I feel like this pissed you off a lot, but a lot of hiring in startups has nothing to do with people's competency, and more to do with culture fit which is generally totally out of your hands and not indicative at all of your ability.
Also, people screw it up big time, often it's totally random. Maybe they ate a bad sandwich for lunch and didn't enjoy the interview as a result. Facebook famously turned down WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton back in 2009, even though they went on to acquire his company for 19 Billion 5 years later.[1] Talk about making lemonade from lemons.
I think all you can do with these things is use it as a pause to think about how you can do better, and if you can't think of anything just chalk it up as a random event, like a bird crapping on your windshield.
Also, people screw it up big time, often it's totally random. Maybe they ate a bad sandwich for lunch and didn't enjoy the interview as a result. Facebook famously turned down WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton back in 2009, even though they went on to acquire his company for 19 Billion 5 years later.[1] Talk about making lemonade from lemons.
I think all you can do with these things is use it as a pause to think about how you can do better, and if you can't think of anything just chalk it up as a random event, like a bird crapping on your windshield.
[1] https://twitter.com/brianacton/status/3109544383