Like all of PG's essays, this one is an exploration of his own thought processes more than a generalization about other people in general. What it tells us is

Like all of PG's essays, this one is an exploration of his own thought processes more than a generalization about other people in general. What it tells us is why PG created Y Combinator. He did it to gain access to other people's ideas. PG is a smart guy. He's also a rich guy, getting richer every day, because he uses his smarts to multiply his reach by mixing with other people's ideas.