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eggbrainHNSource author
Lessons learnedExperience excerpt · English

After a few batches of these rejections, I decided to take a break from applying and instead build …

… After a few batches of these rejections, I decided to take a break from applying and instead build up my startup experience more by working at growth-stage startups, and just in general started focusing on my career as well. Fast forward a few years, and about a year ago YC reaches out to me (via automated email) saying they had identified me as being in the top X% on the Cofounder matching platform, and encouraged me to apply to their next batch cycle. I was reluctant to do so -- I hadn't been thinking too deeply about any new startup ideas in the past few months (so I'd most likely have to apply with a previous startup I had built), but after encouragement from friends and family I decided to take a chance anyways and apply once again. I went all out on the application -- I reached out to some YC friends and mentors to get their recommendations, and had them help me edit and perfect my application as well. …

Original discussionTell HN: Ever think of applying to YC? Do it this weekend for S24420 source comments · at import
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dangHN

(Usually I put an "Apply to YC" thing in the HN footer [1] but I forgot this time, so here is my pitch to make up for it.) If you've ever thought about applying to YC, here's a tip: just do it. It doesn't take long and could change your life, like it did for me and many others. In particular, if you have either of these two bogus thoughts, ignore them pronto and just go to https://apply.ycombinator.com and apply: (1) "probably not good enough / won't get in" - you'd be surprised at how many people feel that way, whether because of impostor syndrome, lack of credentials, whatever—and often they turn out to be among the best founders. So this a terrible reason not to apply! The nice thing is, it's YC's job to evaluate that, not yours. They're looking for aptitude which doesn't look like what most people (probably including you) assume. You needn't look impressive, and you don't have to be …

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sevaghHN

Sorry to hear that experience. I've come to discount any form of flattery in intro emails. E.g. when a FAANG recruiter emails me "wow, we were impressed by your public project!", I used to believe it. Now I know it's just a synonym for "join the back of the line of 17,639,838 applicants."

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reagan83HN

I love a lot of what YC has done but their application process is fundamentally broken and has been for years. It appears to just be a just a factory and numbers game now, all clinging to previous successes from when PG and Jessica used to run things.

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