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Comment by _pius | Hacker News Reader

Once a startup has made enough progress to be competitive for YC proper, that startup could just raise a round from reputable angels. Why bother with YC at that point?

As a founder of an early stage startup, YC just seems much less compelling than it did, say, 5+ years ago. If you aren't far along yet, makes sense to submit an application for the same reasons you might buy a lottery ticket, but if you're further along, what it takes to be truly competitive seems identical to what it takes to just raise an early round.

I think YC is a huge positive macro force in the ecosystem, but on a micro level it doesn't seem clear why applying makes sense anymore.

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That's exactly the point this article is trying to make, that you get more than just seed money being part of YC.

you get more than just seed money being part of YC

It's not clear to me how much value that adds over, say, raising from a few reputable angels in the Valley.

As a non-alum, it looks like the YC applicant pool has become so competitive — on maturity, not ambition or potential — that by the time they want you, you don't need them. Not that you ever need anyone.

One exception I can see is that if your startup will mostly have other startups as customers, YC could effectively gift you your first customers.

the bump in valuation you get is bigger than the 7% slice of the pie YC takes.

People often seem to get too hung up on what percent they own. While you should pay attention to this, it's more valuable to direct your effort toward how big you can make the pie.

the bump in valuation you get is bigger than the 7% slice of the pie YC takes

Not sure if that's true anymore.

People often seem to get too hung up on what percent they own. While you should pay attention to this, it's more valuable to direct your effort toward how big you can make the pie.

Agreed and I tell friends that all the time. It's orthogonal to the point I'm making.

Not only is it still true, it is probably getting more true. I've had multiple YC and non-YC CEOs tell me this. And look at the announced valuations in the last batch for raising on safes.

Alumni network and a lot of PR (not free PR since you give up equity for it, but rather more than if you went it alone).

Whether or not that's enough of a reason is for you to decide.

You really don't get much PR just by YC-association; you still have to pay for the PR you do get.

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