Last year when I was still working on my first real startup we tried to get into YCombinator because it seemed like a natural
thing to do at the time. We wanted to get into the US pretty much any way possible and what better approach than going through the awesomest incubator around? Sure seems easier than trying to do it without the big leg up.
We didn't get in.
tl;dr --> if you're in Palo Alto and you're awesome, I want to meet you for coffee
Ok, no biggie, you live and you learn.
This year I applied again, with HipsterVision - a project that was only a couple of weeks old at the time and showing some promise of being awesome. I wrote a pretty decent application, likely better than the one I wrote last year.
I didn't get in.
Honestly, I shot myself in the foot both times. Looking back at both applications I'd say I was triggering pretty much every warning flag you can think of for not funding a startup. The fate of both projects also seems to indicate they made the right decision not to fund. Preona has become some sort of freelancing business, with a hint of a side project or two, in the hands of my cofounder; HipsterVision is sort of lingering on the sidelines with my not having enough time to give it the attention it needs and deserves.
Real life sort of gets in the way and the truth is that a 20-something who intends to finish university simply has the odds stacked against him when it comes to starting and maintaining a business. Let alone a proper startup ... especially when real money has to be made. Not stocks, not options, not valuations, not even wealth. Cold hard cash. Turns out it's the only thing that puts food on the table.
So in lieu of having a startup in YC right now, I did pretty much the next best thing.
I joined an awesome team that got in!
Right now I'm in Palo Alto, writing this from the living room of a house that's just three houses down from Paul Graham. It feels two parts awesome and five parts simply surreal. And I'm going to be here until the end of August!
mind=blown!
Literally. [it's actually figuratively]
Although that could just be the jetlag talking. Been waking up at insanely early hours ever since I got here on Wednesday. Sure hope it goes away soon because it just feels silly ...
Anyhow, here I am! The server-side javascript ninja of the team, learning as much as I can about running a successful startup (I already know how to run an unsuccessful one :P), and not having to worry about a single thing. It's the best of both worlds! And what do you know, maybe in a year or two I'll have the chops to get into YC on my own. Right now I'm just enjoying the liberating feeling of only having to focus on solving technical stuff.
That said, anyone from the HackerNews/YCombinator crowd wanna grab a cup of coffee? I'd love to meet you guys in person.
Continue reading about I couldn't get into YC so I joined a startup that did
Semantically similar articles hand-picked by GPT-4
- I went through YC as an intern, here's what I learned
- "Startup rollercoaster" isn't even the half of it
- Doing a startup taught me the value of staying in school
- Going from Slovenia to Palo Alto ... what culture shock?
- The greatest story I have to tell
Learned something new?
Read more Software Engineering Lessons from Production
I write articles with real insight into the career and skills of a modern software engineer. "Raw and honest from the heart!" as one reader described them. Fueled by lessons learned over 20 years of building production code for side-projects, small businesses, and hyper growth startups. Both successful and not.
Subscribe below 👇
Software Engineering Lessons from Production
Join Swizec's Newsletter and get insightful emails 💌 on mindsets, tactics, and technical skills for your career. Real lessons from building production software. No bullshit.
"Man, love your simple writing! Yours is the only newsletter I open and only blog that I give a fuck to read & scroll till the end. And wow always take away lessons with me. Inspiring! And very relatable. 👌"
Have a burning question that you think I can answer? Hit me up on twitter and I'll do my best.
Who am I and who do I help? I'm Swizec Teller and I turn coders into engineers with "Raw and honest from the heart!" writing. No bullshit. Real insights into the career and skills of a modern software engineer.
Want to become a true senior engineer? Take ownership, have autonomy, and be a force multiplier on your team. The Senior Engineer Mindset ebook can help 👉 swizec.com/senior-mindset. These are the shifts in mindset that unlocked my career.
Curious about Serverless and the modern backend? Check out Serverless Handbook, for frontend engineers 👉 ServerlessHandbook.dev
Want to Stop copy pasting D3 examples and create data visualizations of your own? Learn how to build scalable dataviz React components your whole team can understand with React for Data Visualization
Want to get my best emails on JavaScript, React, Serverless, Fullstack Web, or Indie Hacking? Check out swizec.com/collections
Did someone amazing share this letter with you? Wonderful! You can sign up for my weekly letters for software engineers on their path to greatness, here: swizec.com/blog
Want to brush up on your modern JavaScript syntax? Check out my interactive cheatsheet: es6cheatsheet.com
By the way, just in case no one has told you it yet today: I love and appreciate you for who you are ❤️