You just need to come from an elite school and a faang and use the two letters “ai” in your pitch deck.
YC wants companies with huge upside that are of the size and timing they have experience and ability to assist in.
After that they pick founders and engineers that they deem to have a higher chance of success - which are usually FANNG engineers or tenured founders.
If you want to get in outside this clique you need to offer something compelling - and most applicants will not have something more compelling then FANNG experience.
What's worse about FAANG? The work culture itself is terrible. It's all about politics and PIPs and processes. The only people who continue working are people who need the money, not necessarily the brightest.