.

YC or any kind of funding is a very helpful aide but at the end of the day most startups are born out of few guys making something great and THEN seeking outside help.

Can't wait to see the Valley at last!
Sorry to hear, Omar. I was rejected, too!

I submitted my application on April 6th after I specifically nulled out my entire application before because I didn't want to be in Boston this summer, because I got an e-mail that said "you had started an application but never clicked Submit. Please go in and submit it." When I went via the special link in the e-mail, I saw that half of my application was still there, even though I specifically had previously deleted each field and saved it blank because I didn't want to apply or to share my information. So, I said, what the heck, they contacted me, and it seems my details were recovered from their database even though I deleted the fields, and I could say I was special if I both got in and had applied late on the 6th via a special e-mail link, so that made it interesting; so, I clicked Submit. I'm also a single founder who has a pre-existing corporation, so I guess I struck out on all the important fields that matter. :P Finally, I also knew from some post here that they say "please laugh at us if we were wrong to reject you", so I knew that even if I received such a letter, it would be fun to take them up on the offer. :P

The best part about YC, and one I will always be thankful for, is the chance to attend the Startup School. So, whether you are specifically selected for YC or not, it's good that there are many entrepreneurial peers in Cambridge and Mountain View who you can associate with, thanks to YC. Second, the articles on this site. Third, this news.ycombinator.com web site. Fourth, meeting great people.

The 5K+5K per person is great regardless of whether you are selected or not. I'm rooting for as many teams as possible get selected, versus for any one specific team, because we all benefit from a huge number of peer startups, regardless of who specifically it is. It's very lonely for those who aren't in those startup hotspots, and news.yc does something in additional to PG's articles--allows people to feel like they're part of the scene in YC, whether they are selected for YC or move to one of those areas themselves, without feeling like strangers. But, that money isn't going to make or break a startup, and if you decide not to continue because of it (or you haven't already started your idea), time is ticking.
Depends on what perspective you subscribe to and decide to follow. For example, launching in summer might not get you all the visitors you want but it will also give you time to use summer to optimize your site in time for when summer ends and you supposedly get the new visitors.

I did learn in my media planning class that TV use significantly goes down during summer. I've a feeling the same holds true for computer use.
Viacom Partners With Yahoo, Dumps Google In Search Advertising
Was rejected.
Well it seems it did not play a huge role either way. In my opinion a demo or a prototype is a huge advantage in getting across an idea. At the same time we were reluctant to show ours this early in the process. Anyway goodluck to those who made it. Maybe I will see you at some of the Boston web meetups.
we got rejected too. No worries as its the start of a long journey :)
Are you still going to get an apartment in Boston/SF and get on with it anyway?
Rejected here too. I'm not surprised; it was a long shot to begin with, and I don't think my goals as a founder and their goals as investors really lined up. It probably didn't help that I'm a sole founder, either.

Time for Plan B. Powerball tickets. Er, I mean, the slowly growing micro-ISV approach.
yep, same here.
Is anyone else more motivated by rejection than acceptance? A passion to prove yourself and your ideas maybe?
we didn't make it. Maybe it was because we didn't get that prototype online.

I seriously might go over to JoyEnt and kill all those lousy bastards ;-) We were promised our new server repeatedly the next day for two weeks now, believed in it and didn't just put that damn thing online on an improvised dyndns box. Big fault, I suppose... :(
Rejected too and we know reason why we were rejected :)
So no hard feelings as i had posted before its YC or we go alone.
Yeah we are going to be in Boston. Anyone else working on stuff gonna be around here?
Rejected. Kind of felt like college applications all over again.

Congrats and good luck to those accepted.

I look at this rejection not as failure, or as any sort of inferiority, but rather an opportunity to work even harder/efficient/cheaper.

Thank you Y Combinator.
To those whose applications have been rejected -- how about a collaboration to test and promote each other's startup prototypes?
Definitely. It also settles the fact that I need to find a day job immediately rather than possibly 3 months from now. :-)
Yea, one of our members couldnt, but o well. Maybe next year.
I saw a site with just that intention this morning. I'll see if I can dig up the link. Other alternatives are posting it here on news.YC or on http://demomyapp.com/
I'm working on a website that will do just that... promote new products and give early feedback to founders. The page will be available at spreadmyproduct.com (nothing there yet!).

By the way, if anyone is interested in joining me, please drop me a line at c dot ciocov at iu-bremen dot de.
I'm going to build an ultimate web forum with Python
The problem with demomyapp is that youtube videos have low resolution.

I think this would be a better way to demo your app:

http://www.debugmode.com/wink/
Sounds like a great idea! I'd also like to be able to help other startups in other ways such as coding help and the like.

What we need first off is an easy way to get in touch with each other. Posting back and forth on YC News would get messy after a while and I think a less public venue would be better. If anybody is interested I can throw up a web forum.
Good luck to all who got rejected and congrats to those who made it to the next step. We got rejected also, kind of expected since admittedly we were more interested in seeing what startup life was like than our actual idea.

