Here's a list of what people get from yc, roughly in order of how important I think they are: 1) pg/yc's advice and connections 2) other smart hackers' advice

Here's a list of what people get from yc, roughly in order of how important I think they are: 1) pg/yc's advice and connections 2) other smart hackers' advice and connections 3) a complex package I'll call moral support. This includes the validation of their plans, committment to working full-time, and some other less important factors. 4) being able to say "I am funded by yc" 5) publicity 6) money 1), 4), and 5) are hard to replicate well, but I don't think it'd be hard to do them better than an angel (depending on the angel). Angels are also useless at 2, and they take more equity. I think there's a lot of value in even mediocre yc knockoffs, and that we'll see a lot more of them in the coming years.