It shows determination in the same way that showing up on a date and telling him / her that 'I'm having a lot of success in the dating world, I just got turned down for 3 dates' projects confidence. Sure, you're out there getting names and numbers and seeing what happens, and that's great! But what's the story you're telling to potential investors / spouses?
The name YCRejects can tell a lot of stories. "We had an interview, but we weren't the right fit for the program, so we're building the product / finding the market ourselves" is one story. But the name YCRejects says "We didn't get an interview, but..." and puts you [in my mind] in an awkward position where you're apologizing and making excuses for applying to something. That's not right.
If YCombinator brought this idea together [as it obviously has], why not build on that? YCombinator — Summer Batch 2.
You're a group of founders, brought together by YCombinator, working together to build awesome things. You're a skunkworks incubator. You [probably] have no funding, but you have passion for your ideas and a burning desire and determination to get this show started.
The name YCRejects can tell a lot of stories. "We had an interview, but we weren't the right fit for the program, so we're building the product / finding the market ourselves" is one story. But the name YCRejects says "We didn't get an interview, but..." and puts you [in my mind] in an awkward position where you're apologizing and making excuses for applying to something. That's not right.
If YCombinator brought this idea together [as it obviously has], why not build on that? YCombinator — Summer Batch 2.
You're a group of founders, brought together by YCombinator, working together to build awesome things. You're a skunkworks incubator. You [probably] have no funding, but you have passion for your ideas and a burning desire and determination to get this show started.
You aren't rejects. You're founders.