well I see the "need" question two ways, so I'll answer in both of them. 1. I do not "need" the money so you are right. 2. Investors often look at whether or n

well I see the "need" question two ways, so I'll answer in both of them. 1. I do not "need" the money so you are right. 2. Investors often look at whether or not your friends and family have invested in your idea to see the viability of your idea and the confidence those closest to you have in you. So in that regard I feel that it always makes sense to take money from any investors as a confidence bid if nothing else, In everything I have learned from business thus far I have always been taught that taking on investment is smart in terms of risk aversion as well. Smaller parts of every idea (including the ones that fail) are almost always better than a bigger part of one big idea (that may or may not fail) Also, to be fair I did not mention on my YC application anything about my exit because I did not feel it was relevant to my current project so i do not think it had anything to do with them accepting/not accepting me. Although Hipmunk and a few other would probably argue this point, YC has accepted some wildly successful people in the past and I am sure will get even more applying in the time to come.