"You need to narrow your focus" seems like something that would not be the main reason for rejection, and instead something that the mentors advise to fix after

"You need to narrow your focus" seems like something that would not be the main reason for rejection, and instead something that the mentors advise to fix after getting in. If there really was a serious reason for rejection (instead of being close but barely not good enough), then I think it's most likely related to the team: * "Your fourth co-founder is dragging you down. You need to fire him." * "You seem to have different life priorities and dedication. I predict an angry team breakup in 6 months." * "You gave away 50% of the company for an investment from your uncle. No VC will be interested to follow up." * "None of you have good enough technical skills to get to the point where you can fundraise and hire engineers instead." ... and so on. This kind of honest feedback would not go down well with most the founders, even if they say that they want honest and harsh feedback. It's one thing to suggest improvements to the business plan, but nobody wants to hear that they personally might not be good enough. And the feedback would open YC to all sorts of criticism. Remember the brouhaha about the comment on founders' accents? The message was "There should be at least one founder who speaks English well to interact with the media, investors and public." But it was immediately taken out of context to accuse YC of discriminating against foreigners.