Just plain marketing. In reality they will invest in incremental startups of serial entrepreneurs or well known people in silicon valley.
They became traditional corporate long ago. Shows in their recent portfolio.
They became traditional corporate long ago. Shows in their recent portfolio.
Notably neither of those two groups of people are SV based, both NYC affiliated.
Obviously I don't know anything about you or your ideas and I don't mean to offend but I've typically assumed that a YC rejection means they disqualified the candidate for one reason or another.
Do they give feedback in their rejection? I'm considering applying.
The truth is the applicants have to have a story that resonates with whoever reviews your submission. Sometimes people jive over a shared problem space, sometimes they just like people who remind them of themselves or who come from "trust networks" they respect. The latter cases are where the bias keeps seeping in.
And just because they don't pick you for an interview doesn't mean you were disqualified forever. A lot of people reapply and have success. There are just so few slots compared to applicants that most don't hear anything.