1k companies per Y Combinator batch? RIP Y Combinator

techcrunch.com

15 points·jonathanlei··4 comments

Every other year there is another prediction on the death of YC. It was super small and not elite in the beginning. Now that it is famous more companies apply by definition and they by nature of the class being small turn away very good ones as well. I see no reason why they can’t expand to 1000 companies per year now that we are on Zoom and global in more senses than one.

There is also the similar prediction of the dollar ending as a reserve currency every year. YC has even hedged themselves against that by going global now and investing in crypto companies.

Every YC friend speaks very highly of it. I can’t say the same of most other investors/angels/VCs etc….

It's a very interesting opinion that the pool of YC startups needs to be kept small for there to be a network effect — what do you guys think?

Also first post here, let me know if I messed something up or shouldn't have posted this!

I do feel like it has been watered down. Looking at https://www.ycdb.co/ you can see the batch sizes has grown quite a lot. When I see something like "YC W20" or "YC S18" now in a title, it is basically just noise. I am happy that those companies were able to find funding and a support network, but it's kind of like seeing a product in the store with a label like "As featured on shark tank!"; it carries no weight for me, I just want to know if the product does what I need.

> It’s only a question of time before someone starts offering the service and exclusivity of what YC did in the early days — there are already a few contenders in the running.

I suppose the question is, can HN name some of the ones which are held in high regard?

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