Pure software is rapidly becoming un-investable.

When someone gets more successful than you, or has some blessing that you don’t have, you could be jealous, or you could be happy for them. Learn to be happy for them, because otherwise everyday you will have a moment of suffering, since there will always be someone who gets something you don’t have, and you will never have enough. Conversely, the happier you are for other people, the happier they will be for you when you’re successful, and the more they will directly contribute to your success. As a result you will have more abundance, and you will also feel like you have enough because you aren’t negatively comparing yourself to what other people have. Instead of competing and playing zero sum games with the people in your life, you are contributing to their and your own flourishing, and to more abundance more generally since generosity of spirit is contagious.

my friend just got rejected from YC for the third time she's convinced it's because her idea wasn't good enough i looked at the other 22 people i know who applied here's what actually happened: applied: 23 people interviewed: 4 accepted: 1 the one who got in had $200k revenue, previous exit, stanford CS, and knew a partner my friend had a great idea and no traction but everyone on twitter says "YC funds ideas not just traction" technically true except the "ideas" that get funded come with revenue, pedigree, or network three of my friends quit their startups after YC rejection not because the idea was bad because rejection felt like validation they should quit five others applied again next batch same result the application took my friend 60 hours across rewrites she stressed for 2 months waiting now she's depressed and questioning everything YC rejection has this weight in SF that's insane like if YC didn't want it, maybe it's not worth building which is bullshit but the feeling is real i wish someone had told her: your odds were 0.1% from the start not because your idea sucked because you didn't have the traction/pedigree/connections yet build more, apply later, or don't apply at all YC isn't the only path but SF makes it feel like the only path that matters