Several weeks ago, Kurt Braget submitted a Y Combinator Fellowship application for his startup,
In a post on Medium, Braget detailed what happened after he was “accepted” to YC, including one investor’s offer to give him $50,000 after hearing the good news and breaking up with his girlfriend.
“Today, I got an acceptance letter, saying they would call me to set up a meeting. I was laughing. I called everybody to tell them. My friends, family, investors. One investor tried to give me $50,000 over the phone.
An hour later I got a rejection letter, after I broke up with my girlfriend, told my landlord to fuck off (just kidding, but that would’ve been funny), I received a rejection letter from YC. Then I realized the email was fake.
Whoever this guy/girl is that sent this out probably scraped them from somewhere, since YC assured me they weren’t hacked. Either way it’s pretty fucked up, although I admit it’s kinda funny too.
If you feel really bad for us, come use our site and help us keep pretending we got in.”
Here’s the fake Y Combinator Fellowship Acceptance letter Braget received.
A word of caution to all startups: always double check on good news or investments — there are trolls out there intent on destroying dreams.
