Ask HN: Got rejected this time, here is my application

9 pointsvgrichina11y ago15 comments

See my application on following link, everything is the same as submitted (except few items marked as REDACTED and typo fixes):

http://spreadsheets-on-steroids.tumblr.com/post/82903500034/my-failed-application-to-yc-summer-2014

BTW, here is also somewhat relevant discussion about crazy/clever ways of using spreadsheets – https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7363824

15 comments

sithu11y ago

Hi, thanks for sharing your experience. I think when proposing anything, it helps to be able to clearly express your idea in such a way that anyone including non-technical people like myself can understand and relate to. I think this aspect could be improved. Other things: (1) I don't have a strong idea what pain point you are addressing. You mention features extensively, but could say more about the problem you are solving. (2) You mention 50$/mo but no idea how many potential users/market size. (3) The way you've described it, your idea seems more like a research project suited for a university than an actual product that can be sold to consumers. Need to make it easier for people without expertise in the area to understand what exactly your product is.

vgrichinaOP11y ago

Got your point about being less technical. Also I agree that project is currently more about research than building actual product.

(1) There are 2 main pain points: 1) for programmers it is building and debugging systems in non-interactive way; 2) for non-programmers is building contraptions using Excel and bubble gum – see some discussion on that here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7363824

(2) Potential market size is around 20 million exiting software developers, based on e.g. this post http://www.quora.com/Ruby-on-Rails-Professionals/Where-can-I... Around 0.05% of that market needs to be captured to have reasonable ROI I guess.

(3) Agree with you. BTW, may you detail what is your background?

chriscool11y ago

About (2) I think programmers don't buy development tools any more. They use open source or maybe free tools. Only Microsoft might still be able to have people pay for Visual Studio (but that's because they own Windows).

Either your project should be open source or it should be aimed at non-programmers like finance or accounting people.

I think the best plan might be to create an open source tool first and then, when the product start to be good enough, sell special packages around it for finance/accounting.

2 more replies

tokenadult11y ago

Did you not have a co-founder? That appears to make quite a difference.

vgrichinaOP11y ago

Unfortunately I don't have a co-founder yet. Started working on the idea not so long enough.

daemonk11y ago

I guess its similar to fivetran? (https://www.fivetran.com/)

vgrichinaOP11y ago

To some extent maybe yes, but my main idea isn't to make better spreadsheets.

I want to take direct manipulation of data present in spreadsheets and make it more universal. Something more similar to ideas expressed by Chris Granger – http://www.chris-granger.com/2014/03/27/toward-a-better-prog...

ravensley1411y ago

hey how can i request my application?

vqc11y ago

I recall some kind of notice indicating that if you wanted a copy, you had to save it yourself; there was no way (or no resources) for them to give you a copy.

ravensley1411y ago

oh alright thanks

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

15 comments

sithu11y ago

vgrichinaOP11y ago

Got your point about being less technical. Also I agree that project is currently more about research than building actual product.

(3) Agree with you. BTW, may you detail what is your background?

chriscool11y ago

Either your project should be open source or it should be aimed at non-programmers like finance or accounting people.

I think the best plan might be to create an open source tool first and then, when the product start to be good enough, sell special packages around it for finance/accounting.

2 more replies

tokenadult11y ago

Did you not have a co-founder? That appears to make quite a difference.

vgrichinaOP11y ago

Unfortunately I don't have a co-founder yet. Started working on the idea not so long enough.

daemonk11y ago

I guess its similar to fivetran? (https://www.fivetran.com/)

vgrichinaOP11y ago

To some extent maybe yes, but my main idea isn't to make better spreadsheets.

ravensley1411y ago

hey how can i request my application?

vqc11y ago

I recall some kind of notice indicating that if you wanted a copy, you had to save it yourself; there was no way (or no resources) for them to give you a copy.

ravensley1411y ago

oh alright thanks

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse