Atleast, I applied as a sole founder, so it's reasonable that I didn't get in. But I was surprised (shocked) to see that even the top hackers/designers never got in. I wondered why. And then I discovered, it was all about credentials. None of us were product managers from Facebook/Google/etc.
Here's the thing - This article is irony at best. I want you to understand that no matter what you do, what skills you have, YC looks into
1) Where you come from.
2) What credentials you have.
YC solves the credentials trap by looking at your credentials on behalf of the rest. YC is not interested if you have a good idea. YC is interested if you are a good executer of ideas. And it's a very fair metric. But, the way they do it is scary at best - Much of the people they select are only top dogs - (ex) product managers from Google, Facebook or someone from a well-known company. NO, they don't select everyone this way, but for the majority of the people they select, this is how it works. And as for the rest that they select, the ones without credentials, its a small percentage, which means you have to really compete hard to get in, if you're not from a well-respected company like Google or Facebook or Twitter.
Worse is the fact that the applications are filtered by the alumnii, hence you never know what metric they use to select people. But eventually post selection, you notice that these people who were selected are from some hot company like Google, Facebook etc.
Paul Graham is a great man, and I have great (enormous) respect for him. It's because of him that this start-up industry is receiving proper attention. But, if someone is going to tell me YC solves the credentials problem, etc. then I'm not stupid enough to buy it. It's simply not true.
If you've watched Ratatouille, you may recall the quote:
"Anyone can cook";
Which means (What it means is what the movie's about):
"Not everyone can become an artist, but, a great artist can come from anywhere.."