Startup School Advisor Track: You Are In

Hi everyone, after all this, we believe the right thing to do is to accept everyone into Startup School, so we're going to find a way to make this work. More info here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17806459

My cofounder and I were cheers-ing about our acceptance an hour ago and now we're texting about this y-combinator screw-up--we're not accepted after all!

For all the other founders and teams who had that momentary confidence of outside reenforcement -- remember how unstoppable and brave you felt in that moment! That glow doesn't have to go away with a retraction email. Hold onto the feeling. Go make great things, go make a difference.

I became a developer after spending odd hours trolling Hnews and finding learn to code tutorials; I watched all of the previous Startup School videos on my own time; and despite the discord that can sometimes occur on this platform, I really looked up to Ycombinator.

While this is a feelings setback, I'd like to just say -- I wouldn't be where I am in my career without the Hacker News community that got my started on my way. So I think what I'd like to focus on tonight (while I nurse my hurt pride) is thanking everyone here who comments and submits links and reaches out and spreads the openness and community that drew me to software in the first place.

People who run things will make lots of mistakes; communities will make lots of mistakes, too; but if we just keep talking, we'll stay moving in the right direction.

Thanks to all the Ycombinator commenters here responding to the very justified hurt and embarrassment being shared here. Cheers to a tomorrow full of possibilities.

Mistakes happen, but it should not have taken them over two hours to contact people who'd been celebrating their acceptance.

We got the "you're in!" email, and the whole team was pumped. Having to go back to them hours later to let them down was really hard to do.

The fact that Ycombinator sent the "oops, sorry!" email from a do-not-reply address and basically did nothing to make up for it showed a real lack of respect for the companies that were affected.

Will it make a difference in the long run? Probably not, no one wants to shoot themselves in the foot over what is basically just a disappointment. But it really does lower Ycombinator's brand for a lot of people. Not a great example to set.

Guys - we are deeply sorry for this screw-up. I know we got people's hopes up only to let you down, and I feel terrible about it.

While it doesn't excuse our mistake, for what it's worth, Startup School makes the classes and all the materials available online to everyone. So even if you didn't get accepted to the advisor track, we hope you will follow along, watch the videos, and find the material useful.

My apologies on behalf of everyone at YC for letting you down. We're still trying to figure out exactly what happened, and make sure nothing like it happens again.

We feel awful about this and we're working on a solution. We'll have more to share in the next 24 hours, hopefully sooner.

Edit: ok, here's what we've got: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17806459.

I was just accepted, and then rejected.

Felt like shit.

You don't need a "startup school" or a YC acceptance to be successful.

This application allowed me to type like 45 words about my company, and that was it. I imagine they had thousands of applicants.

Once a week with an advisor that's working with 25 other companies? Startup School definitely won't be the thing that moves the needle for your project.

Pessimistically, I see this more as a feeder for YC. This "software glitch" is somewhat telling of the care they are putting into this. In other words, "It's a numbers game".

Keep putting in work. We don't need $120K for 7% in funding for "connections" to get our products off the ground anymore. We don't need this. We can bootstrap.

So much love for everyone who received an "accepted" email in error. Don't let it get you down.

I just got rejected with https://dependabot.com despite $6k MRR and 2,000 active users. I'm sure there are lots of other great companies in the same situation - let's keep building great things.

I’m not upset with YC.

The program is free after all.

So I’m not a paying customer.

And I am incredibly grateful to YC for everything they do for the startup community.

But it is absolutely gutting to get the thumbs up, tell the team, and then get the thumbs down.

I can handle it, but my team is demoralised.

Time to find something to boost them up.

Here's what I'd do if I were YC, especially having seen in this thread and on Twitter a bunch of seemingly promising startups that were rejected from Startup School:

Add a second chance--not just for those who received an incorrect email today, but for everyone who was rejected but fully audits the program. Toward the end of the ten weeks, allow startups auditing the course to submit a progress report or a second application, with some of those candidates--perhaps those that have shown the most growth over the course of the program?--accepted to participate in a later 10-week advisory program like the one Startup School offers on the advisory track. (I'm sure a chance at $10k would be appreciated as well.)

