Rejected by YC? Keep trying anyway.
11 comments
I took the post you mention to mean "If you even applied to Y Combinator, you're probably awesome even if you got rejected, and we want to hire awesome people." In other words, they're using "applied to YC" as a filter for their applicant pool. If anything, that seems the opposite of snobbish, since they actively reject the idea that being turned down by YC is somehow a blemish on your record.
My guess is the reason they used an anonymous account is that they're not ready to do a "media launch" yet (as opposed to a product launch, which apparently they've already done). If this hypothesis is correct, using a named account might have blown their cover. This could affect their media launch; TechCrunch, for example, might not cover their media launch if they outed themselves on Hacker News as a YC-funded company.
My guess is the reason they used an anonymous account is that they're not ready to do a "media launch" yet (as opposed to a product launch, which apparently they've already done). If this hypothesis is correct, using a named account might have blown their cover. This could affect their media launch; TechCrunch, for example, might not cover their media launch if they outed themselves on Hacker News as a YC-funded company.
YC startups get to post special help-wanted posts to HN. It is a non-negligible fringe benefit of getting accepted into YC. HN is not a neutral venue when it comes to YC companies. For obvious reasons.
I think it's a bit hard to get too upset over a job posting for an executive role in a company, even if it does seem unlikely that you can get the person who can sell ice trays to Inuits from a simple job post. Probably, you should relax a bit.
I think it's a bit hard to get too upset over a job posting for an executive role in a company, even if it does seem unlikely that you can get the person who can sell ice trays to Inuits from a simple job post. Probably, you should relax a bit.
These kind of posts are not unusual. A few of them:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1788777
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1915379
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1891223
This very recent one (4 days ago) got props on the highest comment rating for allowing comments:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1951476
It is not very precise to say the community has no tools for filtering these: it can stop upvoting them. But I agree that we have less tools (no flag and no comments). Not to mention meta posts like this serve as a tool to act upon.
Even if people took it all away, there is still google Sidewiki (http://www.google.com/sidewiki/intl/en/index.html ) and Marginize (http://www.marginize.com/ ) that enable side comments on any page, not only on HN.
On the other hand, if this bothered me enough, I'd rather filter out such topics from my HN reader rather than use a workaround to contribute to a topic that doesn't want to have contributions.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1788777
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1915379
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1891223
This very recent one (4 days ago) got props on the highest comment rating for allowing comments:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1951476
It is not very precise to say the community has no tools for filtering these: it can stop upvoting them. But I agree that we have less tools (no flag and no comments). Not to mention meta posts like this serve as a tool to act upon.
Even if people took it all away, there is still google Sidewiki (http://www.google.com/sidewiki/intl/en/index.html ) and Marginize (http://www.marginize.com/ ) that enable side comments on any page, not only on HN.
On the other hand, if this bothered me enough, I'd rather filter out such topics from my HN reader rather than use a workaround to contribute to a topic that doesn't want to have contributions.
Fully agreed, I just wrote a blog post just because I could not comment there. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1967401
I very much disagree that when you get rejected by YC (or any other angel/VC/incubator) that you should take that as your cue to sign up with this or any other YC funded company.
I very much disagree that when you get rejected by YC (or any other angel/VC/incubator) that you should take that as your cue to sign up with this or any other YC funded company.
We were rejected by YC before ourselves. "Rejected by YC" in this context is a compliment, it means you applied.
It seems odd that comments are allowed to be disabled on some of these posts. Isn't one of the main functions of HN discussion?
Also, it seems like every time I've seen sponsored posts that disallow comments, the backlash from that in other topics is larger than any potential backlash in the comments. It seems like disabling comments completely backfires in terms of controlling negative reactions.
Also, it seems like every time I've seen sponsored posts that disallow comments, the backlash from that in other topics is larger than any potential backlash in the comments. It seems like disabling comments completely backfires in terms of controlling negative reactions.
It seems odd that comments are allowed to be disabled on some of these posts. Isn't one of the main functions of HN discussion?
Sure. Another function is to help ycombinator make money by providing a place where YC-funded companies can advertise for employees. pg runs this site only partially out of the goodness of his heart.
