[ipaddr]

You used YC's connections. You applied were accepted and now are part of that network.

Leveraging YC's rep for selection is one way to break in. You were part of the lucky 1% who make it through the program from application to funding,congrats!

An aside.. How did the company do?

[Narkov]

> You were part of the lucky 1% who make it through the program from application to funding,congrats!

People aren't selected at random. There isn't any luck involved. It's hard work.

I feel it's diminishing peoples achievements to say that their lotto numbers came up and YC let them in.

[fuzzfactor]

It's not the lucky 1%, it's the carefully selected 1%.

The other 99% is where the random rejection component amounts to more like "bad luck".

IOW good luck on its own isn't even enough, but bad luck can set you back years.

And since there's realistically at least another 2% out of the 99 who would have been equally performant if there was actually room for them to be accepted, the greatest pool of most promising candidates are among those whom have been the most unlucky.

Hmm.

[gurumeditations]

Do you think everyone who wasn’t accepted simply did not work as hard?

[aerosmile]

Think of entrepreneurs as athletes. Working hard is a necessary but not sufficient condition.

[netizen-936824]

So they all worked hard and some got lucky?

[Caylio]

No, some were better.

[andai]

They pulled harder on the bootstraps!