Congratulations to PG & company. When I first met Paul years ago, he was musing about spam filters and the finer points of a well-designed lisp. Now he apparently has the top 10 angels in Silicon Valley running scared of him.
The real reason we started Y Combinator is one probably only a hacker would understand. We did it because it seems such a great hack. There are thousands of smart people who could start companies and don't, and with a relatively small amount of force applied at just the right place, we can spring on the world a stream of new startups that might otherwise not have existed.
In a way this is virtuous, because I think startups are a good thing. But really what motivates us is the completely amoral desire that would motivate any hacker who looked at some complex device and realized that with a tiny tweak he could make it run more efficiently. In this case, the device is the world's economy, which fortunately happens to be open source.
I agree. (actually I'd replace "taken as an indicator" with "taken as an absolute indicator")
In this case, with PG, I do believe that his stated intentions are sincere.
I agree.
Even if the deal flow was exactly the same, just having the founders suffering less from information assymetry would be a stone in the shoe of the Angels.
Think of it this way : if YC did all the same things, but also turned founders into being Angel patsies at dealtime, do you think they would be upset about it? I would guess it's the information about how to negotiate, and what a good deal looks like is the problem. I'm sure they love the concept of demo-day to go deal shopping, but would prefer it if the products didn't talk back.
Yes, I believe so.
How can it be a "PG vs Angels" situation when the parties involved are likely some of YC's portfolio companies biggest "supporters"?
That question might be better put to those Angels in the bar...
These anxious (yet all-powerful) group of angels and this unstoppable new seed-stage prominence. They form a closed loop. A loop closed off to venture capitalists and angels not at that meeting ... which is basically everybody.
Except Michael. He got away with his life intact and lived to warn us all.
Actually, I don't know what's scarier - the supposed collusion or the subtle dread that Y Combinator is supposed to evoke in my mind as I ponder the possibility of this event being true.
If it is true - maybe we should be side with these poor angels and help them before it's too late.
To paraphrase Woodrow Wilson, "Since I entered (angel investing), I have chiefly had (angel investor's) views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the (Valley), in the Field of (IT) and (Venture Capital), are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it."
That something ... is Y Combinator.
Um ... no. The dark side doesn't suit you, Y Combinator.
Please stop.
I'm sorry. Maybe I've had too many beers tonight. But this is the kind of scenario that only comes out of the mind of a silicon valley PR firm.
(please don't downvote me too much ... I'd like to get above 100 karma points just once for a change! Noooo!)