We applied to YC for this cycle and yesterday, we discovered a competitor who is so close to us in name and form that we wish we had know about them earlier. We do not think their presence greatly affects our strategy, but we sure miss the chance of being able to explain that in the application. Moreover, we are worried that the non-mention of this competitor might put us in a bad light. Should we send an email explaining our position, given this context?
You should stop caring, YC is so oversubscribed that your chances of being accepted are small anyway, and I doubt that an email update from you would swing it noticeably either way.<p>Stop caring and continue working on your product, YC is not the be all and end all of a successful outcome for you.
Wouldn't you be annoyed if you were in their shoes and people did that? If you want to mail them about a new competitor, then what would you do if you raised $$?
Things change daily in a start up. People come and go in the market all the time. That's expected and YC is not going to accept or deny you based on a new competitor. In fact, it will look good that competitors are coming into your market. Besides, YC is more concerned about the team over the actual product.