4 ms·

I think YC is great for founders (I actually went through a batch many years ago), but it's worth mentioning many of the startups are not really that early. So

I think YC is great for founders (I actually went through a batch many years ago), but it's worth mentioning many of the startups are not really that early. Some were going straight to an A round instead of a seed round, many (maybe most) had already raised money, some had already raised money at significantly higher valuations. The advice I give to 99% of people is if you get into YC you should definitely do it, but the valuation is not necessarily high.

sudhirj 5y ago
Do companies that already have millions in revenue (or feel that's inevitable) get the same terms? It would be interesting to see who accepts that — they probably see something worth it in YC to give a discount on equity.
- OnlineGladiator 5y ago
  I went through YC years ago so maybe it's changed, but at the time I think it was ~1 company per batch would get better terms. In other words, it wasn't negotiable. This wasn't baked in, their stance was "we don't negotiate" and only in truly extraordinary cases would they make an exception. The reason to go through YC is, quite simply, they will increase the value of your company by significantly more than 7%. If you don't believe they can add that much value, then you shouldn't do it. There aren't many people who don't think YC can add that though, just the valuation bump you'll get while fundraising is significantly greater. And on top of that they really do a great job of actually helping you, which alone is worth the 7% in my opinion.