I expected that, given that my prototype was pretty bad, and I have a lot going against me. It definitely lit a fire under me just to apply though - and the questions that the application asks, are things you really need to think about. I definitely don't regret applying. And the fact that my demo & video were viewed - makes me think that perhaps my idea is somewhat promising.
I plan on improving my product a lot and re-applying next batch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12DAjoONx9E&t=35s
My suggestion, after working on and for startups for a couple decades is that you should be the CEO, find business people to be co-founders, and hire a VP of engineering, or CTO.
It's almost a cliche that there are business guys "starting companies" who "just need an engineer"... but I think the best chances for success - on a high tech startup - are for the engineer to be the CEO, and eventually bring on a CTO.
One advantage of this- the CEO is focused on product while the business guys (COO, CMO, whatever) are out doing the legwork for raising money. I've seen too many companies flounder because the CEO was focused on raising money.
You can learn business, they can't learn engineering. (well, they can, but not to your level in the time available.)
But that's okay, she's going to help out immensely, and it'll only strengthen our application in the Spring.
We are building a decentralized bank/crowdlending network on the blockchain.
It's not just the quality of the idea, team and product, but the quality of the presentation -- and that's always a challenge when you're in the early stages and not necessarily fully certain about, say, the product's nature.
And by presentation I don't mean how slick it is, but how effective it is at conveying what you're trying to convey (which can be undermined by slickness.)
Anyway I was asking for the ones that failed, not the ones that were successful (as I assume they would want to keep things under wraps until demo day.)
Anyone who was rejected want to share any of their application info, like team or product demo videos, or their website and a one line pitch? I know you might not want to for competitive reasons, and I understand.
But there's always things we can learn from each other, so if you want to share I'm sure I'm not the only one who would appreciate seeing what didn't work. :-)