Former JP Morgan engineer proves that "no" from gatekeepers doesn't mean you can't ship

London, UK – Elston Baretto has a collection of rejections that would discourage most founders: Y Combinator said no. Google passed on hiring him. VCs declined to invest. An angel investor who seemed interested simply disappeared.

"It's almost like a rite of passage," Baretto says now, without bitterness. "Everyone who's built something has a rejection story. Mine just happened to come from all the places people think you need validation from."

Today, that rejected founder runs Tiiny Host, a web hosting platform serving over one million users with 73,000 new signups every month—built entirely without the gatekeepers who once turned him away.

The Validation Trap

The startup world operates on a mythology of access: get into Y Combinator, land venture capital, hire from elite tech companies. Baretto tried that path. He applied to accelerators. He pitched investors. He sought the stamps of approval that supposedly separate real founders from dreamers.

The doors stayed closed.

"I thought people wouldn't take you seriously because you haven't raised anything," he admits. "I thought not having that pedigree would be a permanent handicap."

Instead of waiting for permission, Baretto did something uncommon: he built anyway. Not with a dramatic quit-your-job leap, but methodically, two hours a night while working at a tech company. No cofounder. No funding. No accelerator mentorship. Just a simple idea and the discipline to execute it.

"When you don't get into YC, you don't get that instant network and credibility," Baretto reflects. "But you also don't have to grow 10x year-over-year or pursue venture-scale outcomes. You can just build something people actually want to use."

What Rejection Forces You to Learn

The absence of venture capital meant Baretto had to master the one thing most funded founders outsource: finding customers. While accelerator companies perfect their pitch decks, he taught himself SEO. While VC-backed startups burn millions on Facebook ads, he figured out organic growth.

"I knew nothing about marketing—I was a software engineer," he says. "But I didn't have money to hire an agency or run ads. So I spent $50 on Ahrefs, spent hours doing keyword research, and started creating content."

The strategy took nearly a year to show results. Most venture-backed founders would have pivoted or shut down by then, pressured by investors demanding traction. Baretto just kept working two hours a night, waiting for Google's algorithm to notice.

Today, Tiiny Host receives 35 million Google impressions and 150,000 organic clicks per month. The company has never spent a dollar on advertising.

"If I'd raised money, I probably would've hired a marketing agency, wasted $50K, and learned nothing," Baretto observes. "Getting rejected forced me to develop skills I'd have otherwise outsourced."

The Anti-Pedigree

Perhaps most surprising is how the rejections became assets. When Baretto finally started meeting other founders—in communities like Ramen Club and Indie London rather than Sand Hill Road—he discovered that his bootstrap path commanded respect.

"I went to San Francisco expecting people to dismiss me," he recalls. "But there was actually a lot of respect for bootstrappers making real money. The ecosystem is changing."

The change reflects a broader shift in startup culture. While billion-dollar valuations still make headlines, a growing movement celebrates profitability, sustainability, and founder control. In this world, rejections from traditional gatekeepers can be badges of honor—proof you built something real without playing the conventional game.

Baretto's platform exemplifies this alternative path. Tiiny Host does one thing extremely well: it turns any file into a shareable link in 15 seconds. No complex features. No enterprise sales team. No pitch deck promising to disrupt a trillion-dollar market.

Just a useful tool that people actually pay for.

The Advice No Accelerator Gave Him

When asked what he learned outside the traditional startup track, Baretto points to communities over credentials. "I wouldn't be where I am without Ramen Club, Indie London, Indie Beers. These are just people trying to build companies, sharing authentic advice."

The communities provided what accelerators promise but rejections deny: mentorship, accountability, and a peer group. But unlike accelerators, membership required no application, no equity, no demo day performance.

"Find a mentor just ahead of you," Baretto advises. "Not Mark Zuckerberg—someone who just solved the problem you're facing now, with tools that exist today. That's worth more than any famous founder's outdated advice."

He also learned that constraints breed creativity. "When you have limited time and money, you can't build every feature. You can't hire a team. You have to figure out: what's the absolute minimum that creates value?"

For Tiiny Host, that meant launching without user passwords, without custom domains, without most features competitors considered essential. The forced simplicity became the product's greatest strength.

When 'No' Means 'Not Yet'

Baretto's first startup failed. He tried to build legal tech software with a cofounder, raised a small amount from a family friend, hired a team in India. After a year, it went nowhere. "We built a great product that nobody used. I wasn't good enough at marketing."

That failure led to the rejections—the job applications to Google, the investor pitches, the YC application. Each "no" was another data point suggesting he wasn't founder material.

"The problem is the longer you stay in a comfortable job, the harder it becomes to leave," he reflects. "The salaries compound, the golden handcuffs get tighter. At some point you just have to take a stand."

His stand was unusual: keep the job, build on the side, quit only when the numbers made sense. At $8,000 in monthly recurring revenue, two years into Tiiny Host, he finally left employment. The business has since grown 5x.

No accelerator. No investors. No permission.

The Message for the Rejected

On Baretto's desk sits a sticker that reads: "Imagine having a boss again." It's a reminder of what he's built—not despite the rejections, but perhaps because of them.

"Don't let anyone tell you that you can't ship," he says. "Not YC, not investors, not the companies that won't hire you. Those are just opinions. The only validation that matters is: do people use what you build?"

One million users have answered that question for him.

For every founder collecting rejection emails, refreshing investor inboxes, wondering if they have what it takes—Baretto's message is simple: build anyway. The gatekeepers don't control your ability to create value. They never did.

"Everyone who's successful has a rejection story," he concludes. "The difference is whether you let that be the end of your story, or just the beginning."

About Tiiny Host

Tiiny Host provides simplified web hosting for non-technical users, enabling anyone to share files online in seconds. Founded in 2019 by Elston Baretto as a bootstrapped side project, the platform now serves over one million users with 73,000 monthly signups, generating substantial recurring revenue entirely without venture capital. The company has never been accepted into an accelerator or raised institutional funding.

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Company Name: Tiiny Labs Ltd
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Website: https://tiiny.host