I figured the increase to over 100k is when non-technical people started doing it. They hire people to make their MVP instead of the founders themselves. Or am I wrong about that?
There are occasional exceptions, but typically the founding team must have the majority talent and skills required to launch the MVP.
Using YC’s $125k to hire a few contract engineers to help you reach velocity and deliver a V1 is an incredibly smart move.
Not every YC company is a developer tool or something complex. In fact, looking at the most recent batch I’d say the majority are fairly simple in their technology approaches.
The founders are convinced, and hence are the ones doing the free work.
In what timeframe?
By looking at plenty of the "Show HN:" posts we can see many examples of more than just "simple" services that were made on a much smaller ( or $0 ) budget.