Not YC here, but it usually comes down to team, traction, and timing. Given the immense amount of applicants they screen, its unrealistic that they would be abl

Not YC here, but it usually comes down to team, traction, and timing. Given the immense amount of applicants they screen, its unrealistic that they would be able to assess the traction of all of each startup’s competition. Timing-wise, a 2019 application for virtual coworking would have theoretically done poorly in its batch relative to a 2021 company in the same space. Also, solo-founder companies just aren’t as attractive to investors. There is no backup in a flameout or hit-by-bus scenario, and may signal that the founder “doesn’t play well with others”. YC is now offering a co-founder matching service to attempt to mitigate this issue.