The five day gift

I got rejected from Y Combinator in December.

But those five days I spent preparing the application? Best thing that happened to my startup.

I had to answer questions I'd been avoiding for months. Market size—how big is this actually? Revenue model—how does this make money? Competition—who else is doing this? Strategy—what's my advantage?

All the stuff that kept floating around in my head without answers suddenly had to be written down. And once you write it down, you can't ignore it anymore. The vague ideas become concrete. The assumptions get tested. The gaps become obvious.

The rejection was just an email. A form letter. Took three minutes to read.

But the application document? That's my compass now. Every decision I make, I check it against what I wrote. Should I add this feature? Does it fit the strategy I defined? Is this the right customer? Does it match the market I described?

Sometimes the best thing about applying somewhere isn't getting in. It's being forced to think clearly about what you're actually building.

You can read my whole application here.