Coming also from half a world away from Silicon Valley (Europe), I also think there is a large discrepancy in PG's essays before and after YC became successful.

Coming also from half a world away from Silicon Valley (Europe), I also think there is a large discrepancy in PG's essays before and after YC became successful. Before YC was successful, I felt that his essays were written by a very smart guy who thought a lot about various topics, and his advice made lots of sense (don't go for prestigious fields for prestige's sake, find what you really love, etc.), while now it feels that he's thinking that everything converge to make startup the only path to success (I'm exaggerating a bit, but not that much). I don't think he does that to bring more and more people to apply to YC, but I can feel the influence on spending lots of time with VCs and startups.