YC’s $500k Standard Deal
We’ve applied to YC for ten years straight with Qbix Inc (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;qbix.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;qbix.com</a>) always filling out our latest progress and achievements…<p>We always got rejected!! I can share the application, if interested.<p>Actually, we never wound up raising VC. We did get a bunch of friends and family, and angels, made around a million dollars in revenues, and reinvested it all into the <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Qbix&#x2F;Platform" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Qbix&#x2F;Platform</a> - an open source alternative to Facebook et al. Got 10 million users in 95+ countries to download our apps in the stores, translated the apps into 15 languages, and spun out another company called Intercoin.<p>We’re on the east coast and children of immigrants, so we didn’t have a strong network. Maybe that has something to do with it.<p>I guess the stuff we’re building (open source, decentralized social platforms) just isn’t exciting for VCs, who would prefer we focus on one application, getting a hockey stick and not giving away the source code. But we wound up “building things people want” and then some… the David Heinemeier Hansson &#x2F; Basecamp way (anyone remember his lectures about not taking VC?)<p>PS: Okay, well… NOW it seems funds like Alexis Ohanian’s and Polygon team up and have set aside $200MM for decentralized social networks, which we probably have an 8-10 year head start on everyone else with.<p>PPS: In 2018 we spun out <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;intercoin.org" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;intercoin.org</a> (much better looking site) same approach but in the Web3 space instead of Web2. Once again, people who throw money at NFTs and memecoins all day long wouldn’t give us a dollar. They at least considered us and told us our goals were too big. We still ended up raising over half a million dollars, but from individual angels who care about things like social impact and universal basic income. All the code is at <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Intercoin" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Intercoin</a><p>Should we apply to YC again? We like YC, but it doesn’t seem to like us…