I like my knowledge to be well-balanced. Are there any founders who have gone through YC and not liked it?
My current sample seems to indicate they all liked the experience.
(edited last sentence for clarity).
My current sample seems to indicate they all liked the experience.
(edited last sentence for clarity).
Then once a year when they recalculate grades, they tell the I-can't-believe-its-not-a-union "Do an anonymous survey and tell us what people actually think." They even follow the recommendations a portion of the time.
I love your stance on not doing anything formal. But if you took an anonymous survey of all the American engineers at my company, you'd probably hear "Do anonymous surveys or people will give you the answer they think you want to hear" from 100% of them. (Population size: 1)
Also, convenience samples have some well-known issues: if somebody was totally soured by their experience and cursed your name, would you still be talking to them on a regular basis? (My company has the same issue with its salary survey, incidentally: the people who are most dissatisfied with the amount of money offered no longer work here. Funny how that happens.)
The only people who seem to bad-mouth investors are ones who've already made more money than they know what to do with (Sabeer Bhatia style: http://www.foundersatwork.com/1/post/2009/02/a-note-about-sa...). YC hasn't had any giant, mega-hits yet that would warrant a founder poisoning their relationship with the investment community.
Nonetheless, I so wish I could experience how it feels to be selected by yc.