W25 rejection after 5 drafts and 6 weeks — even strong founder referrals did not save it
Founder (Smart Home Startup)·Resume Screen·2026
Reddit · reddit.com
just got rejected by 14 vcs in 2 weeks need to
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Y Combinator / S25
investors/yc/s25
3 Comments
YC wants problems you have already solved, not problems you are figuring out — this is such a clean articulation of what the application is actually asking for.
Clarity over cleverness, evidence over vision, solved-it over solving-it. Saving this for the next application cycle.
Did the YC alumni referrals give you any feedback on what the application was missing? Curious if they could see the gap.