OP here, I feel the information in my article got outdated too quickly, so wanted to quickly revisit my statements with respect to the current experience (as of 2025):
- I feel the in-person thing makes and breaks the YC magic, people who go through in-person cohorts feel much more connected to their batchmates and partners
- The batches got significantly leaner = more attention to each individual company
- Selling inside YC is a thing again (specifically for AI companies), since everyone around is doing AI and isn't lacking money YC companies basically buy from each other and get to 1M ARR together
- The investment premium is there, with YC startups getting avg cap of 25M comparing to 15M for non-YC startups of similar stage (even with greater traction)
- Bonus: the alumni events and off-site experiences became a nice addition, even for the previous cohorts
Overall, I feel we experienced YC at its lowest, and it's not fair to use it as a reference point. There are still challenges with dilution (MFN) and the alumni experience (you basically lose most of the access), but they definitely listened to the feedback and have made positive changes that founders can already feel.
They are all legit, but serve different purposes (early vs late stage).
I would recommend starting from syndicates or investing with friends, so you have someone to guide you in the first steps.
Don't try to blame others, see what works for you and where you can improve. Some people can make other run for them and send donations without even trying. It's not about them or cruel word. Your problems are about you, and you need to either solve them or to switch to something that works for you, or you will be suffering the rest of life.
The uncomfortable truth is that YC is a highly competitive program, the best teams invest a lot into preparation to get there. If you have nothing and need 150k to start your company, than you have better ways to find it, than the most prestigious accelerator in the world.
It means that MFN will likely convert very fast, and these 375k will cost you more dilution than you might want otherwise. Or you have to play very fancy sheningans convincing other investors who wanted to be early to wait, just to postpone it and decrease its dilution.
No one clearly knows, but it should be there for a reason. We used a referral when applying and I would recommend finding one. Won't hurt for sure, prob will increase the chances to be seen.
When we took the money we were planing to build up the original idea, not to start another one. For the consecutive growth of the original idea it wouldn't be an issue.
We didn't take 375k in fact. In W22 batch they were optional, and would trigger MFN for many. As for the rest of money, we returned what has been left. That's why closing so rapidly - to be able to return more.
That's why we did it, instead of spending money dragging the decision or even taking more money and spending them while building mediocre company, we wind up operations in a shortest term, and returned everything, to minimize damage for investors. We even cancelled the checks which were about to get wired.
How to perceive it—is up to you, we sleep well because we did the best we could in that situation.