I applied to Y Combinator on a long shot, not expecting to get in, but after interviewing in Palo Alto, I was accepted and dropped out of graduate school to pursue my startup.

I got into Y Combinator in the summer of 2012 after applying on a whim, just minutes before the deadline.

In the early days of Instacart, most customers were Y Combinator founders, making it easy to gather feedback and iterate quickly on the product.

When I applied to Y Combinator, I didn't have high hopes, but I believed in my idea and was invited for an interview, which was a turning point for me.

We were initially hesitant to apply to Y Combinator, but an advisor encouraged us to go for it, leading to an unexpected interview and acceptance.

After being encouraged by founders like Drew Houston and Sam Altman, I applied to Y Combinator, despite my initial hesitation about giving up equity.

I realized that none of the YC partners had experienced Instacart, so I made a last-ditch effort by sending a six-pack of beer to Garry Tan.

I reached out to Y Combinator alumni for introductions to the partners, and within 24 hours, I started receiving responses, mostly rejections.

Despite initial rejection from Y Combinator, I focused on their encouragement to reapply, which motivated me to improve my startup. I set myself the goal to grow by 10 to 20% every single week, pretending as if I got into Y Combinator.