We didn't get into YC until we stopped trying to get in.
After the 4th rejection for InsForge, Tony and I decided to generationally lock in and focus completely on building product and acquiring users.
We looked at how the best devtool companies (Supabase, Resend, WorkOS) got developers to care. We realized we should run our own Launch Week!
After 30 days of insane heads down building, we did it.
InsForge Launch Week 1 went completely viral. We hit #
1# on Product Hunt, #
1# on GitHub Trending, 1M+ views on X and LinkedIn.
We generated enough motion that YC couldn’t ignore us. They ended up reaching out to us instead of us applying. That's what got us into YC.