Not dumb at all. It's something we thought about a lot. The program is just for YC companies, though we'll continue to release information and learnings for other people.
If someone has “seeded” from personal funds/friends/family and gotten to a stage of reasonable traction, why disqualify them from direct entry into Series A, or artificially force them into Seed even when they’re clearly past that stage?
In any case, what I wanted to say is an independent Series A program (that allows direct entry in addition to Seed Program graduates), parallel (and similar) to the seed program, sounds like a good idea. Maybe that’s what this experiment might morph into eventually.