OP here, I feel the information in my article got outdated too quickly, so wanted to quickly revisit my statements with respect to the current experience (as of 2025):
- I feel the in-person thing makes and breaks the YC magic, people who go through in-person cohorts feel much more connected to their batchmates and partners
- The batches got significantly leaner = more attention to each individual company
- Selling inside YC is a thing again (specifically for AI companies), since everyone around is doing AI and isn't lacking money YC companies basically buy from each other and get to 1M ARR together
- The investment premium is there, with YC startups getting avg cap of 25M comparing to 15M for non-YC startups of similar stage (even with greater traction)
- Bonus: the alumni events and off-site experiences became a nice addition, even for the previous cohorts
Overall, I feel we experienced YC at its lowest, and it's not fair to use it as a reference point. There are still challenges with dilution (MFN) and the alumni experience (you basically lose most of the access), but they definitely listened to the feedback and have made positive changes that founders can already feel.
Did they not "coerce" you to do that? Some disclaimers is needed - could you tell us that they did not led you to take it down?
earlier in the day I was in McD [market st sf] literally reading your blog post midway, refresh and the whole thing is gone darn! Did you got captured too?
I thought my browser had a bug but No the post is gone! So much for transparency, YC.. simply getting from bad to worse.
@OP you should have updated the blog post with a "2025 Update" textbox as per interwebs custom, instead of pulling the whole damn thing down. https://archive.is/cgKRF:
> don't censure bad [..] YC are the ones who teach how important is negative feedback for improvement
Seriously?
What about:
> pushing everyone through the same pipeline [....] everyone needs to follow their simple framework, not try to shine too much, not try to choose the right words, wash off all the makeup, put on a gray uniform
> this feeling in the air that they want to cram everyone into their framework, and any attempts to go beyond the framework are quickly suppressed
listen to your younger self. Is self censorship now the new normal?
I seriously wonder how many of such dissenting posts have already been clean-scrubbed off the internet
> internal forum called Bookface, but it serves more as an abstract omniscient brain
looks like its real usefulness is to "cover their own reputational risks", to
track dissenters and mob against them. Beware!
They are all legit, but serve different purposes (early vs late stage).
I would recommend starting from syndicates or investing with friends, so you have someone to guide you in the first steps.
Don't try to blame others, see what works for you and where you can improve. Some people can make other run for them and send donations without even trying. It's not about them or cruel word. Your problems are about you, and you need to either solve them or to switch to something that works for you, or you will be suffering the rest of life.
I find that hard to believe. I tried a lot of things. I switched between many companies, changed industries, moved to many different countries around the world to find opportunities, I tried playing the patient nice guy for years, I also played more assertive in later years, changed my entire personality to act like an extrovert, started blogs, pursued investors (attending events), started open source projects (one which became popular in its industry), got involved in blockchain space built my own unique projects from scratch... Nothing delivered financial results. I feel like I tried essentially everything so I know it's not something I can control.
When I study people who succeeded, the main difference I can see is that they got very lucky because they knew people who helped them get attention.
Most successful people seem to have this rosy perception of how things work; unfortunately, I cannot go back to that point. Once you've seen nasty stuff, you cannot un-see.
The uncomfortable truth is that YC is a highly competitive program, the best teams invest a lot into preparation to get there. If you have nothing and need 150k to start your company, than you have better ways to find it, than the most prestigious accelerator in the world.
