Sorry if this sounds harsh but who gives a flying F. If you're a startup founder you not only need to have this mentality but truly believe it.
You need to re-ground yourself and come to terms that if you're running a company you're going to punched in the face, a lot. You're going to get rejected, a lot. This will happen again and again and again and then once you think it won't happen anymore, bam - it'll happen again.
The fact of the matter is this - the only thing, and I mean the only thing that matters in terms of acceptance is what the market thinks of your product. Who cares if an accelerator said you weren't good enough? Who cares what your friends say (good or bad) or other founders say (good or bad) about your startup - it doesn't matter. My last company, my mom loved it, raved about it! But it failed because the market thought it was crap.
The only thing that matters is if the market wants your product. Startups have become obsessed with acceptance into an accelerator or raising money as an indication of success. It is not an indication of success and if you mistake it for this, you're not thinking straight. Build a business.
To me it sounds like you're looking for validation that you're good enough and you were hoping to get that from YC and they told you that you aren't. You applied to Harvard and they said no and now you're sitting there wondering if you're smart enough.
Look at it the other way. Per what you said you have an amazing startup and now you won't need to give away 7.5% of your company. Don't get me wrong, YC from what I have heard is amazing but if you think YC is what is going to make or break your company - boy, I'd be worried.
Hey thanks for the feedback. You're right, and reading that again it sounds stupid. I was frustrated just at not getting at least a brief explanation of why for the rejection, maybe that is asking for too much, though.
YC definitely was not the make-or-break for us, it just sounded like a really good program, and my cofounder and I were, imho justifiably, disappointed at not getting accepted.
We've had other offers, and we turned them down because we wanted to wait to see if we got into YC or not. So I at least hope we weren't looking for validation. We've (at least in my eyes) already gotten that from other investors.
You need to re-ground yourself and come to terms that if you're running a company you're going to punched in the face, a lot. You're going to get rejected, a lot. This will happen again and again and again and then once you think it won't happen anymore, bam - it'll happen again.
The fact of the matter is this - the only thing, and I mean the only thing that matters in terms of acceptance is what the market thinks of your product. Who cares if an accelerator said you weren't good enough? Who cares what your friends say (good or bad) or other founders say (good or bad) about your startup - it doesn't matter. My last company, my mom loved it, raved about it! But it failed because the market thought it was crap.
The only thing that matters is if the market wants your product. Startups have become obsessed with acceptance into an accelerator or raising money as an indication of success. It is not an indication of success and if you mistake it for this, you're not thinking straight. Build a business.
To me it sounds like you're looking for validation that you're good enough and you were hoping to get that from YC and they told you that you aren't. You applied to Harvard and they said no and now you're sitting there wondering if you're smart enough.
Look at it the other way. Per what you said you have an amazing startup and now you won't need to give away 7.5% of your company. Don't get me wrong, YC from what I have heard is amazing but if you think YC is what is going to make or break your company - boy, I'd be worried.