I understand the skepticism, but I'd point out that, if I was trying to tilt the scenario in my favor, I'd have written about how founders should always take a

I understand the skepticism, but I'd point out that, if I was trying to tilt the scenario in my favor, I'd have written about how founders should always take a preemptive deal quickly and secretly. That way, every time I made an offer, someone would accept it. I was a founder before I became an investor and, for the most part, that's still how I approach advising startups. That's been the ethos of YC from the start, and it seems to work well. Also, I like your framing - I'm spending quite a lot of time trying to establish norms and ground rules so that founders (and investors) operate on a level playing field. That's been the driving force behind much of my work the Series A Program, and generated resources such as our standardized diligence checklist and term sheet.