Sam Altman on Y Combinator's Success: It's a Monopoly

HN worth $500m? Did I read that correctly? Pardon me for being so direct, but: ridiculous (even in a bubble era).

I wouldn't be so dismissive. The value HN creates just by concentrating smart and ambitious hackers is immense.

Further for YC companies (and other startups to a lesser extent), HN is an invaluable tool for recruiting early adopters and employees.

Sam mentioned that HN is worth more to YC than what they could get for it in the market. Given that so many YC startups are already huge, with many more in the wings, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that HN has added $500m in value for YC.

I saw recently Sam was trying to find out which company had the highest exit/valuation coming out of another accelerator...this may have prompted the inquiry?

I appreciate pg's lack of hubris.

The article erroneously lists Salesforce as a YC alumn.

Indeed. Probably mis-reporting the Salesforce acquisition of Heroku in 2010.