I really love these, I spend some of my time trying to help groups come out of my alma mater with working startups and it's frustrating how hard it is to get th

I really love these, I spend some of my time trying to help groups come out of my alma mater with working startups and it's frustrating how hard it is to get these points across to virtually all new founders, we've all been there and know what it's like chasing the shiny object. I understand what you are saying on the last point, there's no silver bullet and you better come in ready to really work, but it has to constitute progress when you get in YC. Anything that you do to improve your expected value by a multiple is progress, this includes getting into YC (specifically), recruiting a stellar co-founder or landing the perfect investment partner.