I pitched my startup to Y Combinator (startup accelerator) for $150,000 and got rejected.

Video Description

👉🏻 Join my discord server - https://discord.gg/3pCVESRR In this video I share my first-hand experience interviewing with the most famous startup accelerator in the world – Y Combinator. I address my learnings from being rejected by Y Combinator and being denied $150,000. What is Y Combinator? YC provides seed funding for startups. This accelerator program is based in the heart of innovative tech, Silicon Valley. YC has been used to launch companies such as: Stripe, Airbnb, DoorDash, Coinbase, Instacart, Dropbox and Twitch, Cruise Automation, and many more. Once accepted into the program, not only do you get money for your business idea, but you also gain the support of YC partners and the YC community. Founders participate in bi-weekly office hours, and have weekly talks from VCs, prominent founders, and executives. Some of the current YC partners include: Michael Seibel - cofounder of Twitch Eric Migicovsky -founder of Pebble Gustaf Alstromer – growth product lead at Airbnb Paul Buchheit – creator of Gmail My partner and I had a new business idea; one that would provide a platform to help creators from YouTube, Instagram, other influencers and teachers monetize their live content. This is what the Y Combinator application looks like https://apply.ycombinator.com/app/edit I've broken down the YC application and YC interview process as follows: The idea: the application will make you think about your idea in terms of Why did you choose this particular idea? How do you plan to grow your business? How do you plan on increasing user acquisition? How do you plan on making money? How does this product differ from what the competition is doing? Going over who is all collaborating on this project The team members -- leadership, management, key players How invested will you be on working on this project? Is it a side hustle or will you prioritize this venture as your focus and main source of income? Keep in mind that during this process over 15,000 applications were submitted and only 500 were selected to interview. The interview lead was by Michael Seibel (cofounder of Twitch and now board member of Reddit) Before the interview I did not know who would be interviewing us, all I did know was that it would be 3-4 YC partners.Try to stand out in the interview, but don't stress. The interview was very conversational rather than a straight questionnaire -- the whole situation felt very relaxing in an unconventional way. That same day I got an email from Michael Seibel asking about the timing of a prototype. The 25-minute call with Michael We discussed how we emphasized marketing too heavily and how we should focus more on getting the technical prototype The rejection 2 days after our call, we received the infamous Y Combinator rejection letter which included feedback on why we didn't get in Although it was a cool product, we were not the right founders for it The main lessons learned Know your product Know your customer Know your angle and how that differs from your competitors You need to live and breathe your product or service You need to obsessively think about it Work on it, test it, improve it -- night and day I'm grateful for YC and Michael Seibel taking a chance on interviewing us. If you are on a startup journey yourself, don't give up, believe in yourself and your ideas. Do not be afraid to apply to startup funding programs like Y Combinator! This is the first video of a series intended to act as a guide to help you entrepreneurs, small business owners, or anyone interested in businesses learn about what it takes to get funding for your incredible ideas. If you have any further questions regarding the YC application and interview process go ahead and leave it in the comment box and I'll make sure to answer your questions as best I can! Don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't already and click the notification bell to alert you when I post more entrepreneurial videos in the future. Stay tuned for more content related to entrepreneurship, motivation, business, real estate investing, startup, seed funding, crowdfunding, personal education, online education, self-improvement, tech. ► Sign up for algoexpert for practicing coding interview problems: http://algoexpert.io/luba Use code "luba" for a 30% discount, it's ending soon! ▶ Subscribe for more awesome videos! http://bit.ly/LifeofLuba ▶ MY YOUTUBE GEAR: Main camera - https://amzn.to/2IoCueI Second camera - https://amzn.to/2SapWMy Microphone - https://amzn.to/2CQXsO6 Sound recorder - https://amzn.to/2MDTYDc Indoor Lights - https://amzn.to/2B7Eu5M ▶ MY COMPUTER SETUP: Macbook Pro - https://amzn.to/2Bc1xMR ▶ FOLLOW ME ON: ★ INSTAGRAM → https://www.instagram.com/lifeoflubaa/