RejectedByYC — Startups YC Passed On That Kept Building
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YC SAID NO.
THEY BUILT ANYWAY.
Every founder here got rejected. None of them stopped.
They Were Rejected Too.
for anyone stressing about Y Combinator rejections, I was rejected from YC when I applied years ago! I built my own companies without funding instead and now work for them full time!!! CHASE YOUR DREAMS
I've been rejected twice 😂
Applying for this opportunity was extremely exciting for both me and Leo, but we had already committed to a great product regardless of the outcome with Y Combinator. We understood that accelerator programs and funding were not going to make our product great; our success was tied to our effort and ideas.
YC rejects that became $1B+ companies: SendGrid, Calm, Cameo
Recently Listed
AIHello
AI-powered Amazon advertising automation that helps sellers optimize campaigns, cut wasted spend, and grow revenue — without an agency.
Jenni AI
AI writing assistant built specifically for academic researchers and students — cited by universities globally, growing without YC.
Papermark
Open-source document sharing platform with analytics — a self-hostable alternative to DocSend, built in public after a YC rejection.
Silx AI
AI-powered platform for building and deploying intelligent automation — still early, still building.
AI Bets YC Passed On
AIHello
AI-powered Amazon advertising automation that helps sellers optimize campaigns, cut wasted spend, and grow revenue — without an agency.
Jenni AI
AI writing assistant built specifically for academic researchers and students — cited by universities globally, growing without YC.
Silx AI
AI-powered platform for building and deploying intelligent automation — still early, still building.
Bootstrapped & Proving It
Papermark
Open-source document sharing platform with analytics — a self-hostable alternative to DocSend, built in public after a YC rejection.
Thirsty Sprout
Marketing analytics and attribution platform helping DTC brands understand which channels actually drive revenue.
EasyRetro
Dead-simple retrospective board for agile teams — no setup, no fluff, no YC stamp required. Used by thousands of engineering teams worldwide.
Testimonial.to
Social proof collection platform that lets businesses gather video and text testimonials in minutes — bootstrapped to $1M+ ARR alongside PDF.ai.
YOUR REJECTION IS
YOUR ORIGIN STORY.
Every startup on this list heard no first. Submit yours — it takes 3 minutes.
SUBMIT YOUR STARTUP