Our Y Combinator interviewers were awesome. Us — not so much. Here are 3 things I wish I'd done better

[mygodisawesome]

Context:

We had our YC interview on Friday for Sendif.

It bombed.

If I could turn back the clock, I'd do these 3 things:

1) Say less.

When asked, "What is a better email?"

I blurted, "A better email is...conversion rate...drives sales...click rate...xyz...e-commerce...bla bla bla."

I wish I'd just said, "A better email drives more revenue than a bad one."

2) Connect every dot back to "Why us."

When asked about LensAdvizor [a Shopify app we built in 2020], I regaled them with a 20-second novella.

I wish I'd just said: "We solved a problem for Rocket Eyewear [my store], turned it into a profitable app with 800 users, and now we're doing it again with Sendif."

3) Empathise.

These poor guys have to cram hundreds of interviews into back-to-back 10-minute sprints.

They wanna learn more about you.

But they don't have time.

So be crisp.

Help them help you.

Quickly!

And don't get butthurt.

P.S. If anyone else got an interview but didn't get in, please send me a DM!

Would love to set up a group with you guys so we can connect and work our butts off on our startups together (Build in Public style, perhaps?) over the summer.

P.P.S Sendif does AI-generated emails for e-commerce, 10x faster and cheaper than an agency.

 

[omegathefirst]

@mygodisawesome But whats better about the email that will actually increase revenue. Whats the differentiator. Anyone can say their product will make more money

 

[mygodisawesome]

@omegathefirst AI can do better A/B testing than us.

 

[dbhedden]

@mygodisawesome This is really great! Thanks for sharing @mygodisawesome. We haven't been invited to interview yet. Still carrying some hope. definitely helpful if we do get invited!

 

[hillfalk]

@mygodisawesome Quality post. The start up sounds interesting and necessary for a lot of eCommerce brands out there.

I didn’t apply for Y Combinator this time around but would love to connect with other start ups if a group gets put together.

 

[mygodisawesome]

@hillfalk I'll send you a DM!

 

[wesmurray]

@mygodisawesome Same here, would love to join

 

[dreamharp]

@mygodisawesome Let me DM you as well

 

[sunnyfields]

@mygodisawesome Thanks for sharing!

 

[sukhovey]

@mygodisawesome You said your interview was Friday. When did you get your invite to interview? Wondering if it's time to give up hope of getting one?

 

[mygodisawesome]

@sukhovey Interview was Friday. I think I got my invite like 3 to 5 days before it.

 

[sukhovey]

@mygodisawesome Thanks. Helpful.

 

[xwarli]

@mygodisawesome We got interviewed too. First interview went great. Second interview was with Michael and it was a tough one. They really wanted us to tell them how we would pivot and we just knew we weren’t giving them the answers they were looking for.

 

[mygodisawesome]

@xwarli Wow the man himself! What's your startup?

 

[pmsh]

@xwarli What do you mean by "how we would pivot?". They didn't like your first idea and wanted you to pivot to another one. Or did they want a strategy plan on pivoting?

 

[ricky3369]

@mygodisawesome Great to hear, this advice is amazing, I am sure there are plenty of things we could all learn by communicating and giving each other advice. I have created this little discord server yesterday to do what you said, all free no roles of power, just us helping each other (it’s still not much populated but let’s grow it!) https://discord.gg/J67acgKH

 

[mygodisawesome]

@ricky3369 Oh cool I will take a look later. Thanks!