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Comment by swombat | Hacker News Reader

Not to put your article down, but I'm sure YC startups have at least this advice, and probably much more (more detailed, more sophisticated and contextually aware of the specifics of the startup and its market) from YC (PG, Jessica, Harj, Garry Tan, Paul Buchheit, etc) themselves... so I'm not sure who this article is targeted at.

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I had two audiences in mind:

* General interest. I.e. what are the implications to YC companies themselves? The letter format was intended as a fun way to frame it :)

* The YC companies. From talking to a handful of them, I am much less certain than you are that every founder has completely digested the full implications of the note (various ways to use it, and what to think about avoiding).

As you point out, the YC team has some great people on it, who can undoubtedly support their startups in navigating some of these issues.

Having raised cap and interacted with a bunch of YC alums (hired 2 and friends with others), I can strongly second Elad's points. Just because they're in YC and exposed to some very accomplished people doesn't imply that they already know these things. They have a lot to think about when they're starting up their companies, so it's hard for them to absorb everything at once, despite being super smart.

I feel this is a valuable post for us individuals who are not a part of YC but follow the companies and aspire to be. I've played out in my head and discussed with others what I would do were I presented with the 150k. For the most part, the points in the post are all valid, although I would place a stronger emphasis on bootstrapping if one is able to do so.

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