Because as much as it is true that funding influences how some projects get started in academia, professors do get tenure. And they can and do things which wou

Because as much as it is true that funding influences how some projects get started in academia, professors do get tenure. And they can and do things which would be totally offensive to a corporate parent. There is a totally different kind of publication coming out of even the old research labs and an academic institution, much less a modern corporation. A typical research lab does not need to worry about a bottom line - which a company (like YC) is obligated to care about.