That would make Startup School a more appealing proposition for those who were not accepted, relieve some of the sting for those who are upset today, and to some extent correct for the fact that the selection process is inherently imperfect. From YC's perspective, it would increase participation in Startup School without requiring huge numbers of new advisors; you'd have 10 weeks to find a couple of new advisors for a small batch of accepted second-chancers, or perhaps some of the first-run advisors would be willing to commit to a second round. Plus this would give YC another opportunity to get in early with some of the most promising startups they rejected today.

(I think giving hope to people who were misinformed today would help alleviate some of the PR problems YC is surely going to face, but I'd add this as a permanent feature of Startup School anyway.)

I hope yours was not sent by mistake because I just got another email saying my application wasnt actually accepted. Which I understand because I was surprised to be accepted since our demo is passport protected and they could not have seen what is it that we have built so far.

Oh you guys, what a painful fuckup. I'm so sorry. More apologies coming. (Edit: and hopefully a fix, as well.)

I received two emails.

1. Class Begins Next Week!

> Thank you for applying to Startup School Online. We're sorry to say that your startup was not selected for the upcoming Advisor track....

What I understood is that I was not selected. But then 1:30 minutes later I got a second email.

2. Your Company was ACCEPTED: Startup School Advisor Track

> Thank you for applying to Startup School Online. Your application looked promising and we would like to invite you to the Advisor track!

So I am accepted? I see others have the opposite happen so I am confused.

When I click on the link and log in, it shows:

> Thank you for applying to Startup School!

> We will let you know whether you’re accepted by August 20th, 2018.

Update:

The website has updated to show that I have been accepted. Good luck to those who haven't received an update yet.

Yeah, this was totally not cool. I much like most of you was not expecting to get accepted, I basically applied for the hell of it. None the less, it was quite a let down to receive that second email. Especially after telling a few family and friends. Kind of sucks, but hey it was an accident all we can do is move past it.

We just got the acceptance and apology email. I’m not going to get upset about it. But I’ll float this idea, for anyone who didn’t get accepted, would you be interested in a discord/Slack/whatever and share feedback of each other’s progress?

The thing I will miss most is the weekly focus to deliver some progress. No reason that can’t happen in a non-official capacity. DM me on Twitter if you’re interested: https://twitter.com/Martin_Adams

I'm here because of the same reason -- looks like I'm not alone. I've had a YC advisor for about 1.5 hours, shared good news with people around, and now I'm going to tell everyone it was a fake news. How many people received this email? IMO all the people who got the 1st acceptance e-mail should get in. If not now, then in the next cohort.

Accepted.

Told my team.

We celebrated.

Then received apology/rejection.

Honestly, while it would be a low probability of us getting into the YC Batch, we thought we were high probability of getting into online startup school.

We have an active MVP for 2 months, a Fortune 500 enterprise customer, and a solid market opportunity using previously validated use cases.

We thought we were a really good fit for this program.

I’m tempted to email to ask them to check again.

One error could be two?

Sigh.

You’d expect this from other accelerators, everyone holds YC to higher standards.

I don’t think it’s wrong to expect better in this instance. In the age of social media news travels fast. I’d received congratulatory messages from several YC alum within 10 minutes of the first email.

That’s life.

I got it too. Went for a nice long walk and made great plans about taking over the world! Came back and saw the "sorry" email. Crushing!

But what to do. That's life! We all can use this as motivation!

And let's stop with the blame/reputation stuff - it was a mistake and they apologized. Not like YOU never made any mistakes!

Startup school emails are confusing.

First I received a rejection email than acceptance email - I would have rejoiced - but the 'Get Started' Link goes to 'We will let you know by August 20th' page.

I was initially accepted and then not. I've started a couple of companies, exited 1 and my second is doing well (vc funded and growing) if there is one thing I know is that events "like" these happen all of the time to startups. 1 minute you're flying high and the next you're 6 feet under :) How you react to these moments define you and decrease or increase the chance of success for your startup. Go to work!

For everybody affected by this, now might be a good time to (re) read pg's famous "How to Not Die" essay:

http://www.paulgraham.com/die.html

A great quote from the essay:

Startups rarely die in mid keystroke. So keep typing!

We were also accepted and then rejected. Doesn't exactly instill confidence.

I knew it was a little premature to spend the $10k

From believing we got the first break we’ve had in years of struggle to being crushed.

