The difficulty is in not thinking you're a loser just because the smartest people in Silicon Valley (some of your heros to be honest) have repeatedly looked you in the eye and thought to themselves "Nah."
Or in my case having one of the YC partners say "Oh, you guys are back? You're a shoo-in this time." only to be rejected again that day :-)
Here's a tip most people won't need: do not reply to the rejection email 30 seconds later with a petulant rant. It's not fair, it marks as an untouchable crazy person, and you'll regret it.
My company likely would have failed even with YC's help. I learned a lot in the two years working on that startup. I'm the kind of person that tends to learn things the hard way and I probably had to in this case.
Sorry, there's no triumphal story of my own yet. I'm still working on it! :-)
You'd be surprised by how many founders were accepted after multiple applications. From an anecdotal perspective, half the current class had applied at least once before.
I'm starting to suspect that YC biases toward repeat applications, as it illustrates a number of useful things about a startup (strength of the team, proof you can get traction, you didn't do this just for YC, etc).
Don't let prior rejected applications deter you. That is, unless you've made zero progress between now and then. :D
It helps not to put them on a pedestal as well. It is highly unlikely that they are the smartest people in Silicon Valley by any measure you can come up with.
Or in my case having one of the YC partners say "Oh, you guys are back? You're a shoo-in this time." only to be rejected again that day :-)
Here's a tip most people won't need: do not reply to the rejection email 30 seconds later with a petulant rant. It's not fair, it marks as an untouchable crazy person, and you'll regret it.
My company likely would have failed even with YC's help. I learned a lot in the two years working on that startup. I'm the kind of person that tends to learn things the hard way and I probably had to in this case.
Sorry, there's no triumphal story of my own yet. I'm still working on it! :-)