Same here. I'm equally shocked that YC didn't notice the missing founder when the program started and ensure the proper paperwork had been handled.
I guess the lesson is that even experienced founders and investors can make really huge mistakes.
Well wasn't there around 80+ companies in their batch? Hard to notice everything, even when companies are split up across partners. Not that this is YC's fault but it's certainly something they could have noticed at the first meeting.
In the YC application both names showed up. In the interview only one person was considered part of Cruise. This is corroborated by the blog post:
Kyle and Jeremy applied to YC together but Jeremy left before the YC interview
Either YC didn't notice the fact that only one person showed up and attended (which is extremely sloppy due diligence) OR YC didn't think this would be an issue (doubtful especially for veteran investors) OR Kyle lied to YC about the situation (plausible, but even so I would expect YC to demand paperwork demonstrating the matter was resolved)
If this is the reasoning proffered, then is there any point pretending that entire value of YC resides purely in the branding. Any investor (especially an incubator who claims to provide significant help to the founders in early stages) worth their salt should have caught and resolved this issue at very early stages.
Honestly how is this not YC's fault?
It's a fundamental aspect of their business. You sould think instead that there would be a healthy amount of embarrassment and shame coming from Sam; not a tone I detect at all.