I don't know why I can't reply to you but 1. That's what YC almost always does, invest as the first and only investor in their own round where they take 7%-ish

I don't know why I can't reply to you but 1. That's what YC almost always does, invest as the first and only investor in their own round where they take 7%-ish equity in exchange for a bit of money and all the other things they do. There are rare occasions where that's not what happens, but that's the norm. There's also a follow up from the YC fund that is convertible debt of some kind and always comes from the investors, but that's still 100% based on YC's decision 2. Gatekeeper might not be the perfect term, but it's darn close. YC is a gate, they are the keepers of the gate, and it's an important gate. Not the gate TO doing a startup but a gate IN startupdome. Edited original comment to be more clear, I can see how the insinuation the being in YC is a gate you must cross to do a startup would cause confusion.