[Aqueous]

Dear founders of Y Combinator,

We regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a spot in this year's Y Combinator class. Do not take it personally. It does not reflect poorly on the quality of your company, "Y Combinator," or its founding idea. We received a huge number of compelling applications this year. Unfortunately, there just weren't enough spots to go around, so we had to make some difficult choices. As a result, we were unable to admit "Y Combinator" to this year's Y Combinator batch. Please do not be discouraged. Many fantastic ideas like 'Y Combinator' were also not admitted. In fact, we strongly encourage 'Y Combinator' to apply again next year!

Sincerely,

Paul Graham

Y Combinator

[yogo]

"We could not accept Y Combinator due to the obvious name and branding conflict. We strongly encourage you to apply again next year with a new name."

There's a more personalized version :)

[Aqueous]

Yes. I also should have placed my response in reply to mlchild's application.