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Interesting that their empowerment award is exclusive to YC companies. Seems reasonable as a filtering mechanism, although I assume it will also be a lightning rod for people to get angry about.

Either way the mentorship will be incredible, as will the ability to make connections in the industry. I imagine getting chosen for this program will have a large, measurable impact on the companies' valuations.

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Not sure what the point of this is. It reads more like a Press Release to generate more buzz for YC, as if that was needed.

You are going to select one company from YC who is already selected from the cream of the crop, so that you could mentor them?

I mean this is something that you can just email YC about doesn't need to be blasted to everyone as a press release.

I mentor a lot at Techstars. We went through Techstars, had a great experience, and so I try to help other companies. I also mentor outside of Techstars, and generally just try to be as helpful as I can to anyone that reaches out, time permitting.

I'm not writing press releases about it.

Yes, but if you were as obsessed with being Walt Disney as Brian Chesky is, you would!

Yeah that's a fair critique. Just because the mentorship will be awesome for some lucky company (depending on what 'mentorship' actually looks like), doesn't mean there's a need to publicize it.

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