Great post Jesse, As someone who has been both accepted and rejected by YC I can say this is absolutely the truth, I made it to YC in one batch but I've been rejected both before that and since, I was always under the impression past founders had better chances of making it when applying again but that certainly isn't the case with me.<p>That said, I'm an entrepreneur, its what I do and if a YC rejection letter stopped me I would've probably quit before I ever got started multiple times.<p>I'm not a hugely successful guy, but I've had a seven figure exit without taking outside funding and I'm raising capital now for a new startup without the YC name behind it and that's going just fine.<p>The most important thing you have in your startup is DRIVE. If you believe you know where you're headed its not a matter of IF you can convince someone else to join you(this goes for VC's or employees) its WHEN you convince them to join you.<p>At my first company I sold cars on the weekends to make payroll, and if I had to do that again tomorrow to keep this new company running I would.<p>Not everyone succeeds because they're the best at something, a lot of people make it because they're the most stubborn at it.