My partner and I are off to Silicon Valley anyway for jobs, however the Y-Combinator process has made us hungrier then ever to ultimately do something on our own.

I'm going to make sure Google doesn't remain a "blackhole" as PG described it :)
Vote up if you're rejected but will still proceed
Reality Check. Anyone who was half serious about this application is hurt somehow. The reason why it sucks is not so much due to the fact that you are not going to hang out with "startupreneurs" and PG but because this was a competition and your product was judged not as good as those that made it. That is what hurts. Maybe you can take a step back today and take a look at what you are doing and ask yourself "How can I make better, more simple and scale it?" or "How can we make people see that this is better than other products out there and a business can be built around it?" because if you believe it is great, than maybe you fail to present it the proper way.
Take the rest of the day off. Get a drink, socialize, shut that computer down and relax. Tomorrow your head will be clear and you can start working on your startup again. Not because it will make you a millionaire, or because it will get you respect, but just because that is what you love to do and without it your Puzzle is just not complete.
Ciao'
Rejection the best motivator? or is it just me? The passion to prove yourself and your ideas is more motivating than acceptance.

Anyway we have some extra office space available to share with all you future ycombinator startups that will be locating in boston for the summer. We are located in davis square minutes from harvard sqaure in cambridge. We have been there for 4 months now and have 2-3 desks to spare. You can see pics at dreamvex.com (our soon to be designed blog).

If anyone is interested when you move to the city, you can email me at todd at dreamvex.com

goodluck to everyone who got an interview.
We have been telling this from first, YC or not, we will go for it. We are still in the race to make it happen and go live
Could I grab an invite? ryan@junee.org

Cheers,
R
If you launch in the summer you'll have several months of user feedback to improve your site before the mad rush. You don't have to do a full out PR blitz launch and tell techcrunch or the like about it. Just put it out there and tell a few people and see what they say and how they use it.

I'd still launch it as soon as possible personally ;)
I think it would also be important to use each other's prototypes on a semi-regular basis.

It would be hard to attract users if the site does not look busy.
Reddit has made me wary of vote polls, so I won't vote up. But we are still going to do our thing. I'm looking at the silver lining of not getting in. Moving really sucks ;)
Bummer to get rejected - just not meant to be for us. Fortunately we are self-funded and bootstrapping it. YCombinator is really the only funding we would consider, since it would be much more than just the small funding.

The one relief I have is not having to think so much about an exit. That was my main concern with taking investment. I really don't have much interest in thinking about exit strategies. We're much more focused on building a profitable private company like 37Signals or SmugMug. That may change someday, but for now that's our sole focus.

Even for those they don't fund, YCombinator puts out a TON of value for early startups: Paul's essays, Jessica's book, Startup News, Startup School, etc. That generates huge good-will for them and is a great example for other seed-funders and VC's to follow.

Thanks YC and thanks to all the contributors here ;)
I sense a marketing opportunity for blackberry in this thread! :) yay for push email
Hey, where are you networking to find jobs out there?

I have a lot of experience, but not a complete degree. I live in Texas currently, so I have no real "ins" out in Silicon Valley.

I want to get into either a startup or a job less time-consuming than my current one. The first gives me startup experiences, while the latter gives me time to work on my own projects.

Any tips would be GREATLY appreciated.
I think it's important to be flexible though. If an idea does not seem to be getting much traction, you might consider moving on to your next idea.
Take Heart, There's Life without YCombinator. If you are rejected, dont be dejected!
Our plan B http://juwo-works.blogspot.com/2007/04/our-plan-b.html

which we shall put into action now!

Can you come up with one too?
Not really dude, we believe that wasnt the criteria for rejection. We believe in our idea and we will implement that and will go live. Then we will do a soul search depending on how the world reacts
Well, yes, you would probably want to see how the world reacts before giving up.
Sure, then Amichail's app will start looking like Anil's app :) or the other way 'round.

(For those that dont know, Amichail's app could well become a competitor of mine)
I heard that March is the best month to launch, and April through December are very bad. I guess you will have to wait until March. :)

Actually, everybody always says a.s.a.p. Most people think they're competing against "people who will rip me off as soon as I release my product" which leads to conclusions of "if I release on day X, I will be ripped off Y number of days later, so I should wait until Z, the perfect time, to release." In fact, there's a higher chance that there are startups and current companies doing something similar REGARDLESS of YOU.

A lot of the reason existing companies have not caught on to idea X is because the whole reason you have idea Y is because the current companies just came out with idea X and there's simply no way to do Y before X. So, they may have already had your idea Y in mind, or started working on it, but had to release X first. So, when you got your idea, so did employees of all of these other companies, as well as budding entrepreneurs. So, you should release and at least get credit for being first. The whole point of being a startup is you can create whatever there's a huge chance big companies are working on as well, but much faster because you're just implementing basic features and avoiding bureacracy, as well as have no responsibilities. So, if you're trying to do a startup PG-style, I would try to create it and release it as soon as it works, with the bare features in it, and get publicity about it.

