I was one of the founders in the same batch as Tracy / PlanGrid. Yes, I worked very hard (probably everybody worked as hard), and yes I got nothing. In fact, the opportunity cost of not working at a FAANG starting in 2012 is probably in the millions of dollars given their recent stock performance.
Nevertheless, I was very happy to be there and was happy to take YC's deal. Pretty much everybody else was too - we were all adults (average age ~29) and we knew what the deal was and were very happy to take it. If I do a startup again, I will certainly apply for YC again.
More broadly, your attitude/comment is very typical of the negative, cynical place that HN has become and it's quite sad. This place used to be more balanced between encouragement and criticism - the top comment in the famous Dropbox thread was actually encouraging, the famous dismissive comment was not #1. Today, there is little beyond self-reinforcing cynism and negativity around here. That is, your comment is not insightful, edgy or even remotely realistic. It's just shitty.
Nevertheless, I was very happy to be there and was happy to take YC's deal. Pretty much everybody else was too - we were all adults (average age ~29) and we knew what the deal was and were very happy to take it. If I do a startup again, I will certainly apply for YC again.
More broadly, your attitude/comment is very typical of the negative, cynical place that HN has become and it's quite sad. This place used to be more balanced between encouragement and criticism - the top comment in the famous Dropbox thread was actually encouraging, the famous dismissive comment was not #1. Today, there is little beyond self-reinforcing cynism and negativity around here. That is, your comment is not insightful, edgy or even remotely realistic. It's just shitty.