Will it stop us from keeping going? It shouldn’t but it might be enough of a blow to slow us down and depress our chances.

I already told people. I scheduled PTO at work to focus. I was on cloud nine and now in the deep dumps.

Would anyone be interested in starting a group for rejected apps? I think we could all use this mishap as a motivational boost.

if getting funded on demo day is like getting drafted to the NBA, applying to startup school was like trying out for JV team.

is being told we got accepted to audit something like being invited to watch the game from outside the stadium using binoculars as long as we promise to keep the cheering to a quiet roar?

Whelp, what a mess. Every time I tell my self not to apply to these things but then it's like Godfather 3. But wait, this time it was different!! Oh, wait. Nope. Same result. Only this time it feels much much worse. FUBAR.

So same here. Its a bit of a disappointment but mistakes happen lets move on. As a solo founder who is not surrounded by a startup ecosystem, what I was most keen on was the group feedback, discussions and I guess some external accountability. Would any others here who have been put into the audit group, be keen to try this in another way? Facebook or hangouts groups? Open to ideas.

Getting "accepted" and then rejected made me finally realize how badly I want to try my hand at creating my product idea and starting a start up. So thanks YC for the bug, see you at YC W19 applications.

Startup school's valuable first lesson in customer communication and PR is right here. Well, software screwed up the experience and crushed the expectations of so many, including me. Moving on :)...

having been in a startup for over a decade (i've since exited), i can tell you that this is something that any team should take on the nose and accept. highs are very high and lows are very low. mistakes happen, and you will make them too. big ones. live as a team, die as a team. stop bitching and get back to work.

[EDIT] ...drink the celebration beers anyways.

Grrr.. rejection email after 2 hrs! Wish I got the email before I let my husband know.

YC is certainly doing their best to provide resources to the overall entrepreneur community. While it can be emotionally upsetting to be dealt the hands presented - consider it as set-back that entrepreneur face on a daily basis - It is not uncommon to be dealt rejections and be disappointed by mistakes of others, the key is to adapt accordingly and move on. (Just ask any entrepreneurs who try to sell their projects, get a verbal confirmation, but in the end the "budget" fell through. In this case, what we asked for is free to begin with.)

We are all talented. We do not need YC validation / school acceptance to prove that we are talented. Build your application and let the metrics speak for itself. Turn your frustration into energy and motivation. Learn from the experience and move on , good luck implementing everyone.

I just want to say we are really sorry for this error. This is not the standard we hold ourselves to at YC. I personally apologize to the companies that were both rejected and accepted. Trust that this provides us with even more motivation to make sure that Startup School is great for all participants.

See: https://www.startupschool.org/about

In addition to having full access to all the lectures and class office hours, you will also:

- Be assigned an advisor and join their group of companies. Advisors are members of the YC alumni network.

- Have virtual advisory sessions, in the form of Group Office Hours, every week via online video.

- Have access to a community of international founders through the Startup School forum.

- Be responsible for updating your Advisor on your progress once a week.

- You must submit at least 9 out of your 10 weekly updates and attend 9 out of 10 group office hour sessions.

- Upon successful completion, you will receive a certificate of completion and the opportunity to share what you're working on with the public.

- 100 startups that complete the course will be chosen to receive $10K in equity-free funding.

I got the same email. Accepted then apologies. I’m not sure what the audit school is? I’m so confused

I find it interesting how badly this has affected some people. It seems that a large majority are upset from gloating about it in on their "networks". Perhaps this is a lesson that you shouldn't need to rely on YC to succeed.

Officially the best day of my life. - We almost had a minor heart attack as we received an email stating that we were not accepted. But we are in ....it was a Y-Com email trigger problem. (honest mistake)

Accepted, then rejected but “accepted into Audit course”, is this a joke?!

WTF? A rollercoaster for sure. You're in! You're out! Boooo!

Ha such a roller coaster of emotions for us over at https://vrooms.tv

Excited, confused, super let down, then came here to see we weren't alone.

in and then out just like the other posters in this thread - very NOT HAPPY w/ YC today.

I received the following second email

"We are deeply sorry, but an error occurred in the software that triggers acceptance emails and you were actually supposed to receive the email below accepting you into the Startup School Advisor Track."

But now I want to be super sure ... ¿Are We In? If I login into the StartupSchool page , I don´t see anything yet.

