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The 7% really is not relevant. Getting useful people (for many contextual definitions of 'useful') to care about your success could be a direct reason for your success.

That's really the model of YC overall - the money is just "don't die before you start because of something so simple as money"

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> Getting useful people (for many contextual definitions of 'useful') to care about your success could be a direct reason for your success.

That is what it seems like. In the early phases of a company, founders meet a lot of challenges they never could have prepared themselves for. Having a community of people who've gone trough the hurdles give you advice and guide you is what makes startups succeed. The money certainly helps, but it is the condensed knowledge and tried methods of problem solving that really drives YC companies.

Is that a founder's most important duty? To make sure the company has enough cash to not die but live and fight another day?

A founder's most important duty is to survive and then thrive, in that order, no? Following that, I would argue that YC helps out immensely in other ways more important than financial survival, though the cash helps with the first duty quite well.

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