As someone who was recently rejected from YC and still went on to raise >$1m in the last 6 months -- I have mixed feelings.
We incorporated in April, started with nothin' and had funding by the end of June.
Raising Capital is _very_ time consuming & distracting. I did a bunch of up front work; the first month (April - early May) I had to build designs, meet potential customers, build out profiles, get them to write letters of interest, etc.
Then starting mid-may I spent 6 weeks cold emailing and getting intros to as many VCs as I could. I had to have spent 40 hrs writing cold emails, at least 60+ hrs in meetings and obviously many more prep. At the same time, I lined up a team to be hired, lined up more potential customers, developed some of the product.
Going into YC, you can apply and skip the 6 weeks drudging around trying to raise. This 100% slowed development to a stand-still and reduced customer engagement. Further, I had to take funding at terms worse than what YC offers. On the other hand, I have a lot of industry experience and was able to instantly hire a good team and we're getting ready to launch in sept (5 months after incorporating & 3 months after funding).
We incorporated in April, started with nothin' and had funding by the end of June.
Raising Capital is _very_ time consuming & distracting. I did a bunch of up front work; the first month (April - early May) I had to build designs, meet potential customers, build out profiles, get them to write letters of interest, etc.
Then starting mid-may I spent 6 weeks cold emailing and getting intros to as many VCs as I could. I had to have spent 40 hrs writing cold emails, at least 60+ hrs in meetings and obviously many more prep. At the same time, I lined up a team to be hired, lined up more potential customers, developed some of the product.
Going into YC, you can apply and skip the 6 weeks drudging around trying to raise. This 100% slowed development to a stand-still and reduced customer engagement. Further, I had to take funding at terms worse than what YC offers. On the other hand, I have a lot of industry experience and was able to instantly hire a good team and we're getting ready to launch in sept (5 months after incorporating & 3 months after funding).