I got in, but as a student in Austin, there's no way I can afford $500+ for a weekend, even if it is Startup School weekend. And now there's a distributed open house?! I'm super bummed.
Not to be a jerk, but I'm super bummed that people who knew they couldn't come applied anyway, taking the spaces of people who could have come but didn't get in.
I got accepted, so I'm not being bitter or anything, but I'm sure lots of people who were able to come but didn't get in would have loved to have your place.
Maybe next year admissions to Startup School could happen on a rolling basis?
I've wondered if startup school / yc applications shouldn't have a nominal fee to offset non-serious applications – maybe $10. i.e. nothing that would put a serious damper on folks that really wanted to apply, but enough to keep folks from saying, "What do I have to lose, I'm only wasting the time of the folks evaluating applications..."
Just the mere act of taking a payment increases workload in weird ways(tax/negotiations with venues etc.). Also, you could charge a penny and it'll flip the switch in some people's minds that YC owes them something.
So let's say YC delays the announcement by a day...no matter how good the vast majority of folks are, there will be those whining about how they paid and didn't get what was promised and sigh were ripped off. It's a hassle YC can probably live without.
Simple solution: have a charity handle the billing and generate a pass-code. I'm sure that someone at the EFF could be persuaded to create a custom page that would generate tens of thousands in donations per year.
(This ignores that there are a couple YC companies that can handle billing stuff.)
Well, I RSVPed "not coming" after I got the invite, and I do remember reading something about a waiting list. So I assumed that someone will take my place.
And it's not like I knew that couldn't go. Of course I tried to go, but it just didn't work out at the end.
It is indeed a bummer that there wasn't some sort of waiting list. I am pretty interested, but also happy to catch bits on Justin.TV. In person would have been better.
A serious benefit of living in the Bay Area, however, is that it is certainly easier to attend regional events and network.
Someone suggested some sort of fee, I don't think that is right, but rather RSVP by a certain time and leaving the option open for last minute attendance by those not accepted would be good.
Some things are worth making a stretch for, and this is one of them. Take a personal loan from a bank, or put it on a credit card and just go. It's a far cry from going into hock for a plasma TV.
$500 may sound like a lot to a student, but for a hacker good enough to get accepted to this, you'll find it's pocket change out in the real world.
The connections you'll make alone will have a net present value of much more than a piddling $500, not to mention the other things you'll learn there.
Unless your mother is dying of cancer and you need every dollar to pay hospital bills or something, make the stretch and just go.
I definitely share that feeling with ya. If there were a hardcore use case of AnyBots telepresence bots, it'd be for this weekend. AnyBot-YC-startup-roulette anyone?
