That's not a whole range of ambitions. It's either "Get bought" or Facebook/Google. "During the acquisition talks, ... The one refrain we heard quite often wa

That's not a whole range of ambitions. It's either "Get bought" or Facebook/Google. "During the acquisition talks, ... The one refrain we heard quite often was from Paul, who reminded us in nearly every conversation: "Deals fall through!" Seems like you were shopping Reddit.com vigorously. Let's do a naive calculation: 1. YComb startup: 3-4 people - $20k - $25k 2. Assume Acquisition price: $5M to $10M 3. Assume 6% shares: $300k - $600k 4. Assume 10% shares: $500k - $1M 5. Minus lawyer, legal stuff: $10k - $20k Profit: 6% - at least $250k - able to fund at least 5-6 more YCs 10% - at least $450k - able to fund at least 12 more YCs Assuming half companies died, you still can fun tons more. Now, if you look at the companies you funded, probably only 1 company out of 5 that can stand as long as Loopt. Others are just developing "feature". "Feature" companies should be flipped ASAP otherwise they're not going to stay long. Logically, it's true that you'll make more money if the companies don't sell early, but the odd says otherwise, you have to sell most of your companies if YC wants to sustain itself. YC has a good business model I'd say. Plus you are elevating your value in public (think of conference, talks, book agreements and such) and building your network with all the bigs in Sillicon Valley (companies and VC).