I'm OK with auctions, price-based-rationing of scarce goods, and your analysis of the net good this will do. But, you might also consider an occasional raffle'

I'm OK with auctions, price-based-rationing of scarce goods, and your analysis of the net good this will do. But, you might also consider an occasional raffle'd spot, or a spot otherwise drawn from an eligibility pool with a lower economic barrier-to-entry. You might raise as much or more, and it would be easier to mix in things like donated-tickets or third-party-sponsored-tickets. And, the pool of losing-entries would itself be valuable, as a community with expressed interest in YC. Perhaps the drawing-winner(s) and some volunteer YCers could throw a followup separate, larger-audience event for them: passing on the good wisdom and fortune, in the YC style.