I agree that it's not guaranteed to be a slam duck investment strategy. Maybe it turns out that YC cannot scale and trying to expand it ruins it. But at least h

I agree that it's not guaranteed to be a slam duck investment strategy. Maybe it turns out that YC cannot scale and trying to expand it ruins it. But at least he's trying to innovate. Remember that people were quite skeptical of YC when it first started, and their strategy turned out to be genius. Sam could have easily sat on that strategy, but is instead trying a whole new thing. As you point out, there's no guarantee that this strategy works. (That's why I said "might.") Trying something awesome puts you in the running, but it doesn't guarantee a win. For that we need to see returns (including returns to the broader ecosystem and society).