Paul, the Henry Potter reaction is understandable... this certainly could be interpreted as blatant plagiarism of your ideas. But the other way to read it is a

Paul, the Henry Potter reaction is understandable... this certainly could be interpreted as blatant plagiarism of your ideas. But the other way to read it is as a validation of the vision behind YC. The new model for startup investment that you all have pioneered is clearly in line with the current trajectory of innovation on the internet. You figured it out first -- everyone reading this knows that -- and it almost seems like it'd be MORE worrisome if other investors didn't jump on the same bandwagon right about now. I mean, at the end of the day, "who's committed and who's merely involved?" -- as Dharmesh put it -- is a pretty damn important thing to know when making the decision to invest in a team. Is it that surprising that other investors are asking the same question? Point is, techstars just proves that you guys are on to something. And, considering the growing buzz around YC -- not to mention the rockstars who post here at news.yc, speak at your events, and contributed to Jessica's book -- well, seems like Harry Potter's got a pretty serious first-mover advantage. =)