Well, they got into YC in an era where funding available to YC companies was basically infinite. Plus they had nonzero sales and an early graph that probably lo

Well, they got into YC in an era where funding available to YC companies was basically infinite. Plus they had nonzero sales and an early graph that probably looked good. What VC could say no to that? (Keep in mind “spray and pray YC” is probably a top quartile VC strategy.) Getting into YC post ~2012 basically makes VC funding an afterthought. So the interesting question is what made them attractive to YC. (I’m not questioning, just clarifying.) Edit: also there are tons of companies that get insane amounts of funding on total punts, with future failure obvious. (Just go trolling through AngelList, you’ll find plenty.) Thinking any one thing is truly necessary to get VC funding is a wildly incorrect mental model.