Ha, talk to me when you are 34, have a CS undergrad, a Master in Software Engineering, spent every second of your life programming since 19 and have been working on your startup for over 7 years, then get rejected flat out from y-combinator.
I've done a lot of stuff that I think should give me what I want, and I don't have it yet. The world must be biased against me.
You just said that to a guy who managed to succeed in startups despite living in Japan, having an insane day job, AND whose CS credentials don't match yours. In short on every measure that you think matters, you're ahead of him. Except that he succeeded.
Now you have a choice. One choice is to continue moaning. The other is to start with articles he wrote like http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/03/20/running-a-software-busin... and see if you can figure out what actually matters instead of what you think should matter.
It is really OK that you didn't get into YC. People with absurdly successful companies today had to apply repeatedly to get in. And, of course, getting into YC is just one way to do it.
Gatekeepers bother me a lot too. You can bootstrap instead of appealing for financing, and sublimate your anger at the gatekeepers as motivation. Lots of successful bootstrappers do exactly that. Being pissed off at financiers worked really well for me for a bunch of years.
Ultimately, though: you're responsible for your own success.
Also: next time you bring up your startup in an eye-catching retort to someone lots of people follow on HN religiously, you should seize the opportunity to tell us about your startup. It's 7 years of your work! That's the most interesting thing you have to talk to us about; not "not getting into YC".
Your response gave the impression that you think you should get into YC because of your programming ability. Startups aren't about your code skill. It helps, but there are several things that matter more:
- your personality & attitude
- the idea
- the size of the market
- the skillsets of your cofounder(s), and your ability to communicate/work together
Time does not equate to quality. Credentials do not equate to mastery. If shit's not working out for you, you're either ahead of your time or it's a shitty idea. Either way, the only person in control of your life is yourself.
What's your startup? How many users do you have? I you don't have any after 7 years, it's a bad sign - speaking as someone who has been working on his own startup for 8 months, without any user yet.
