Do the things that make you seem like a great startup/founder regardless of YC: show you can execute. This means coding or launching experiments, and show that whatever you're doing is getting some sort of a market response.
A lot of people think YC has some secret formula they will teach you (I think maybe OP made this mistake?), in reality they are very open: build product and talk to users.
If you can do that well, you'll get in.
It's amazing how few people actually "get" this, though. I recently met with a friend who is running a consulting firm and is convinced he has a product... But there's no demo, customers can't just sign up -- they need to speak with him and it takes a few weeks to onboard them, etc... Yet his deep (and well-meaning, I'm sure!) belief is that he has a product. Nothing I say will convince him otherwise.
10 years post YC, I find most of the issues people have with startups (getting in to YC included) is they overcomplicate their interpretation of what YC says you should do.
A lot of people think YC has some secret formula they will teach you (I think maybe OP made this mistake?), in reality they are very open: build product and talk to users.
If you can do that well, you'll get in.
It's amazing how few people actually "get" this, though. I recently met with a friend who is running a consulting firm and is convinced he has a product... But there's no demo, customers can't just sign up -- they need to speak with him and it takes a few weeks to onboard them, etc... Yet his deep (and well-meaning, I'm sure!) belief is that he has a product. Nothing I say will convince him otherwise.
10 years post YC, I find most of the issues people have with startups (getting in to YC included) is they overcomplicate their interpretation of what YC says you should do.