getting selected for YC Startup School India gave me a reason to get to Bangalore. it did not magically give me money. Kanpur to Bangalore was going to cost around Rs. 25,000 to 30,000, and asking my parents for that much felt like a dumbass move when I did not even know what the trip would become.
Pavitra Kushwaha had sent me the application link in the first place. when I told him the situation, he was like, just come, we will figure it out. he covered the travel up front. my parents were okay once they knew the accommodation was handled and we had actual event invites. a month after the trip, I paid him back.
we took a 32-hour train. that is the part nobody puts in the founder story because it is not sexy. it is just long, loud, sweaty logistics and the occasional thought of, what the fuck are we doing? Bangalore did not owe us shit. we got there because we had a reason to be there, a co-founder who trusted the work, and enough stubbornness to make the trip happen.