Firstly, other comments have disproven my claim already as I was under the assumption that YC accepted a fixed number of startups per batch. > You are alleging

Firstly, other comments have disproven my claim already as I was under the assumption that YC accepted a fixed number of startups per batch. > You are alleging bias, not a conflict of interest. I'm not sure I understand the difference. > YC accepted into their program as a founder someone who was a partner. Does that really sound like bias to you? Yes, if and only if the decision resulted in another equally strong application being rejected, either directly or indirectly. > If a former professor at a university applied to be a grad student, would you accuse the university of a conflict of interest? Perhaps, because the committee that decides whether or not to accept a student consists of professors who likely know the former professor, which will likely introduce bias (positive or negative).