I was also accepted and rejected. Very upset and frustrated.

Rollercoaster of emotions. First email came in while I was at dinner with my super nosy girlfriend and I was dejected. Didn't even take my meal well.

Then acceptance email. Good thing I had a long list of things to achieve before I went public with rwjwction/acceptance. I am happy to be accepted. For all those rejected, I have applied to YC 6 times since 2012 or 2013 I think. All rejects. One business was adapted by government (it wasn't going to be super profitable, but was really key to my government ops plus led to a scholarship at MIT). Two startups floundered but led me to my current startup(pivot after pivot supported by a somewhat sufficient consultancy).

All in all continue executing. That's what important.

Obviously this situation is very confusing. Seems like an honest mistake. On the plus side, really love the sense of community this has created. Best of luck to those moving forward. Whether accepted or auditing this will be a huge learning opportunity.

#startupschool

Let me guess. That would be a hack to engage a list of post-rejection uninterested users.

I received an emailed that said I wasn’t in then one said sorry you did get in. Is this accurate?

Sorry to everyone who received the opposite emails. If you believe in your vision, keep focused on serving your customers and growing your business.

Fixed: https://blog.ycombinator.com/startup-school-every-company-th...

Got the rejected email then was accepted. https://www.startupschool.org/courses/2 doesn't seem to fully confirm I am in - just says:

    Thank you for applying to Startup School!
    The course will start on August 28th, 2018

    Share with fellow entrepreneurial friends.

    Course videos will be available soon after filming has ended. In the meantime, you can check our library of Startup Material.

Applied for the program and got acceptance -> shared with team -> rejection -> shared with team.

And it didn't really bother me much.

Can understand that getting into the program can be a great thing. But these things are expected. With strong conviction on the idea small hickups doesn't seem to have any impact.

BTW, for those applied to this program should consider applyin g for https://unusual.vc/academy/. They invest 100k in convertible notes.

I'm still confused. I got rejected and then accepted. I'm sure it's a fuck up but I urge YC to send a mail again to shed some clarity to those are seriously affected by this.

I guess this is more motivation to work on my actual YC application :)

I just got the acceptance error email, I feel pretty let down.

I even woke up early (AEST) to check emails and was wonderfully surprised when I got the first email at 6.30am. Not a great start to the day.

I received the ‘accepted’ one in the midnight, and We celebrated the whole 15 minutes, bought a round ticket as well, I was thinking about book a room on Airbnb, but we still have work to do. I got the 'sorry' one just before I shutdown my laptop, I don't know how to tell my friends, it'll take 2 or days to forget it. We're absolutely gonna keep going. There was a mistake, we were not accepted by Startup School, that's all I need to say. Everyone will be fine.

The first email I received was

Thank you for applying to Startup School Online. We're sorry to say that your startup was not selected for the upcoming Advisor track.

I then received a second email

We are deeply sorry, but an error occurred in the software that triggers acceptance emails and you were actually supposed to receive the email below accepting you into the Startup School Advisor Track.

It seems like this is the opposite of what most other have experienced according to the comments. I guess regardless, everyone is still in?

I got the same and this is not cool

Hi everyone, I have an idea, why we just live YC along for a few hours, let them do what they need to do and waiting for the result. If they have to answer almost same questions in here or on twitter, they'll have fewer people to do the 'update', let's just wait and talking to each other.

Here is the key info: 'Update: we will have something to share tonight, and I think people will be pretty happy :)'

The emotional roller coaster ended at confusion & frustration at reading “accepted to audit”, is this a joke?! What’s there to be accepted to audit?!

For those who didn't get in but would still like to join a slack group of founders: https://join.slack.com/t/startupschool-rejects/shared_invite...

Guys, maybe it will be reasonable to send emails with text like “check out your acceptance thru the following link”? Doing this you will track openings and if smth is going wrong, you will work only with guys that saw the wrong info. And what about the last your decision: it will be really hard for you, but it’s the only one way to fix everything. So, good luck to you with this and thank you!

Hey I was like really cool there for an hour or two :)

I will never believe this. It is not by mistake.

I'm glad I only told one person, because it is pretty heartbreaking to get un-accepted. But I get it- software glitches make mistakes, people make mistakes, companies make mistakes. If something THIS small was going to deter me, maybe I should just give up and go get a regular job. But that's not gonna happen! Let's do this!

