If we have a formula, no one told us. The current group of founders range from 19 to 35, average 25. Their ambitions range from selling for a couple million to going public. Some are very unworldly hackers; others are business guys who don't know how to program. Their projects range from frivolous social networks to deep infrastructure.
I was about to say that all they have in common is that they all work really hard, but even that isn't universal. There are some slackers in each group.
if we are not even given any feedback as to why our applications were rejected, then it seems peremptory and a complete waste of time. Surely, they could have copy-pasted even one summary line from their evaluation sheets? It is a simple courtesy.
It would not seem courteous, believe me. Some fraction of the people who apply to YC are nuts. If you have a web site where you offer money to people who fill out an application form, nuts apply. Are we supposed to tell them they're nuts?
I often do not live up to it, but this is important:
The good news about Jesus can transform your life. Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead. If you become his follower, you will have salvation (moksha).
For a startup looking to attract co-founders I'm don't think this is very judicious. I'm not saying don't be religious just leave out any mention of it on company sites, that's what personal blogs are for.
1. No clear use for the product. (Please don't just tell me it's revolutionary and therefore unexplainable)
2. The interface is clumsy and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with it. (See Also: #1)
3. I don't understand what the deal is with the examples. Why do I want to watch a BBC broadcast with a tree-like timeline? Is the purpose of Juwo to annotate videos? (See Also: #1)
4. Why/when do people want to create a tree structure and attach text/videos/sounds to the tree nodes? This is all that Juwo seems to do. The use cases you list on your website are not compelling. While the use cases listed may be actual problems to be solved, a swiss army knife tree structure isn't the solution. (See Also: #1)
I'm sorry if the above list is harsh, but my personal opinion is that Juwo does not have any clear vision behind it, or is of very limited utility (e.g. only useful for you). I don't think it's worth working on further. Try something else.
It's easy at this point to appeal to the few exceptions that made it big even though it seemed like nobody wanted them at first. But note that these guys are the exceptions, most of the time the advice that the product sucks is probably accurate. Even if you were going to say "I don't care, I want to try it and see where it goes" -- well, it looks like you already have tried it for a few years, and it isn't going anywhere.
Again, no offense, but it's in your best interest to save the time/money/effort and move on to a new project. There's a reason you aren't getting users nor investors.
"we could not understand your idea. please get feedback as to its feasibility from your local university, or someone with experience in the software industry"
yc's already given you something better than what you'd get out of a canned one-sentence response: a fantastic resource in which anyone can put up their site and get a lot of feedback, for free, from a lot of smart people. 100% of the "hey news.yc check out my site" posts i've seen, including yours, have gotten useful, actionable feedback and have consequently improved.
Agreed, something like "think more about tech question", or "think harder about innovative idea" would have taken 10 seconds, but have been significantly more valuable to an applicant - and yes, it is courteous to do favors for someone when the effort you put into it is so dwarfed by the benefit they receive.
I've heard that the most common situation where managers have a heart attack is when they have to fire somebody. Saying "No" is stressful, and thinking about doing it courteously is not easy. I know it takes me more than 10 seconds to think about a way to say such things nicely.
And I think being too specific could make matters worse. Think about dating. "You are a nice person, but I don't really like your nose" - helpful? I think not, and the next person might be just fine with your nose. I think the generic letter YC sent (I got one, too) is a good solution. And I could imagine that if you would ask them, they might be willing to give you more specific information.
As someone who has interviewed and hired quite a few people I disagree. I don't owe a rejected candidate anything. We both knew the arrangement ahead of time and both agreed it was worthwhile. We gave each other an opportunity and both contributed time to the process. We're even.
I don't think this kind of entitlement-thinking will serve you very well. I recommend ditching it.
Not in the sense of owing him an explanation, but in the decent sense of giving him feedback so he can improve.
After all, the candidate took time and trouble - it is a kindness.
An application to YC is unlike an interview; with an interview you usually know what your weakness was, or what the interviewer's hangup was.
If you consider this to be "entitlement-thinking", then does not your thinking seem arrogant?
Actually, your thinking is a sign of weakness.
When the candidate is stronger than you, or your decision was flippant, then you dont want to run the risk of being proven wrong or bested.
So you choose the easy way out.
A rejected YC application is much more like a trivially rejected resume than a rejected candidate who interviewed. Do you think employers have a responsibility to respond to every single resume that they get in the mail with detailed descriptions of where they can improve?
Your complaints sound more like you are sour about being turned down than anything else.
No, it is not.
It is actually more like a Department of Defense, Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) proposal.
Even if you are rejected, you can request feedback on your proposal - and actually, no less than in a meeting.
Whenever I have given a demo or presentation to an angel investor or potential partner; even when it is a 'No', I have gotten some kind of feedback.
It gave me a better understanding of the weaknesses in juwo.
This is more than blindly emailing your executive summary to the VCs - you are not entitled to a reply.
When there is investment in time, effort and hopes, one does expect some kind of feedback.
It is not an application for an award, nor is it an application for employment. Even applying for a University, one has an idea of the cutoff marks and GRE scores.
The YC application is an evaluation of your small business team, and idea.
I would actually like to give feedback, out of friendliness and not because it's owed. Unfortunately, people with your attitude ruin it for the people that actually could handle it in a mature way.
"I don't owe a rejected candidate anything ... I don't think this kind of entitlement-thinking will serve you very well."
I'm not saying you are morally obliged to, I'm saying it's the nice thing to do. For me personally, being nice is part of being courteous, which is why I used the more general word before.
