When one company in YC does well, the whole community benefits. Because YC has such a strong track record, early adopters, investors and press are often more willing to take a look at YC founders, even if they’re first time founders. To maintain the strength of the community as it grows, we developed a set of principles that YC founders are asked to live by.
There are so many random things that can befall a startup, that any support network is great. This is no different than Steve Jobs mentoring people, because others mentored him.
It doesn't matter who you are, where you went to school, or what family connections you have. It's an open application available to anyone in the world to sell some venture capitalists on the merit of your ideas. How does it get any more merit-based than that?
"We're the good-old-boys network, and if we like you, we will show you the secret handshake to get into the club, and our club has made-men in the investor and media communities."
Undoubtedly I am way off base here, but I wonder if others got a similar vibe from that statement, and if there would be a good way to reword that.
Sure you can ride into town on a big white horse but if you can't handle your gun... :)
It can take a while to manifest. Like a bank account, large pools of goodwill and brand equity take a long time to drain. But eventually the draining happens. The tech industry is so fast that 'a while' might be 'a few years.'