I'm sure there are other mantras, like targeting a very small niche and improving the product, and only publicizing it when its ready (but you have tons of feedback from your small niche). Or, maybe getting a lot of venture capital straight off and partnering with big shots after you're much older and have many contacts. But I think if you're doing it PG-style (and I don't speak for him), you should release it as soon as it works. More or less.
Somebody should start a network for YC-rejects. You could even turn it into an idea that you apply to YC with!
Rejected :-(

Now I have a decision to make between trying to bootstrap my startup in my spare time, or accepting a job offer from another startup.
Agreed.

Failure is only a stepping stone toward success. Startup founders, consider yourselves one step closer.
Us rejects should team up.

There's nothing investors hate more than missing out on something big, especially if it was originally offered right to them, like Apple and HP/Atari.
Well, I voted you up even though I disagree with your belief about not voting up.
I'm not sure. Without someone to pay my living expenses, I can't work on it full time. So I'm deciding between moonlighting it, or taking a job with another startup.
Me too, twice :). I can't wait to see who got funded. Maybe they want to show us their apps?
Are you my cofounder(s)?
YFratrinator - Google Group: Resources for YC fans (and rejects) ;)
So, I did not get an interview. The purpose of me entering was to network and connect with possible team members for my current project. I am a non technical founder who has gone at it with a team of hired individuals. I am a business guy at heart and understand tech from a product and design standpoint better than most, but I cant write code. I have invested over $100k of my own money into the project. I am looking to bring on board two rockstar programmers as cofounders.

The site is www.stuzo.com. We currently have close to 7,000 community members and the site has some revenues. The site was originally launched as an intercampus textbook exchange that enabled college students to buy and sell online and then to meet on campus for the exchange. The model and the site have gone through a complete overhaul over the past 6 months. The new site just went live today. We are tidying things up this week and will begin a grassroots on/offline marketing campaign next week. My goal is to connect people through the media they own, love, and want. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to build out the vision.

Check out the site and drop me a line if you like what you see. You can reach me via aim/gtalk/skype. My name for all is stuzoguy.
Any of the rejects looking for some working space in boston?
If you honestly think PG rejected people based on their idea, I think you're wrong. That's probably the last criteria he used. So, work on the idea. I would reject 90% of submissions, too, if I was running something like this.

For example, with Google, Google AdSense was the glue that made everything work (profitability, great product, many users, good reputation, ability to have free food.) You might say their demo and pagerank was actually important, but they couldn't even sell that for $1 million dollars. Heck, even right now, nobody would buy their original technology as Yahoo! and MSN must have already surpassed the original PageRank in quality.
we have 2-3 desks extra in davis square. We are a bit isolated and would liek to work with some of the rejects that are more motivated by rejection than acceptance.

you can check the space out here.
www.dreamvex.com
yep vlad. As i told you, we know why we were rejected. so its not the idea
Bummer. I guess that finally puts a fork in the karma theory of YC admissions.
I think what's important is to do some preliminary user testing to see if people can even understand what the application is all about.

Of course, if you are trying to keep your idea secret, then this could be difficult to do.
There were too many reasons against me in my application. The idea is weak, poorly explained, no demo, etc. My cofounder also dropped out on me after we submitted the application so I would have had to disclose that I'm now a single founder which would have guaranteed rejection. Never mind, on to plan B.
This is a group of YCombinator fans (and cough, cough, rejected applicants).

YCombinator News is a great resource, but it's content has a short lifespan (by design). This group site is meant to be a permanent resource for discussions among our bootstrapping peers ;)
Did y combinator even take much of a look at the demo's?
Well its ok. We would dare to go ahead and see how users take our model
+1 for insightfulness
today was an odd day ...

it started out with my site (neurokinetikz.com) winning a webby award

http://webbyawards.com/webbys/current_honorees.php?category_id=48

and then ended with a rejection email from YC

odd indeed ...

c'est la vie ;)
Hatching chicks! Visualize Google/Microsoft/Yahoo/AOL starting another YC. Wouldn't that give them enormous leverage?
Lessons learned after 3 months of Y Combinator
(I know its hatching eggs, but chicks sounds better)
Anyone from Boston interested in being a part of a music startup?
I'm wondering if I should email them about the webby award i won today for the site they rejected ;)

neurokinetikz.com

http://webbyawards.com/webbys/current_honorees.php?category_id=48
My co-founder and I have been working on a new music industry model. If you're around the Boston area and interested in collaborating than send me an email: dom@bandshee.com
Hi. While I totally agree with your conclusion, you and so many other "analysts" totally miss the #1, the premier reason why Microsoft has been dead for a long time ( 5 years). Microsoft had a massive leadership (not brain) drain during the late 1990's web gold rush. They've never recovered. And, at a time when their girth most demanded leadership, it was gone. Long gone. To Google, Apple, and few dozen other top SV firms.