Would you apply again?

[branannabanana]

I’m a solo founder that got rejected last batch. The rejection email had the message about partnering up with a cofounder. None of my friends or past coworkers want to take a risk in this market. I’ve been matching with potential founders but everyone seems half in/half out.

On the product and customer side of things I went from 0 customers to 10 pilot users. I have a decade of domain experience in this vertical. I’ve built and exited a startup in a closely related field.

Other than time spend on the application. Would applying again be a waste of time? A second rejection seems likely if the original feedback was to find a cofounder. Maybe it’s worth it just to keep a track record of progress…

 

[revena]

@branannabanana Whether you apply again or not is secondary here, the more important question is will you spend time and efforts in finding a cofounder just for the sake of yc?

My personal experience tells me getting a cofounder just for succeeding in yc could be nightmarish.. ( depends on your luck).. you'll feel the pressure of finding a cofounder and waste your time energy in it.. it will distract you from building your product.

Applying is just resubmitting the application. But finding a cofounder for succeeding is something that could quite a lot of time energy emotions and risk if things don't work out

 

[canada90]

@branannabanana Yes. Y-C doesn't like solo founders. They used to limit to 1x per cohort and even then, it was making an exception. Listen to what they are telling you.

 

[bigoink]

@canada90 Where are you getting this ‘used to limit 1x per cohort’?

Is that when there were 20 co’s per batch?

 

[canada90]

@bigoink Yep years ago

 

[elijah2017]

@branannabanana Do you want to have a cofounder?

- YES:

* Go find a cofounder. Try to convince one of your friends or colleagues or find one on a cofounder matching platform

* Keep improving your startup's metrics regardless of the number of your cofounders

* Reapply to YC and apply to other investors too

- NO:

* Show you can build your product, sell it while moving fast

* Improve your startup's metrics

* Hire 1 or 2 or more employee(s) so you have a team (Maybe?)

* Reapply to YC and apply to other investors too

 

[pamcaid]

@elijah2017 Don't hire. Just aim to get ramen profitable on your own if you want to be solo

 

[hirono]

@branannabanana If you got to interview stage maybe, if you got rejected no.

 

[dropdwhite]

@branannabanana I applied for the summer batch as a solo founder and received same response along with directions to the co-founder matching. They even sent an email with top 10% profiles. I connected with many and most were ready to jump in full time or part time but I didn’t find anyone with passion. I reached out to VC’s and other accelerator MD who are into early stage startups and pre-seed but all of them had doubts betting on a solo founder. In my case I do not have previous startup exit to show my ability. So I have decided to not apply until I find a co founder.

Do I need a cofounder? Yes, but I need someone who complements me and is trustworthy. Can’t partner with any random.

 

[piggybank]

@dropdwhite what other VCs?

 

[acacia_mosaic]

@branannabanana What is it that you are building?

 

[hallie4]

@branannabanana There are people I know from founders cafe are from YC or trying to get to YC and they've been struggling the same. But it would also be weird if you're just getting a co-founder just to succeed in YC

 

[pixiexw]

@branannabanana Hey,
I am also a solo founder
Looking for co-founders
I was also rejected from W24
What’s are you looking to build?

 

[inallyourways]

@branannabanana I feel like the co-founder thing is like, if you can’t convince one person to build with you, how do you convince anyone else?

 

[branannabanana]

@inallyourways The problem I'm facing isn't convincing people it's finding the partner who's in the right financial spot + has enough grit to help me dominate this market. I don't know what everyone calls it but I'm a full stack entrepreneur... dev, product, marketing, sales I can do it all. It's nice to be a generalist but at some point, you become spread too thin.

I don't plan to remain a solo founder just not rushing into anything.

I guess with my post I was hoping to get advice on if I should apply again or if it was a waste of time because they already gave me feedback which I haven't resolved yet.

Like if I apply again is it perceived as "He doesn't listen to feedback"

 

[inallyourways]

@branannabanana Fair, yea sorry I can’t answer that well. But good luck either way!!

 

[leahstig]

@branannabanana Imo you should forget about yc. Try to make whatever you are doing, work for you financially. Then you will have options IF you have already proven the thesis/product and YOU will be able to choose your options, not the other way around. At this stage fundraising is very difficult make do with what you have. Don’t wait for YC they have their own agenda.

 

[thebackyardpreacher]

@branannabanana Yes I would and, in fact, in the process of doing just that.

 

[philip8490]

@branannabanana What's the benefit of you getting into YC? Sounds like you've made great traction so far. Do you really need to get into YC?

Why not focus on continue to validate and eventually convert pilot customers?