DrBobDengler

YC was kind enough to check my application and found it complete. They say that they do add, modify, delete questions from the application template during the application period. Apparently the Submit button locks each application so that subsequent template changes have no effect. I really appreciated their kind response to my inquiry.

Maxx, thanks for your response. So if I ask a developer how he/she would rewrite my .Net app into a web app, and he/she says "use Atom" I should run away fast. But if he/she says " I would use Kubernetes, Node, GraphQL, Redux, React. Fela, and styled components with React Native" I should feel confident that I asked the right questions and that his/her answer is a right way to proceed? I guess I am looking for a developer who suggests a common, middle of the road, generally acceptable approach rather than a highly complex multi-tool custom built personal favorite approach that nobody else ever heard of or can understand how to use. My situation appears to me to be a common business executive challenge....do you think that I am just too naive to understand how to vet/contract with a developer? I would appreciate any further thought you are willing to share. Thanks.

Davelnewton, appreciate your response. My experience is that if I ask 2 or more developers, I get the food fight that Anold and Maxx are having below. So if I pick a developer out of the internet and he/she recommends "Atom" I know I need to avoid him/her. On the otherhand, if he/she says "React", I know at least 2 others have mentioned it. You suggest that I just talk to a developer and put myself in their hands. That's how I spent $600,000 on 3 Microsoft Gold developers who recommended .Net framework, and got me a desktop PC version in Windows 7, one month before Windows 8 debuted and wanted $100K more to either 1)make it compatible with Win8 or 2)rewrite a web version. I applied for YC S17 in hopes of getting the $100K to get my app rewritten and back on the market. I also hoped that YC would advise a reasonable programming approach and an appropriate developer who could make it happen, but I got rejected this time,and am out in the cold again until maybe next October. So I thought I would give HN a try - and you were nice enough to respond. Thanks! I would appreciate any further thoughts you would be willing to share.

Also a Summer17 reject. I support and would pay if required. YC encourages me to resubmit (50% of recent batches have applied multiple times), yet I have no clue what to clarify or resolve. It makes no sense to me or YC for me to keep submitting applications if there is some glaring flaw. If they don't like my idea, so be it. But if there is a hint that might make the next application better than a crap shoot, I want to know about it. If they would consider me a stronger candidate if I had more progress, have more users, be less serious on my video, have revenue, have a longer runway, have a tech founder, didn't understand something, thought my forecasts were unrealistic, needed a fact that I failed to include, etc. that would help immensely. You are right, they have the money, so they can decide on whatever basis they choose, but if there is something that they expected to see but didn't or didn't expect to see but did, or wanted to see less/more of, or more proof of, that would really go a long way to increasing my confidence that I did all I could in my application and the decision was truly beyond my control - I could live easier with that, and move on. Thanks.

Dear Fellow Rejects - did any of you go back and take a look at your application and find questions added that were not on the application that you submitted? I was ultra scrupulous in double checking before I submitted. Look in 'Progress' section. There is a forced choice question 'Which of the following best describes your progress?' which offered a couple of answer options. My post rejection application review shows the next question as 'When will you have a prototype or beta? that is not completed because I do not remember it being on the application template. Just a little further down, there is a question 'Do you have revenue?' to which I answered 'No'. But then there are 6 additional questions that I do not remember seeing on the pre-submission application. The first is 'What was your revenue last month? (Please use USD. If none, enter '0'). If that question was there on my pre submission application I certainly would have entered '0', but it appears empty on the post rejection review. Worse, if the application processor could not find a '0' in that space, it might have rejected the whole application as 'incomplete'. Even worse, the next 5 questions 'Your revenue 2,3,4,5,6 months ago?' would have also registered incomplete. But I don't think these questions were on the my pre-submission application form. Also take a look in the equity section. The first question is 'have you incorporated....' which I answered 'No'. I did not answer nor remember seeing the next 3 questions:'What kind of entity and in what state...', 'Please describe the breakdown of the equity ownership...', 'List any investments your company has received..."

Please check your post rejection applications - do you see these questions? Did you answer these questions, or does it look like they were added after submission? If I am wrong or misunderstand, I apologize. I submitted my application on 3/22.

Just received rejection.