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it is simply unrealistic for thousands of startups around the world to get invited to YC -- unless YC has plans for mega expansion.

plus, most startups through YC, even though they're web-based, don't really have a reach to under-developed world

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I think web based start ups could be massive in the under-developed world. They don't have the infrastructure as more developed nations. Look at Estonia they have moved most of their infrastructure online and its working well for them(well if you discount the russian cyber attack a while back). The problem for these countries is internet access but there are lots of pretty cool projects giving them access. Also with open source development tools wide and the low computing power needed for developing web apps the barrier to entry is a lot lower.

of course if anyone from these countries applyed and they had something that sparked interest they would be invited over to YC interviews. Its not that different than me applying from the UK.

and web based mobile apps even bigger. 2.2 billion mobile phones vs. 700 million computers in the world.

I doubt more than 1000 people in under-developed world know what Y C is. Again YC's reach is not world-wide -- not yet anyways.

true, I only come here for the community not to get into YC though.

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