I don't think the MOOC gets away from this original ambition. YC is still interested in funding the maximum possible number of promising companies. This is, ho

I don't think the MOOC gets away from this original ambition. YC is still interested in funding the maximum possible number of promising companies. This is, however, a clear logistical challenge when you have a partner/advice model that doesn't scale all that easily. It may just turn out that an online, infinitely scalable net is precisely the best way to grow the number of great companies you can see and subsequently fund. I don't think YC intends this to be a purely educational exercise.