I think the author has some good points about working your idea even if you don't make YC, though he seems to be making the argument that shooting for YC at all

I think the author has some good points about working your idea even if you don't make YC, though he seems to be making the argument that shooting for YC at all is a bad idea. "A lot of people who applied to YCombinator are probably hacks with derivative ideas and little ability to actually accomplish things. You are probably one of them. A dreamer who sees external capital as a shortcut towards making money without actually working for it." But contrary to the author's view, YC is also very good at analyzing startup potential. That's how it works -- the business model depends on it. If you don't get accepted to YC, chances are, there's a problem. Of course, they can't accept everyone, and presumably the number of applications is increasing with time, so that problem may be that there are just too many applicants with good ideas. But rejection from YC is a perfect opportunity to reevaluate your idea and your potential. The fact is that there are good startup ideas and bad ones, and being rejected from YC is a hint that you may have a bad one. If you're still confident and passionate after reevaluating, _that_ is when you run with your idea anyway.