I don't have a startup, but it seems to me that this article misses a large part of why YC is so successful -- YC companies get great advice. Generally, if a group of people is simply cloning another, they're going to be also-rans; if they aren't able to bring anything new to the table regarding their investing group, what are they going to bring to the companies they invest in?
People with the ability to give good advice are probably an indispensable part of the system. But it does not necessarily follow that these specific people are. Then again, maybe that is the case.
If so then the answer to the main question is no, the success of YC does not have implications that are useful generally. I don't discount that as a possibility.
I think the most general implication is that it works to give smaller amounts of funding to larger numbers of startups. This is an insight that could be incorporated into every step of the funding process. I'm constantly pushing later stage investors to do more, smaller, faster deals. They are starting to, but slowly.
I assume you mean starting companies on a smaller base rather then simply taking smaller stakes.