The light side is that they acted in a truly benevolent way towards the people they helped. They seemed enthusiastically happy to do the right thing by founders

The light side is that they acted in a truly benevolent way towards the people they helped. They seemed enthusiastically happy to do the right thing by founders, regardless of the cost to themselves. For example, by encouraging founders to sell early, if that's what they wanted to do. And by protecting founders from the machinations of other investors. Even from the outside, it was obvious that you could trust the founders of YC. And you would have to be stupid not to want the one investor in Silicon Valley that you could actually rely on. The darker side of YC (and its ultimate undoing IMHO) is that they focused too much on helping people like Sam Altman: upper class people from "elite" schools that didn't actually need or appreciate the help. They were polished and flattering but, for the most part, couldn't actually do the hard work of starting up. YC helped a tiny % of the people that asked for help, and not because they couldn't afford to help more, but because they wanted people of a certain "culture fit", hence the "elite" school style interview process. Then YC became a retirement home for these failed founders, where they confidentially deliver advice they couldn't follow themselves. Now, it is just another credential to be gamed by the wealthy with the requisite percentage of token exceptions. It became as fake and hollow as the "elite" schools are. Not bad, run by bad people, or totally useless, just devoid of anything authentic, energetic, or based on a genuine ethos. It has become a shell of its former self, destined to slowly burn out. With every advantage possible, YC couldn't even replicate itself. Sadly, the YC that Paul Graham and Jessica Livingston created is dead.