You always tend to hear success stories. Let's hear some of the failures. The dark side of SF startup culture.

How I failed: Applied to YC with the same idea for 4 years. Never reached the interview stage. Got fed up, told YC to fuck off and cried in the bathtub. Will never apply again. Didn't give up on the business though, and it's generating profit to this day, mostly passively since I work on other startups these days. I guess there is a "secret" to getting funding, but I have never been able to figure it out.