Even if this were true (and I highly doubt it is), my response would be, "So?" It's admirable that Y-Combinator doesn't do all those things, but I wouldn't bla

Even if this were true (and I highly doubt it is), my response would be, "So?" It's admirable that Y-Combinator doesn't do all those things, but I wouldn't blame them for it either. Yes, Paul Graham does this because it is his passion and because he's damn well good at it. But these are also investors. There is more of a sense of community than you will get from any VC in the game, but they are still looking to profit. This isn't a charity. Paul has said himself that they turn away many "pretty good" applications each year simply because others are better. If a cofounder of another startup applied to Y-Combinator, they'd be a very safe bet and a good candidate for admission (assuming they still needed some kind of guidance). Just because you're beat out by people with superior credentials doesn't mean there's a credential bias. This is just like the argument that flew around for some time that there's a bias in favor of 20 something dropouts applying to Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley. No, there isn't. You hear about those cases more, but that's sampling bias. Drew Houston is worth almost half a billion dollars now. He applied as a single founder with nothing to show for himself but a neat little poker bot and an SAT prep service. He was also rejected once, and made a better application the next time around. Determination is the single greatest indicator of success.