I guess the reason for not allowing comments is that the comments would almost invariably contain a lot of nitpicking negativity about one aspect of the ad or another. (Job ads are particularly negativity-inducing, since folks who don't meet one of the stated requirements tend to get offended and whine that said requirement is completely unnecessary, while other folks no doubt like to whine about whichever variation on "rockstar", "ninja" or "pirate" the prospective employer has used to describe their ideal candidate.)
Sure. Another function is to help ycombinator make money by providing a place where YC-funded companies can advertise for employees. pg runs this site only partially out of the goodness of his heart.
I guess the reason for not allowing comments is that the comments would almost invariably contain a lot of nitpicking negativity about one aspect of the ad or another. (Job ads are particularly negativity-inducing, since folks who don't meet one of the stated requirements tend to get offended and whine that said requirement is completely unnecessary, while other folks no doubt like to whine about whichever variation on "rockstar", "ninja" or "pirate" the prospective employer has used to describe their ideal candidate.)
Unless I missed something pretty significant, HN doesn't support downvoting on any stories.
As tptacek pointed out, being able to post the help wanted threads on HN is a pretty cool benefit of being a YC startup. HN is full of smart, creative hackers that want to work in the startup sphere, so why wouldn't the general audience here appreciate news of the opening?
I have seen a bunch of posts on HN recently that consist of out-of-work coders or failed startup creators trying to get hired in the startup world. We have monthly (commentable) threads about jobs in the industry.
Yes, YC companies get to post job offers on news.ycombinator.com, but not in an unfair or domineering fashion. If you're not interested in the job, don't apply!
As tptacek pointed out, being able to post the help wanted threads on HN is a pretty cool benefit of being a YC startup. HN is full of smart, creative hackers that want to work in the startup sphere, so why wouldn't the general audience here appreciate news of the opening?
I have seen a bunch of posts on HN recently that consist of out-of-work coders or failed startup creators trying to get hired in the startup world. We have monthly (commentable) threads about jobs in the industry.
Yes, YC companies get to post job offers on news.ycombinator.com, but not in an unfair or domineering fashion. If you're not interested in the job, don't apply!
You can flag a story (which helps in moderation, dont know the details).
While I do understand that HN is NOT a democratic platform, and do agree with you and tptacek, that YC companies should get the fringe benefit of visibility on HN, but It would make more sense to have higher weightage to such posts while ranking, than creating a separate class.
While I do understand that HN is NOT a democratic platform, and do agree with you and tptacek, that YC companies should get the fringe benefit of visibility on HN, but It would make more sense to have higher weightage to such posts while ranking, than creating a separate class.
Job postings from YC companies aren't stories. Think of them like ads. They're a kind of ad only YC companies can make. The notion of "discussing" them doesn't apply.
[deleted]
I dunno... I can see both sides of it. I mean, for myself, I carry around the attitude "If I get rejected by $FOO, I'll make it so big, that I can buy $FOO and turn their offices into my ping-pong room." And I encourage others to feel the same way. So in that regard, I'd like to think that the people who got rejected by YC are actually hunkered down somewhere, working their balls off, planning to show the YC decision-makers "just how wrong they were."
But, realistically, I'm sure there is some pool of people who applied to YC, were denied, never found funding anywhere else, and gave up... but are still interested in working in a startup. In that case, joining a different startup, who did get accepted, seems like a reasonable scenario.
But, realistically, I'm sure there is some pool of people who applied to YC, were denied, never found funding anywhere else, and gave up... but are still interested in working in a startup. In that case, joining a different startup, who did get accepted, seems like a reasonable scenario.
There are a few things I like about that job post:
- They're for equity positions
- They separate the person writing marketing material and the person selling
- SaaS for enterprise is quite lucrative (if you say businesses don't want SaaS! consider that they can provide a firewall product, and that unless I'm mistaken, GitHub's firewall product is much less popular among large customers than their SaaS product)
- They're for equity positions
- They separate the person writing marketing material and the person selling
- SaaS for enterprise is quite lucrative (if you say businesses don't want SaaS! consider that they can provide a firewall product, and that unless I'm mistaken, GitHub's firewall product is much less popular among large customers than their SaaS product)
They should change the title of their job post.
Not cool.
Perhaps it is the terse bluntness of title, or maybe the affront to my sensibilities - that perhaps, /perhaps/ those people who were rejected by YC were only in it to get accepted by YC - I'm not sure what it was that initially pissed me off.
What I do know is that I'm disappointed that the community is not being given its normal tools to discuss and filter it.
Why is that post different?