I think that these two programs offer starkly different things. A focus on the money alone is very short sighted. ycombinator has established itself as the "Ha

I think that these two programs offer starkly different things. A focus on the money alone is very short sighted. ycombinator has established itself as the "Harvard" of tech startup incubators. MassChallenge is... well... MassChallenge. As an analogy, when I was deciding between business schools, I had the opportunity to take a scholarship to a lesser MBA program. Or I could pay full price and go to a much higher ranked program. The difference was minimum $50-60k of my own money. I chose to go to the higher ranked program, because of the network that I would be able to build and the long term reputation that came with attending that program. Part of me wishes this wasn't the case; that one's success in life is purely based on their talents and how far they are able to propel themselves on their own steam, regardless of their affiliation with universities or other organizations. Unfortunately, that's not the real world. People care about which organizations you are affiliated with, regardless of whether the education at one is truly better than another. In truth, if you're motivated, you can probably get an equally good education at a community college as you can at an Ivy League school. However, the network you build at these different institutions is vastly different, and I would argue can't be replicated between the two. ycombinator has a track record of producing successful tech startups. This leads to high demand, and the ability to set its own terms. Likening that to "molestation" is not only insulting to the program, but also to all the people who applied to the program (like me). It implies that we don't know what we're doing, and that we are suckers for giving away equity to Y Combinator. I would counter that, contrary to this assertion, I am fully aware of the equity stake that is taken, and believe that it is worth having the Y Combinator organization on my side, as well as the cache with future investors that comes from having participated in the program. I will admit that this decision was not taken lightly, however, and I talked with many founders and funders in the startup world before deciding to apply.