I got an email that we were rejected, and then two hours later that we were ACCEPTED to the Advisor Track... basically the other way around to what most people has commented in this thread... but still waiting for tomorrow to find out if there is any clarification to this. When I login I do not see the famous Auditor Track...

Got in shared the news with everyone, Got out waiting hoping the second email is an error, before letting the team know.

We've got a rejection email and then a couple of hours later a follow up email saying that there was an error and we were accepted! Super stoked about this opportunity. If anyone is interested, we're here - https://skillmint.com

Are we(in audit track) eligible for 10k grant?

P.S.: If there teams in this situation, upvote so that someone from YC may answer it.

First email, "you are in! ",second email "ups, actually, you are not". Crushing...

Cannot describe how shitty it felt to tell everyone I told that I actually didn't get accepted.

Got the same, was pretty upset after also sharing it with the team and with others...

Lame.

So what exactly is "audit track"?

How about we start our own accelerator by auditing their course? Nothing stops if we are motivated.

Tough moments build resilience.

Mistakes happen, rejections happen, failures happen.

Keep your vision laser-focussed and go turn something people want into something people love.

<3 from the accepted/rejected http://www.joinluma.com crew.

I got an email 2 hours ago saying that I didn't get in, then just one one a few minutes ago saying that I was in the advisor track? Sounds great... but is the system sending correct emails for round 2?

Don't want to get my hopes up.

Hi Guys, I created a slack channel to connect all interested entrepreneurs whether accepted or not. Here is the link: https://bit.ly/2LaSxtH

Spread the word!

What does it mean if I received a rejection email first and then an acceptance to the Advisor track? Is there still a Founder track that I didn't get into or am I about to receive a rejection email? I'm confused.

Honestly, I'm pretty graceful even though I didn't get in the advisor track, but accepted of audit track. What's really matter is that we can all get something from the free course while others can't.

I just got Steve Harvey'd

They need to do something to make it right, they impacted relationships and businesses in a real way. They have the power to make it right in some way, it's a morale test to see if they will. I emailed them.

Well, I got mine then requested to attend a lecture in person and after about 5 mins I get the email saying “nah nah” I was thinking I shouldn’t have asked to attend the lecture if they’d kick me out for that

Fortunately I was busy coding so I saw the two emails at the same time. Disappointing, but I was always planning on making this successful on my own. I'll still audit the course to see what I can learn.

Started an open chat to follow Startup School—will post videos, etc. https://chat.dog/startup-school

I got a rejection email first, then an acceptance email to the advisor track - what does this mean for me? Am I a part of the proper course or am I just accepted because of the mistake?

Considering that it’s easier to get into Startup School than the regular YC batch, should founders that were rejected interpret that as a signal that they’ll likely not get into YC?

Snowmaker/any other YC employee: how many cohorts are there?

Disappointed... Are all the emails signed by the same people (Geoff and Adora) or does it depend on the cohort you were (incorrectly) assigned to?

So I am confused. I got accepted in advisor track and then now its saying I am accepted for auditor track. So am I in? or am I not?

Are both cofounders allowed to attend a startup school lecture in person? Or is it only one seat per company?

Was also accepted into the same Track. 25 companies per track it seems, there are probably many cohorts.

I only received the acceptance email at 4pm EST. Does it mean i was in the real 25? What a mess...

I only got the Acceptance email. Does it mean i was in the real 25?? What a mess now

Damn, I shared this with friends and family. Never been so excited...

I guess were just a bunch of ... angry nerds. cue CSI music

And we are like everyone else, not really accepted. Bummer.

Not cool at all ...

MR. Y Combinator ....I don't feel so good...

Congratulations to everyone who did get in xoxo

First rejected, then accepted :)

YC - you made the right move

This is heart breaking!

"We are deeply sorry to have to send this email, but unfortunately an error occurred in the software that triggers acceptance emails. The acceptance email was sent to you even though we are unfortunately not able to include you in the Startup School Advisor Track.

Although you are not in the Advisor Track, you have, in fact, been accepted to audit Startup School and will have access to all of the content just as soon as it is made available.

Again, we regret having made this error and raised your expectations unnecessarily. We hope you continue working on your startup and that Startup School is a huge help."