1) It's in YC's interest for their startups to aim as high as possible. Ideally billion dollar acquisitions or IPOs. Even if less than 1/10 can achieve that goa

1) It's in YC's interest for their startups to aim as high as possible. Ideally billion dollar acquisitions or IPOs. Even if less than 1/10 can achieve that goal and the rest die it's still financially beneficial if they all shoot for it. YC makes very little money off small exits. 2) YC doesn't want to stand in the way of founders getting rich. They accept that many of the YC founders will take life-changing acquisition offers and don't try to stop them. They hope at least some will take a little cash "off the table" along the way and then go for The Big Win. 3) YC doesn't get paid until a "liquidity event". In practice that means either an acquisition or an IPO. There's currently no acceptable method for distributing dividends or similar. I think that's about all there is to it.