YC Reject - We've been offered an investment to fund our Summer 2011 class

I was amazed by how motivated I became by being involved in the "November Startup Sprint" back in the fall so I think a more formal program could potentially be pretty cool. I'd move away from being a "YC Reject" program to a "Hacker News Startup Co-op".<p>I would open it up after interviews so that those who got interviews but don't get accepted can participate.<p>Accomodate all groups who want to participate and don't mess with the financing at this point. The financing talk gives me kind of a "no" feeling.<p>Have your weekly dinners and get speakers.<p>Have a web site where YCR startups can promote their projects.<p>Schedule and hold a Demo Day. I bet you'd be able to get a few investors to drop by or else watch the videos that will go up on the YCR web site.<p>By banding together, I think everyone will have a really productive 3 months, get to know alot of like-minded individuals, and have a decent shot at attracting some investor interest.<p>I live in Ireland and wouldn't be able to participate but I think it's a great idea.

There was an article a month or two ago about the problems with tech accelerators gaining popularity.<p>I can't find the link but it basically said the accelerator bubble is going to happen when the secondary groups get the 'B' talent startups, and then the next groups get the 'C' talent...<p>While I have no idea about the quality of YC Reject groups, this does kinda have that same feel to it.

I have a name for it (I love naming things):<p>ReCombinated

I've never been accepted into YC so this may be totally wrong, but ...<p>Don't lose sight of the real value in this for a group trying to create their own startup - the mentorship, fraternity, alumni network, initial amount of funding and then finally the demo day presentations which will result in a lot of visibility. Not to mention, at this point in time, the YC brand stamp. I know you have to start somewhere, but I don't think starting with investors is the right move. It won't be difficult to find people willing to invest, as you've already experienced (they came to you). You need to start by trying to provide the startups with the things they can't get on their own - mentorship, fraternity, etc. I have gone through my own adventures of pitching my ideas to VCs, while being completely uneducated about it and green, and I can say it's not difficult to get money from them - so you will be able to get it when its required. At least for me, the money is not really the appeal of YC.<p>I think dclaysmith says it well here: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2432040" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2432040</a>

Crazy stuff. Can you imagine the analog in other professions?<p>"I got rejected from Harvard Law School. So I got a couple of my fellow applicants together and decided to study law together for 3 years, sans professors. We all just got 6 figure offers from the big firms on Wall Street."

I know it's been said over and over but why don't all these YC and now YC rejects just get on with it. Build their products, start their businesses and make some money. Why the obsession with being a YC'er and now a not-a-YC'er. Can't they see the whole thing is just a distraction from their already difficult task?! nikcub hit the nail on the head with his comment, it's just a shame YC doesn't lend itself to a plithy title such as "Boo Hoo" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boo.com).

in ten years time when the social software era zeitgeist is written it will definitely mention 'and even a YC reject group was funded'

This is one of the crazy things I've come across - one moment there's a call for YC rejects to hang out together, next day there's cash for equity! Since this is an experiment maybe it would help to keep it simple in the original form and leave investment out of it till the end of summer?

At this point though, if we're taking PG &#38; co's rankings of applications, the top 10% of YC applicants are still in the interview phase - if I were the OP I would want to wait until after the class gets announced, right?

From who? That seems pretty important.

Someone should get started on the 'YC Reject Reject' fund.

The thing is, with YC you get except the 20 grand or whatever it is, the advice from pg and others, and the alumni network, which is both worth something.

"We're like YC but better!" has "sour grapes" written all over it. If it's that much better, why did you bother applying to YC in the first place?<p>Also, on a lighter note, will there now be a ycrejectrejects project/site?

The original idea had something special and different. Now this is really just another accelerator.

If YC Reject groups get similar funding, this might be a good way to empirically test whether either Y-Combinator succeeds at choosing more capable groups or Y-Combinator offers advantages over other accelerators.

My initial thought is to leave investment/equity out of the program and stick to the original vision. There are dozens of established incubator programs that have a reputation and history of performance.

Accepted applicants articulated their idea &#38; company better than non-accepted applicatns as per YC scale. If you aren't accepted by YC, shouldn't it be same as getting rejected from a VC?. In most cases VCs are investing in companies that are rejected by other VCs. How one perceives opportunities for an idea/investment, is very subjective. YC and YC Reject will not be same even though offer is similar ($12,000-20,000 for about 6% of the company).

WoW.....I don't want to say bubble....but this sure seems like some sort of frenzy.<p>Kudos to you for taking the initiative and doing what you need to do...and for siezing what could potentially be an amazing opportunity.<p>I hope it doesn't turn out to be a fad, and something sustainable can be built here.

YC Reject could turn out to be an interesting development just based on the way YC does self-selects for a 50/50 success ratio.<p>See more here: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2431712" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2431712</a>

I was going to try something similar a while back. Perhaps a different persons perspective on a similar idea will stimulate your mind: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=925134" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=925134</a>

This is an invitation for a trademark infringement lawsuit.

Where's the accompanying news.arc?

This is insane and hilarious, as well as a great initiative.

Could this be a scheme to look at everybody's applications? Why would the angel not directly go to YC demo day or ask them for the reject list? When desperate it is easy to lose sight of what is plausible.<p>Please don't get me wrong, I am not calling you a liar, but this is just healthy skepticism. If I were to ever go along with this I would need to see some written proof.<p>If you have actually done this you're doing a great service to a lot of people.